Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson star in ‘Babygirl’.
Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson star in ‘Babygirl’.
Nicole Kidman is no stranger to sex scenes, but the star has admitted to feeling particularly “frightened” for people to see her latest erotic thriller.
The Australian actress, 57, said she was “nervous” to premiere her new sexually charged film Babygirl on the big screen amid its debutat the Venice Film Festival overnight.
In the movie, directed by Halina Reijn, Kidman plays Romy, a powerhouse New York CEO who risks her high-flying career and her marriage with husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) by embarking on a steamy affair with a young intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson).
Nicole Kidman has premiered her latest movie, Babygirl, in Venice, with the actress admitting she’s “nervous” for the world to see her X-rated scenes.
There is, of course, sex, as well as one particularly intimate masturbation scene involving Kidman.
“This definitely leaves me exposed and vulnerable and frightened, and all of those things when it’s given to the world,” Kidman admitted at a press conference in Venice.
“But making it with these people here, it was delicate and intimate and very, very deep.
“Right now, we’re all a bit nervous – so I’m like, I hope my hands aren’t shaking – but at the same time, I’m really proud to be at a festival like this, and to be forging ahead with films that are still being made, and particularly with women at the helm.”
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in a scene from their 1999 film, Eyes Wide Shut. Photo / Warner Bros. Entertainment
And while she’s worked with countless male directors, including Stanley Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut, Kidman said she’s shifted her strategy to collaborating with female filmmakers.
“I’m going to put my weight behind a lot of women now, in terms of directors, to try and change the ratio,” she said.
“This [Babygirl] is one woman’s story, and this is, I hope, a very liberating story. It’s told by a woman through her gaze. It’s Halina’s script, she wrote it and she directs and that made it unique, that suddenly I was going to be in the hands of a woman with this material. It was very dear to our shared instincts and very, very freeing.”
Meanwhile, the cast walked the red carpet at the illustrious festival, where they’re competing for the coveted Golden Lion award.
Attendees engaged in a six-and-a-half-minute standing ovation after the film was screened.
Early reviews have since emerged online from journalists who attended the premiere, with Vulture declaring it “might just be the year’s hottest movie”.
Meanwhile, Variety described it as a “shrewdly honest and entertaining movie about a flagrantly ‘wrong’ sadomasochistic affair.”
Babygirl will be in New Zealand cinemas from January 30.
