At 50 I have more work than ever, says Kidman as she embraces TV revolution
Oscar-winner says film industry needs to move with times and recognise potential of small screen
NICOLE KIDMAN said she has more work at the age of nearly 50 than at any other point in her career, due to the huge strides made in television.
The Oscar-winner said the many different media now available for actors had given her career a new lease of life, even at an age where many stars find themselves losing roles.
Many high-profile women have lamented how Hollywood treats them as they get older, but Kidman said she is the “grateful recipient” of a smallscreen revolution.
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, where she appears in four projects being screened, the actress said it was essential for the industry to move with the changing world and embrace opportunities other than the big screen.
“As an actor I get to work in all of the mediums,” she said at a press conference for Sofia Coppola’s film The Beguiled. “We need stories, we need the opportunities, we need things to be seen. The world is changing and we do have to change with it. I have a foot in every area of this and I am grateful.
“I’m turning 50 this year and I’ve never had more work than right now. And that’s partly because I work in television, I can work on films that are made to be shown on a small screen and I can work on films shown on a big screen.” In recent years, actors including Dame Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep have lamented the lack of good roles for older women.
Kidman is also appearing at the festival in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, How to Talk to Girls at Parties and the BBC crime drama Top of the Lake.
She is also starring in and executive producer of the US television show Big Little Lies, with two further films lined up for next year.
Kidman’s comments added to the debate at this year’s Cannes over whether Netflix films that are scheduled for release via online streaming rather than cinema should be permitted to compete for the Palme d’or.
Top of the Lake and Twin Peaks, another television series, have been given official screenings at the festival.
In The Beguiled, Kidman plays the role of a Virginian schoolteacher in the depths of the American Civil War, who must defend her young charges against an injured soldier they take in out of pity and each begin to fall for. The film is a remake of the 1971 film of the same name which starred Clint Eastwood. Coppola’s version retells the story from the perspective of the young women, with Colin Farrell’s interloper the “token male” on screen.
Asked about female directors, Kidman said it was essential to remember that there was more to do, after disclosing she had pledged to work on a film led by women at least every 18 months.
“We as women have to support female directors. Everyone keeps saying, ‘Oh, it’s so different now, it’s so different’. It isn’t,” she said.
Asked about any regrets over her career, which began on television in 1983 and led to starring roles in films including Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge and The Hours, she said: “Sometimes you fail, sometimes you succeed, that’s the journey. You get back up.
“As a mother, that’s something I’m trying to teach my children right now.”
The Beguiled will be released in British cinemas on Friday July 14.