NICOLE: ‘THE UNDOING? IT’S GOING TO BE A BUMPY RIDE’
Nicole Kidman shuddered at the thought that the man in her life might be keeping deep, dark secrets from her. ‘it’s too frightening!’ the actress told me as we discussed her riveting new miniseries The Undoing, in which she plays Grace Fraser, a well-heeled manhattan therapist specialising in couples counselling who discovers that her husband, Jonathan, a paediatric oncologist (Hugh Grant), is a grade a-level cheat, liar . . . and maybe even worse.
She said she loves the scene in the six-hour drama when Grace visits the hospital where Jonathan practises, only to learn that he hasn’t worked there for months. ‘Grace is like: whaaat!’
The oscar winner says she’s been clear-eyed about the men she married. She split, acrimoniously, from Tom cruise in 2001; five years later she wed country rock star Keith Urban, knowing full well about his drug demons, and prepared to help him fight them.
‘i can’t imagine it,’ she said, when i asked if she could picture herself in a similar situation to Grace. ‘i think everybody’s nightmare would be to find that the person you’re living with is nothing that you thought they were.’
(although Kidman thought it unlikely Urban would be fibbing about his work. ‘i don’t think it’s going to be like he’s not a musician, or that he’s never played live,’ she joked.)
in The Undoing (available on Sky atlantic and now TV from october 26), Grace has a loving son Henry (played by 15-year-old english actor noah Jupe) and a protective father (a muscular portrait by donald Sutherland).
‘everything has gone according to her plan, in terms of her marriage — which she thinks is happy,’ nicole told me. ‘She’s a caring person, but she hasn’t had the hard hits of life. Yet.
‘Suddenly everything comes hurtling towards her,’ she said, as Grace struggles to cope with the torrent of Jonathan’s deceit. ‘She’s incredibly resilient but, inside, incredibly fragile.’
in the show, Kidman wears her hair in the long, red ringlets she had when we first met, more than three decades ago, g , when she starred in the film dead calm, another heart-stopping tale where the heroine faces peril.
The Undoing is based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel You Should Have Known. Susanne Bier, who transformed John le carre’s The night manager into compulsive television, joined forces with david e. Kelley, who created Big little lies (a seminal smallscreen success for Kidman), to ‘mould’ the story into ‘thrilling escapism’. ‘it was like, “Hold on, and get ready to come on a ride!” she laughed.
it helps, too, that it’s packed with fine actors, including london-based olivier-award winner noma dumezweni (who created the grown-up Hermione in Harry Potter and The cursed child in london and on Broadway) as a lawyer who represents Grace. ‘That voice!’ Kidman said, in awe. ‘She just commands.’
i devoured five episodes in one sitting, back in august; then found myself screaming at my iPad at two in the morning when i realised HBo had withheld the final episode. i felt less bad when Kidman said HBo had done the same to her — and her production company, Blossom Films, made the programme!
i watched The Undoing a second time last weekend, willing the sixth segment to appear magically (it didn’t). But i told Kidman i thought i’d worked out who murdered elena alves, vivacious mother of one of Henry Fraser’s classmates.
‘Shhhhh!’ Kidman interrupted, adding: ‘The great thing is, it could be any of us.’
our interview is taking place over the phone, in the early hours (for me), with nicole speaking from Suffolk Park in Byron Bay, new South Wales, where she and her family are huddled in a bubble while she films new TV drama nine Perfect Strangers. Kidman, an executive producer on the project, plays an american-educated, Russian ‘wellness instructor’ who runs an exclusive health retreat. ‘it’s very strange,’ she said, affecting a Russian accent, of the drama, based on a novel by liane moriarty (who also wrote Big little lies).
Though the book is set in the countryside north of Sydney, the plan had been to film in the U.S., because of the mainly american cast. and then things changed. ‘We thought, if we can just move everything to australia, and bring out those we need, and then employ huge amounts of australians . . . and we did.’
Filming down Under also gave her, husband Urban and daughters Sunday and Faith, a chance to be reunited with Kidman’s 80-yearold mother Janelle. ‘We were away from her for so many months and we just had to get back to her,’ she said; her voice full of emotion.
in terms of acting, the star told me she would continue to work, as long as it was safe. next up is The northman, which red-hot director Robert eggers will film in ireland. She plays a Viking queen, opposite alexander Skarsgard (her hubby in Big little lies), in-demand anya Taylor-Joy, Willem dafoe and ethan Hawke. She’s also developing a project with lulu Wang, the filmmaker behind breakthrough smash The Farewell.
For a longer version of this interview, see Mail online.