Nicole Kidman is one of the most recognizable faces in all of Hollywood. She has had an epic career for decades, and thanks to those so-cheesy-they’re-good AMC theater promos, she has literally become the face of film. Still, it’s been a very long time since Kidman headlined a role that really blew our collective minds.
However, it looks like that is about to change. Her new film Babygirl releases on December 25th, and it sounds like this little Christmas gift is aimed more at naughty theatergoers than nice ones. In short, the film is a kink extravaganza, one that tested Kidman to her very limits.
Don’t believe it? Keep reading to discover what Kidman herself has to say about this explosively erotic new film.
Even Nicole Kidman hasn’t seen Babygirl
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Nicole Kidman admitted something surprising about Babygirl: despite the fact that it comes out this Christmas, she hadn’t yet seen her newest film. The reason why is that this is a movie filled with more than sex and nudity…it’s also filled with intensely erotic vulnerability.
“There’s something in me going, Okay, this was made for the big screen and to be seen with people,” she said. “But then I’m like, That’s a high-wire act. I’m not sure I have that much bravery.” While the star won’t rule out eventually seeing Babygirl in a movie theater, she is continuously struck by how singular this particular film really is. “I’ve made some films that are pretty exposing,” she said, “but not like this.”
A kinky new masterpiece
One of the reasons Nicole Kidman is nervous about audiences seeing her in this role is that Babygirl is naughtier than anything she has done before. The movie is a very frank portrayal of characters exploring a BDSM relationship and discovering how that impacts their relationships, both with each other and the rest of the world.
The film is directed by Halina Reijn, who recently brought us the neo-horror classic Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and it sounds like this latest movie will be as steamy as her last one was scary. The director told Vanity Fair that the one thing she is sure of regarding Babygirl is that it will thrill and titillate audiences. “I know we accomplished one thing, and that is that we made a really hot movie,” she said. “I don’t know about good, bad—that’s up to everybody—but I’m sure of that.”
A movie inspired by some naughty classics
If you’re only familiar with Halina Reijn from her amazing work on Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, you might be surprised that she decided to direct an erotic thriller rather than another outright horror film. However, she comes by her passion for this subject very honestly, as she was inspired at a young age by some of the spicier directors of yesteryear.
For example, she confided to Vanity Fair that she was seriously inspired by Paul Verhoeven’s work on Basic Instinct and Adrian Lyne’s work on Indecent Proposal. These directors effectively inspired an awakening: “They made me feel less alone with my own hidden sexual fantasies and desires,” she said, “and from that moment on, I started to dream about being able to create something like that myself—but from my own perspective.”
Despite that awakening, Reijn is still navigating her own desires, and Babygirl is one of the ways she is doing so. As she said, this inspiration from the previous directors “gave me more fire to try to shine a light on that, because I’m still struggling with my own shame around it.”
What is Babygirl actually about?
You might be turned off, turned on, or a bit of both when you hear about Babygirl being a heavy BDSM story featuring Nicole Kidman. But what is the movie actually about? In it, Kidman plays a high-profile New York business exec married to a theater director, who is played by Antonio Banderas. Despite her onscreen husband being played by one of Hollywood’s hottest men, Kidman’s character finds herself sexually frustrated, as evidenced by her need to masturbate after some unsatisfying sex with her partner.
The solution to this passion problem is that she begins a tawdry affair with her company’s newest intern, a much younger character played by Harris Dickinson. What results is what director Halina Reijn calls an “X-ray” of kink as the characters explore the intensely erotic implications of a forbidden relationship which explores the power dynamics and age gap at the heart of their affair.
A close bond between actor and director
A big part of why we are excited to see Babygirl is that this is more than just another role for Nicole Kidman. Along the way, she developed a very close friendship with director Halina Reijn. This led to some frank discussions and intense bonding that helped fuel the steamy scenes that we see onscreen.
Reijn wrote the movie with Nicole Kidman in mind, and she admitted to Vanity Fair that in her previous acting roles, she would take inspiration from Kidman despite having not yet met. “Her fearlessness in her movies was a torch that I was humbly trying to carry,” she said. By the time she needed a fearless performer for Babygirl, she knew Kidman could be the only possible choice for the role.
The two women frequently met and had very open conversations about sex and sexuality, conversations which are ultimately reflected onscreen. “It was being able to talk unbelievably honestly and graphically—and that’s woman-to-woman, as though you are sitting on your bed and talking to your sister or your best friend,” Kidman said. Still, Kidman has mixed feelings about Babygirl (out December 25th) because of just how naughty it is: “This is something you do and hide in your home videos. It is not a thing that normally is going to be seen by the world.”