NICOLE’S GREATEST CHALLENGE

It’s expected to be one the most talked about TV series of the year, and when The Undoing hits our screens on October 26 so too does its star, Nicole Kidman. The 53-year-old, who also produced the series, stars alongside Hugh Grant, Noah Jupe and Donald Sutherland in the highly anticipated show. “The great thing about the series – and what really drew me to it – is that it’s so twisty and nothing is as it seems,” Kidman explains. “Choosing to unknow things is a fascinating part of human nature – when and what you choose to believe and what you choose to see.”

The storyline follows Kidman’s character Grace Fraser, a prominent psychotherapist whose professional advice comes back to haunt her personal life. And the actress has admitted it was quite a challenge. “I’m playing a character that’s very intense, so I’m in the process of ‘shedding’ her now,” she said at the show’s preview in January. “It’s a very strange feeling. When I’m work ing on a film, I don’t have time for myself. You’re working on adrenaline, and there’s an enormous amount of fatigue. Now I can do some yoga if I want to. I can go to the beach. I take hot baths with lots of oil. I love oil, and I love bathing in it.”

Of course Kidman’s downtime didn’t last long. The star is currently Down Under filming Nine Perfect Strangers – another series she’s both producing and starring in. “I went through a huge period of time when I didn’t have good choices,” the mum-of-four explains of her career trajectory of late.

“So many actors don’t have choices, and to even have a choice is an extraordinary opportunity.”

Being more involved in her projects is something Kidman has been doing more and more, starting with the 2017 smash hit, Big Little Liars. “I wanted to control my fate,” she says of stepping into a producing role alongside Reese Witherspoon for the HBO series.

“As an actor you’re always at the mercy of others, directors especially, and sometimes it can be frustrating. I felt the need to create something from the ground up and that’s why I decided to work with Reese and produce the series.”

The Aussie star is clearly in the midst of a highly gratifying and exciting chapter in her life. Her 14-year marriage to country music star Keith Urban, 52, has also been a source of immense comfort and happiness for her, and she’s currently revelling in spending more time with him and their two daughters, Sunday Rose, 12, and Faith, 9, in her home country.

“I’m an introvert by nature, pretty quiet – someone who would rather stay at home,” she divulges. “When I get home, the thing I look forward to the most is being able to hug my children and Keith, and that’s the kind of feeling which will always keep us connected.”

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“I didn’t have good choices” – KIDMAN THE AUSTRALIAN ICON IS ON A CREATIVE ROLL BUT ALSO MANAGES TO JUGGLE WORK AND FAMILY

“As an actress and producer, I’m grateful that more women’s stories are being told,” the star says of working on a number of female-centric projects of late.

HER UNDOING “Everything has gone according to her plan, in terms of her marriage – which she thinks is happy,” Kidman says of her character, Grace, in The Undoing. “She’s a caring person but she hasn’t had the hard hits of life. Yet.” Sutherland joins Kidman and other cast members Édgar Ramírez and Lily Rabe in The Undoing.

Grant plays Kidman’s lying and cheating husband in the series.

The actress says she’s happy to be back in Australia with her family, and also be close to her mother, Janelle.