New York Magazine - USA (2020-10-12)

Kidmanthrowsherself

intoambitious

auteurprojectslike

MoulinRouge!and

TheOthers. In2003,

shewinsanOscar

forTheHours.

‘WhocanI trust?’andthat deep,intangible,
unsettlingsenseof nothingbeingquitewhat
itseems—thatsexy,seductiveno-man’s-
land.That wasoneofthebiggestdrawsfor
me.” WhenshebroughtupGrantasa pos-
siblehusband,Kidman,whohadmethim
sociallyovertheyears,said,“A skhim,but
he’ll neverdoit.Doesn’t matterif it’s a won-
derfulrole—hejust doesn’t wanttowork.”
“It’strue,” Grantsays,laughing.“Ido
turndowna lotofthingsasI ge t olderand
crankier. AndI’d neverworkedwithNicole,
thoughI’dteasedhera lotat parties.I’m
sureyou’rea great fanofthePaddington
fi lms—asrealcinephilesare!Andsome
peoplewhohaveseenthosethinkthat
we’reinthemtogether,butwe’renot.She
has spent her career doing rarefied,
Oscarwinningpieces,while I’vedone
romanticcomedies.Ourpathswerenever
destinedtocrossmuch.” To everyone’s
surprise,Grant,whosays“ithasbeen
lovelyinthepastsevenoreightyearsto
beplayingpeoplewithdarkpsyches,”
cameonboard,eagertoportray“someone
who 100 percentbelieveswhat he’s saying
ateverymoment.Soifheislying,he’s
oneofthoseliarswhobelievetheirlies.
Doyouknowthosepeople?They’rethe
sc ariest.”(As anexample,hecitesthe
currentUnitedStatespresident.) Grant’s
soleprovisowasthathewantedtoknow
howthingswouldendforhischaracter
beforehecommittedhimself.
AsKelley workedthroughsubsequent
drafts,many elementsoftheoriginal
novel(includingGrace’s self-helpbook)
fellaway. What survivedwas,amongother
things,thespecificity oftheNewYork
locations. Allthe creative principals
agreedthatManhattanshouldbea char-
acterasmuchasa backdrop.“Susanne
hada visionfora fairytalekindoffeel,”
saysPerSaari,oneofKidman’s producing
partners.TakingfulladvantageofNew
PHOTOGRAPHS: RGR COLLECTION/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (HOURS); TCD/PROD.DB/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (LOVE ACTUALLY); COURTESY OF HBO (BIG LITTLE LIES); ALBUM/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL)YorkinthefinalyearoftheBeforeTimes,

they used multiple outdoor locations and,

whenever possible, real interiors. Kidman

and Grant’s cozy (meaning amazing)

brownstone is an actual Upper East Side

residence—“Very hot and very wet to

shoot in,” says Garrett. And other crucial

settings seamlessly combine studio sets

with actual locations; a vast glass-walled

penthouse, the venue of a private-school

fund-raiser for scholarship students that

ignites the plot in episode one, was partly

created in the sightseeing floor atop One

World Trade Center. “The most challeng-

ing thing is accessing some of those really

high-end apartments,” says producer

Bruna Papandrea. “When you’re in that

world and trying to get a deal done to film

in someone’s home, they don’t necessarily

need your money.”

A further complication was Bier’s com-

mitment to rehearsing the actors every

morning on set before the shooting day

started, sometimes for as long as 90

minutes—an unheard-of luxury in tele-

vision. “Having ownership of the scenes

on the set, rehearsing quite freely and

radically, is very helpful,” Bier says. “The

actors get to ask all the questions. I get to

be provocative. We get to a point where

we know what the scene is about and

then the craziness of whatever is going

on on the set becomes a tool, as opposed

to something that’s in the way.”

“Almost always, there’s a thing called the

lineup, where you’re dragged out of makeup

with the curlers still in your hair,” says

Grant, “and you stand on the cold set with

the directors and heads of department so

they can light it and set up dollies and

things. Susanne did warn me that she liked

to do more than that, and sometimes you

could watch the producers inject them-

selves with arsenic in the background over

how much money it was costing.”

“She can send people to the edge of

destruction in the nicest possible way,” says

Garrett. “But she always makes her day.”

“One of the reasons I took the job,” says

Grant, “was I’m old and I have small chil-

dren and I love them, but I thought, Great,

I get to get away from them for a bit and get

some sleep. But, ironically, the moment

I landed at JFK each time, I was over-

whelmed with homesickness. I don’t know

who I’ve turned into. Scenes where I’m just

asking for a cup of coffee would make me

burst into tears, and they’d have to say,

‘Maybe not in this scene, Hugh.’ It was just

me missing my kids. I was doing the whole

thing on jet lag—and, I now see, sugar.

I watched the series the other day.

I thought it was about a dark secret in a

privileged family. It turns out it’s just about

a fat man married to Nicole Kidman. I’ve

never seen such weight on an actor—you

can barely get me in the widescreen.”

By the end, the shoot left both stars

feeling ragged. “I was pretty much work-

ing every day,” says Kidman, whose char-

acter’s increasing unsteadiness Bier

filmed in unnervingly tight, sustained

close-ups. “By the time you’re three

months in, there’s a sort of exhaustion

level that helps with the disorientation

my character was supposed to be feeling.

I tried to use it, because that’s what you

do. I got quite sick when I was making it.

I did feel like I was going a bit insane, to

be honest. By the end, I was just very,

very ... I sort of staggered out of there.”

“But at the same time,” she adds,

“Susanne and I really joined psychically.

When you’ve got Donald Sutherland and

Hugh Grant and all of these powerful

males, to be really based in female psychol-

ogy was important to me. The whole thing

orbits around this woman and her rela-

tionships with these people. Susanne said,

‘You have to be so careful, because when

you act, you give something that’s so much

a part of you that you shouldn’t give it up

too often.’ I heard her loud and clear.” ■

Grantreun

Richard Cu

Hill,BridgetJo

Diary,andLoveA

whichreestab

himasa charming

screenpresence.

Granttakesanotherhiatus—

duringwhichhehelpsexpose

theNewsCorp. phone-hacking

scandal—andreturnsinthe

totallybonkersCloudAtlas.

(Healsofathersfive children

bytwodifferentwomen.)

A gyof

mz,

MusicandLyrics, and

DidYouHearAbout

theMorgans?, Grant’s

careerasa Hollywood

leadingmanis over.

Granttransformsintoa character

actorinTheManFromU.N.C.L.E.

andFlorenceFosterJenkins; hegets

anEmmynominationforA Very

EnglishScandal.Bothactorsplay

villainsin subsequentmovies

in thePaddingtonfranchise.

A period of liberating

experimentation:

Kidman gets great

reviews for the tiny

Rabbit Hole and

pees on Zac Efron

in The Paperboy.

As the decade goes on, both

are increasingly ill served by

studio fare. Kidman does

interesting work in indies, but

her big-budget efforts—The

Golden Compass, Australia,

Nine—are disappointments.

Now in their 50s, both enjoy

a comeback powered by

supporting roles and TV

work. Kidman gets an Oscar

nomination for Lion, while

her performance in Big Little

Lies earns her an Emmy.

THE NEW MILLENNIUM:

A Second Act

LATE AUGHTS:

Diminishing Returns

EARLY ’10S:

The “Fuck It” Years

MID-TO-LATE ’10S:

Revival

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