Nicole Kidman has revealed that she was nervous to accept one of her most important roles. Kidman is a celebrated actor who first got her start in Australian projects including the cult movie BMX Bandits and the maritime thriller Dead Calm. She began to rise to fame in the 1990s, taking on projects such as Far And Away, Batman Forever, and To Die For. Over the course of her career, she has now earned five Oscar nominations with one win, 17 Golden Globe nominations with six wins, three Emmy nominations with two wins, and five BAFTA nominations with one win.

More contemporary Nicole Kidman movies have seen her taking on a variety of unique roles, including playing a villain in Paddington, having Zac Efron as a love interest in both The Paperboy and A Family Affair, ing a massive superhero franchise as Queen Atlanna in Aquaman and its sequel, and more. She has also branched out to prestige television in recent years, starring in projects such as HBO's Big Little Lies, Netflix's The Perfect Couple, Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers, and Paramount+'s Special Ops: Lioness.

Nicole Kidman Had To Be Convinced To Star In Moulin Rouge!

The 2001 Movie Was A Formative Career Moment

Although it later proved to be an important move for her career, Nicole Kidman was originally unsure about starring opposite Ewan McGregor in 2001's Moulin Rouge!. The movie, which was directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann, is a jukebox musical. The Moulin Rouge! soundtrack features songs by contemporary artists including Madonna and KISS despite being a sweeping love story set in Paris in the late 1800s. It became a hit and a huge stepping stone moment for Kidman, earning her the first of her five Oscar nominations in addition to grossing $179.2 million against its $50 million budget.

Nicole Kidman did not win an Oscar until 2003, when she won Best Actress for her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours.

As part of their Actors on Actors series, Variety paired Challengers and Dune: Part Two star Zendaya with Nicole Kidman (whose new erotic drama movie Babygirl is a major fixture of the 2024-2025 awards season). During their conversation, Kidman revealed that she had grave doubts about starring in Moulin Rouge! at first. While she wanted to do a love story after making so many "weird films," she didn't "feel confident with the voice" aspect of her musical role until Luhrmann "slowly built me up." Read her full quote below:

Baz was so formative for me. I’d always done these weird films, but I was in my head going, “Gosh, I’m never going to get to do the great love story.” Suddenly, “Moulin Rouge!” came, and I’m like, “A musical love story? I can’t do this.” Because I don’t feel confident with the voice. Then he slowly built me up.

Our Take On Nicole Kidman's Moulin Rouge! Comments

It Did Not Prove To Be Her Only Musical

Although Nicole Kidman still does not commonly perform in musicals, it seems that Luhrmann's efforts to help build her up have stuck. She has so far gone on to appear in two other live-action movie musicals over the course of her career, following Moulin Rouge! with 2009's Nine and later ing the cast of The Prom opposite Meryl Streep and Andrew Rannells. That 2020 title shows that, nearly two decades later, the actress has continued to find ways to embrace her voice.

Source: Variety