(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sat 6 December 2025 22:30, UK
Nicole Kidman never stops. Since she began acting in the late 1980s, she has taken on copious roles across television and film, ranging from big budget flicks to some pretty gritty indie films, seemingly refusing to compromise her desire to appear in genuinely interesting movies, no matter their scale.
Able to work across such a vast scope of genres has made Kidman one of cinema’s most reliable stars. Becoming a powerhouse actor does mean she is also one of the most in-demand actors around, rarely stopping for breath between jobs. She played Virginia Woolf in The Hours, an abused housewife in Big Little Lies, a cabaret-performing prostitute in Moulin Rouge!, an overly-ambitious weather reporter in To Die For, a sexually frustrated businesswoman in Babygirl, and even an Emperor Penguin in Happy Feet. Kidman has range.
The way that the actor has moved from serious roles to those propelled by humour comes from her own deep appreciation for cinema, and over the years she has studied the best by watching movies new and old, and there’s a few actors who she believes everyone should learn from if they want to succeed.
Talking to Backstage, the actor explained, “I think you should study Vivien Leigh and you should study [Marlon] Brando.” Of course, the pair starred opposite each other in A Streetcar Named Desire, both giving unforgettable, powerhouse performances as Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski.
Leigh’s portrayal of Blanche, a Southern Belle who tries to mask the fact that her life isn’t falling apart, earned her an Academy Award. The actor’s ability to traverse emotions across a singular performance, embodying multitudes of feelings through one glance, didn;t just win fans at the Academy but also the appreciation of Kidman. “I’m a huge fan of Vivien Leigh. I think she was an amazing actor,” Kidman said.
Meanwhile, the role saw Brando break through into Hollywood, and he would soon go on to become the Oscar-winning star of movies like On the Waterfront and The Godfather. At least until he entered that strange late period of his career where he mumbled through scripts and was anything but professional, Brando was widely considered one of the greatest stars to ever grace Hollywood, the image of him in The Wild One a simply iconic signifier of his cultural legacy.
“There are so many, but you look at Brando in certain roles and you just go, ‘There’s nothing better.’ And for a woman to study that is fantastic,” Kidman said. Enraptured by his performances, Kidman has certainly studied one of the best – let’s just hope she never uses his performance in Candy – or the The Island Dr Moreau for that matter – as inspiration.
She also highlighted her love for Isabelle Huppert, who really is one of the greatest actors of all time, yet she remains without an Oscar. Clearly they’re not the be-all and end-all if she doesn’t have one. Have you seen her performance in The Piano Teacher? Kidman echoes this, explaining that “Isabelle Huppert is extraordinary,” adding that she works “particularly” well with Michael Haneke.
Huppert and Kidman have never collaborated before, but it’s not too late – that would be incredible. You never know, it just might happen, because Huppert admires Kidman, too, once calling her “very daring,” adding, “she’s not afraid.” That’s for sure.
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