Nicole Kidman: "My mother has so defined me"

For Nicole Kidman, there is perhaps no greater fulfilment and more intense creative experience, than burrowing into the character of an extraordinary woman like acclaimed 20th century war correspondent, passionate writer and tempestuous lover of Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, for the Philip Kaufman docudrama, Hemingway & Gellhorn. Yet ever the celebrity actress of perplexing contradictions as were expressed during this conversation, Kidman intimated longing for above all, the utmost adamant privacy when it comes to her own life. Which set quite an unusual tone during this exchange, as Kidman intermittently bristled with sarcasms between evident heartfelt spontaneous intimate revelations about existence, emotions, and her creative journey through the decades.

Q: Did playing a writer give you any insight at all into the other side of the filmmaking process?

Nicole Kidman: Oh, yeah, thats left field! Sorry.

Q: Well, what about playing a woman who was an adoptive mom - Gellhorn adopted an Italian war orphan - as an adoptive mother yourself?

NC: Yes. The strength of that love is profound. From the minute you have a child, or from the minute I have experienced taking care of a child, being that caretaker, the power of that is extraordinary.

But my children first and foremost gave me day by day the desire to live. And then, in terms of being able to express myself through different women who are extraordinarily rich.

Q: And why the attraction to strong woman?

NK: My mother has so defined me. In good times and bad times, Ive had a mother who has been very, very strong. And hard on me at times. But still with love. She was a feminist, and with a very strong social conscience. But very compassionate.

Q: Nicole, Im sure Hemingway and Gellhorn would have found it bizarre that a film be made about their lives so many years later. How would you feel if a movie were made about your lives fifty years from ! now?

NK: No. Please, no! Yeah, I think part of the reason of being an actor is that you like playing other peoples lives. And exploring all the psychologies in that, and the emotions.

And I think having my life be as private and quiet as possible, is a way in which then I can go and play characters. I like the privacy of my life. And I protect it quite vigilantly. So...

Q: Ms. Kidman...

NK: Yeah, shoot!

Q: You hear actors talking about how uncomfortable it is to film sex scenes. Can you talk about when you film a sex scene with also a building falling down around you and explosions going off, how that adds to the complication?

NK: Its awesome! Yeah. Well, its very Phil. Phil was like, okay. Were going to have, we want stuff coming down! And I think actually what it says, it really emphasizes that they came together through war. They fed off that drama and that energy, in a way. Two people that would make love through a building collapsing! That says something about who they are. And thats why I think that was important, that scene. Because you really see that this is where they are their most comfortable, their most passionate. And thats where their love thrives.

Q: This is a relationship that obviously burned very brightly, but also very quickly. And these people came together, and then they both went off and had lives without each other. Talk about their relationship, and what sort of mark they left on each other.

NK: Well, I think Martha found her voice when she was with Hemingway. And he was a big part of helping her to, as he says in a line in the film, which is, get in the ring and start throwing some punches for what you believe in. And I think the great thing about Gellhorn was that she was really the first female war correspondent. And she wrote about peoples lives, and she wrote with such direct truth. And thats hard to do. And when you see, during their relationship, her sort of formulating who she is as a writer, shes not Hemingway. She didnt want to wr! ite nove ls. She wants to be a correspondent. And I love that she was the first woman to really do that. I mean, you see in the film, her on the front line, you see her hands bloody. And you see her, shes a sponge. And then shes able to sort of feed that back to America and the world. And she was a trailblazer. So...

Q: Was it a case of Hemingway admiring strong, independent women, and at the same time feeling threatened and almost emasculated by that?

NK: But the crux of it, I wouldnt say is that, you know, they couldnt be together because she wouldnt comply. He thought he wanted a woman who was an adventurer. And then when he finally gets her, she wont settle down. You know, she wont be domesticated. And he doesnt know what to do with that. Its not the crux of it, but it certainly is something that feeds through the whole story.

Q: You seem to be drawn to women who yearn and burn and ache for more. What is the satisfaction of that?

NK: Here, here!

Q: So what do you get out of that personally?

NK: I mean, I think, you know, Im attracted to many different roles. But theres times when I feel the need to play something that inspires me. And I think Martha inspires me. And the same way even playing, say, Virginia Woolf. I learned from playing her. It was kind of a necessity in that, in the journey of my career. To find these women at times, and tell their stories. And its a blessing because, you know, theyre very hard stories to get made a lot of times. And thats why Im so grateful to HBO for being willing to do this. And, yeah, I love these women that defy the odds, and that burn bright.

And I think Marthas story, how its depicted here and in the truth of her life is, she wouldnt, she has a line in the film where she says, all that objectivity shit, right? Sorry to swear! But its true. She didnt believe in being objective as a journalist. She believed in having an opinion. And I think thats important in this day and age, having an opinion and being willing to stand up for t! hat. No matter who throws, you know, sticks and stones.

Q: Is there anything different about playing a writer, that you do as actors?

NK: That you do as actors when youre not playing writers? I think you have to find from within, the desire to let the words, the electricity of the words, come through you. And it has to come from a very pure place. Otherwise its not good writing. Or its good writing, but its not great writing. And I think thats how do you put that feeling, that sensation, into an image. You know, how does that bleed through. And thats something that you know, just for me, I just work on internally.

Q: When you're playing somebody real, how does that change the way you act compared to a fictionalized character?

NK: Theres a lot of research, in terms of being able to, its like doing the homework before the exam. You want to have the well of information. And then its trying to find her essence, really. You know, not to be a caricature. But to find what was her essence, what was the beating heart of her. And try to be true to that rather than the physical, rather than the mannerisms, if that makes sense. And going back to your question about playing a writer. The thing I love, Clive does this wonderful thing with Hemingway where he stands at the typewriter. Its sort of flowing out. Youll see when you see the film. But it was a great way to show Hemingway, the way he would access his voice. And I just saw the film, and I just, that image of somebody standing and not being able to stop. And the energy. I thought that was a fantastic image. /Viva Press