Nicole Kidman: Nic at Twilight
Q: Have your looks ever worked against you?
A: Yeah. I consider myself to have a very versatile face. I can look good and I can look bad.
Q: When do you look bad?
A: In The Portrait of a Lady.
Q: But you had three men in love with you in that film.
A: And I said to Jane, "Do you think people are going to believe this?" [Laughs] Isabel, physically, is quite plain. But I loved that. I love to look plain on-screen. I'm not the type of actress who knows what my best angle is or how to light my face. I have no interest in it. When I cry I say, "Don't touch me up."
Q: What women do you consider beautiful?
A: Ingrid Bergman is probably the most beautiful woman. I like women who live their lives, women who are not afraid, like Ava Gardner.
Q: How would you describe beauty?
A: The thing that surprises me is when somebody views the world in a different way than I do. That entices me much more than physical beauty. The mind is far more attractive.
Q: In terms of attraction, is a man with money the equivalent of a woman who's beautiful?
A: Yeah, I suppose it's true. I happen to be married to a man who has a lot of money, but that's strange because prior to Tom, I had never gone out with men who had enough money to pay for my dinner.
Q: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
A: It wouldn't be physical. I'd make myself calmer. It would be so wonderful to be described as serene.
Q: Does your husband try to fatten you with his chocolate chip cookies?
A: That was when I was younger. I have to be more careful now. I can eat anything I want, but then I go and run four miles a day.
Q: What are you particularly looking forward to?
A: I'm about to do a play in London--David Hare's adapted La Ronde. It will open in September for eight weeks. I have to play five characters. It's an experiment, which is what theater is for: to push and challenge yourself.
Q: Do you have trouble sleeping?
A: Yeah. Did you read that in a magazine? God, I reveal everything. I better keep some mystery, this is terrible.
Q: What's your greatest extravagance?
A: Art. I like the '30s and '40s. And I love to collect black-and-white photographs--Steichen, Weston, Lee Miller, Man Ray. But I shouldn't talk about it because then I'll get robbed. The world is weird now.
Q: Heard any good jokes lately?
A: I'm a terrible joke teller. I have one very dirty joke, but I can only tell it when I'm drunk. If I tell it when I'm straight it's terrible.
Q: Want some wine?
A: [Laughs] I'm saving it for a film. I really want to tell the joke in a film.
Q: What's your favorite red wine?
A: Petrus, 1975. I have expensive taste. I know quite a bit about wine because I drink it a lot. In this day and age, you may as well enjoy yourself.
Q: Ever smoke a cigar?
A: Yeah. I used to not drink coffee, now I drink copious amounts of coffee. I just love reading the paper, drinking cafe au lait. [Laughs] I'm going for it!
Q: I read an article where Tom said you worry all the time. What do you have to worry about?
A: I have the personality for it. Our relationship is a great one. We work really hard at it. It isn't perfect by any stretch. We're brutally honest with each other at times. I get worried when Tom goes up in a plane because it makes me think, God, I don't know what I would do if he wasn't in this world.
Q: Is it true you won't let your kids fly with him?
A: I used to not, but now I do. If anything ever happened to them my life would be over. But he's so headstrong, he manages to convince me. He's only taken the kids up twice and not in the aerobatic plane, I won't allow that. But Connor is obsessed with planes. Just my luck. He's three and all he talks about are planes and motorbikes. I've done nothing to encourage this and neither has Tom. Bella has had the exact same things that Connor has had, yet she has not responded to cars or motorbikes. It must be partly conditioning that I'm not aware of--I still can't believe it's just genetic. I want Bella to learn guitar, but she sits there without much interest, and Connor wants to learn guitar. They're gonna be what they're gonna be.
Q: What do you feel you're better at, acting or mothering?
A: I get so much joy out of just lying in bed and reading to my children, seeing their faces light up. That stuff is priceless. If it came to a choice between having a career or being a mother, I would give up my career. Wouldn't even think twice about it.
Q: You said that it's a discovery when the child is adopted--you're not seeing yourself duplicated.
A: The spiritual aspect of adoption is that it's so extraordinary that two adults and a little baby find themselves in such a huge world. That makes it very special. We tell both our kids: "No, you didn't come from my tummy, but you came from my heart."
Q: Are either of your parents involved in Scientology?
A: No.
Q: With your father being a psychologist I imagine he questioned you about it?
A: Oh yeah. I'm interested in all sorts of things. It's not like I am just one thing. I'm interested in Buddhism. I pride myself on my open-mindedness.
Q: Do you consider yourself complicated?
A: Yeah.
Q: Stubborn?
A: About certain things. But I'm pretty willing to hear the other side.
Q: You have extremely long fingers--do you play the piano?
A: Yeah.
Q: Streisand's got long fingers, too.
A: She has beautiful hands. I saw her at a party and I couldn't take my eyes off her hands. She has the most beautiful hands I've ever seen.
Q: Who are your favorite authors and what was the first book that influenced you?
A: George Eliot and Henry James. The first book that really influenced me was [Eliot's] Middlemarch. Eliot was so perceptive about human nature. I could understand it at an early age. Whereas I read The Portrait of a Lady and didn't understand it and needed to read it again after I'd been through certain life experiences.
Q: Think you'll ever publish your journal?
A: Never. I'd have to kill myself.
Q: Charlie Sheen and David Duchovny gave Movieline samples of their poetry to publish, why not an excerpt from your journal?
A: No! It's not in any way for posterity. It's therapy for myself. I love Muhammed Ali's short poem: "Me, we."
Q: Do you like boxing?
A: I love boxing. I feel embarrassed to like it so much because it's such a brutal sport.
Q: You're the chairperson of the advisory board for UCLA's Women's Reproductive Cancer Research and Treatment Program. What do you do for them?
A: Fund-raise. I believe wholeheartedly in Dr. Berek there. They're in positions to help and save women's lives. I'm glad you mentioned it, it's good to give them a plug.
Q: I can barely see you.
A: I know, we're sitting in the dark. It's kind of good, eating sushi and sitting in the dark.
Q: Maybe it's time to end this.
A: But you never asked me what painting I'd like to live in. You asked Jim Carrey that.
Q: I don't like to ask the same questions to everybody.
A: Yeah, but I was expecting that one.
Q: Oh all right, what painting?
A: Munch.
Q: The Scream?
A: Yes!
Q: OK, you can go home now and put the kids to bed.
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Lawrence Grobel interviewed David Duchovny for the July '98 issue of Movieline.
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