LADIES FIRST
Big Little Lies stars Nicole and Reese are on a mission
They might be two of Hollywood’s biggest female stars, but there’s room for both Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon in their newest project – despite it being on the small screen!
The two powerhouse actresses, who have teamed up both behind and in front of the cameras for the TV thriller Big Little Lies, revealed last week their relationship is more than just screen-deep.
“We are very, very close friends,” reveals Nicole candidly. “We’re able to talk about everything. We even have beach houses next door to each other!”
Given that Nicole (49) and Reese (40) inhabit a world where jealous rivalries are commonplace, it’s refreshing to learn that two of the biggest names in show business can find time to support and nurture each other.
In fact, it was a shared interest in making Hollywood a better place for both themselves and other women that drove them to join forces.
Both have their own production companies – Nicole’s is Blossom Films; Reese’s Pacific Standard – and mum-of-three Reese has been particularly outspoken about her need to extend her career into producing.
“I realised about four or five years ago that I was seeing a complete lack of interesting characters for women on screen and it really bothered me. I was seeing fantastic actresses all clamouring for one horrible part as ‘the wife’ or ‘the girlfriend’ and I thought, ‘These women have so much more to offer.’ We are 50% of the population after all, so we should be telling 50% of the stories.”
Having already produced successful movies Gone
Girl and Wild, Reese read Australian author Liane Moriarty’s novel Big Little
Lies, and instantly knew it was perfect for her and Nicole’s first foray into television. She sent her friend a copy. Nicole “couldn’t put it down” – and the rest is history.
As she happened to be in Australia at the time, Nicole tracked down Sydneysider Liane and over coffee she said, “If you let Reese and me option the book, I promise we’ll get it made.” Liane agreed on one condition – that Nicole played one of the central characters in her story. As a result, the seven-episode drama series – made for HBO and currently showing Sunday nights on Sky TV channel SoHo – is a showcase of strong female actors in vital female roles. In addition to Nicole and Reese, it also stars Laura Dern (50),
Zoë Kravitz (28) and Shailene Woodley (25). The five actresses play competitive mums whose kids attend an exclusive school and when a murder occurs at fundraising night, all bets are off.
After spending much of her career as the only woman on set – “they call it the Smurfette syndrome. There’s 100 Smurfs around but she’s the only girl”, – Reese says it was refreshing to hang out with a group of female cast mates.
“We’d have these incredible dinners where we’d share stories and talk about our lives, and help each other.”
Nicole, in particular, says she loved the extra support. Her character, Celeste, deals with domestic violence and, “Those scenes were tough... They had to be very authentic and real.
I’d go home and be bruised all over because I threw myself into it. There were nights when I’d sit in the bath and cry.”
The mum-of-four says her eight-year-old daughter Sunday Rose won’t be watching the show anytime soon.
“She desperately wants to see it and I’m like, ‘No, when you’re 18...’”
Reese’s 17-year-old daughter Ava, from her first marriage to actor Ryan Phillippe, proudly accompanied her Oscar-winning
‘ We’d have these incredible dinners where we’d share stories and talk about our lives’
mum to the LA premiere of the show last month.
While Ava currently shows no desire to follow in her parents’ acting footsteps, Reese says she’s constantly aware of how important it is to lead by example. Her own mother Betty, a professor of nursing, rose up the career ladder and earned a PhD while bringing up Reese and her older brother John.
“My mum was my inspiration and I get my work ethic from her. She’s very dynamic and strong-willed, and would always say, ‘If you want something done, do it yourself.’ I would like my kids to feel the same way about their mother.”
By creating acting roles for themselves and other women, Reese and Nicole have done just that and they’re not ruling out working on more projects together in the future.
Says Nicole, “We’re both at a stage in our lives – I am – where I want to be with people I really like. I don’t want to be working on things where I’m not happy to be there.”