Nicole Kidman Breaks Down Her Iconic Looks From the AMC Ad, Moulin Rouge & More

And I love it when makeup artists go,

I'm just gonna give you a lip

that looks like you've just been kissing

and you've been slightly bitten on your lip.

Yum.

Hi Allure.

I am Nicole Kidman,

and I am here to break down some of my iconic looks for you.

[upbeat electronic music]

It's your doctor, Dr. Lewicki.

I don't think he's actually seen me before.

Days of Thunder.

Oh my God. I was so excited.

I couldn't believe it.

I met Tony Scott, I met Tom Cruise,

I met everyone at Paramount.

I was like, this is big time.

We went to Daytona and we started shooting

and it was spring break and I'm like,

Gosh, this is America?

Why did I straighten my hair?

I love my hair there.

That is my natural hair. Isn't that crazy?

So little girls out there, embrace the curl.

Do not follow in my steps and straighten your hair.

I look like my daughters. Well, that makes sense.

There's certain things you can get that when you blow dry

and scrunch your hair

and you just, [Nicole shushing],

the curl comes back in abundance.

I can do that to my hair still,

but it needs to be kind of humid

and I need to use the right product.

But it was very humid down there.

Thus I have very wild curly hair.

I can't believe it.

I'm in love.

Moulin Rouge.

[Director] Was working with Baz Luhrmann

on Vogue Australia

what got you the role of Satine?

I think that sort of was part of the thing

that got me the job.

I'd seen Strictly Ballroom in Australia.

So I'd reached out to him

and just said I really loved it, not just the film.

I'd seen the stage production.

And we'd stayed in contact.

And then this photo shoot with Vogue came up

and then he came

and saw me in The Blue Room.

The combination of the photo shoot

and us just staying in contact

and then the performance in The Blue Room.

And he sent me a dozen long stemmed red roses

in a white box, very Baz.

And he said, Will you be my Satine?

[laughing] I said, But I can't sing.

We did a three month workshop

and over the process of that three month workshop,

we danced, we sang, we workshopped the script.

Baz was trying things.

So yeah, we did live singing, which was terrifying.

But Ewan and I had rehearsed so much

so by the time you get on set it's like, oh,

we've done this before.

We did a lot of makeup tests.

Some of them are even in the film

'cause a lot of the way in which he works,

which I've used as well now.

When you do a makeup test,

rather than wasting time just standing there,

you actually create the character on film.

You watch it back, you play around.

Hair color was explored, costuming, everything.

And I've subsequently seen the show on Broadway

and seen other people playing Satine

and it's just fantastic

to have been the originator of the character.

I just loved to be Satine.

[laughing] I'd go back anytime.

My life has been stolen from me.

I'm living in a town I have no wish to live in.

I'm living a life I have no wish to live.

The Hours.

What's there to say about Virginia Woolf?

I think it took two and a half, three hours. Yeah.

To do the prosthetics.

Obviously they'd be able to do that a lot.

I think they'd be able to do that far more quickly now.

But that was, you know, it was old school time.

So that was that.

And I would just sit there and I would listen to music

or I would listen to her speaking or I would listen to,

and there's not very many recordings of Virginia.

I would just sort of have to zone out.

Which is kind of a great way to start the day, honestly.

'cause you just have to start in a relaxed state of mind.

And strangely enough, I also would roll my own cigarettes.

'cause that's what Virginia smoked all the time.

And I have this really weird thing

where if my character smokes, this happened

with Lucille when I played Lucille Ball as well.

I smoke for the character

and then the minute I'm done,

I don't touch a cigarette and I have no desire.

We're character actors

and people always go, oh well, you know,

the nose or this and that.

But that's our job as an actor.

We are there not to present ourselves.

We are there to present a character.

Turn it! Nicole, this way!

Turn it to the left! Nicole, turn it!

Met Gala. Magical Dress.

[Director] After an 11 year break from attending

the Met Gala, what brought you back?

Anna. [laughing]

Anna will always bring me back.

I've known Anna pretty much my whole career.

I love her and I will do anything to support her.

And also I just thought this was the most glorious

gown to wear.

You know, it felt really, really special and celestial

and it was easy to wear and it was fun.

I really liked the braids too.

Italo, who dipped my hair, decided on the braids.

I'm actually kind of, I go with the flow.

I'm like, okay, what are we doing? Show me.

Mold me, make me, because I'm not the expert.

The other people around me are the expert. I'll weigh in.

But I'm very interested in always broadening

and expanding what I think.

'cause if you stay only in your lane

and what you like,

then you're gonna stay exactly the same.

That's great for some people.

It doesn't really interest me.

He's just so intense.

I mean, he talks about our relationship in terms

of centuries.

Sometimes we just stay up all night.

Practical Magic, the genesis

and the root of it is the sisters.

And that expanded into the witchcraft

and the magic of the film.

But there's an emotional core, which is the sisters

and I love Sandy.

And so the natural kind of sisterhood that we have,

I think is reflected in the film.

It was just a really fun film to make as well.

I remember we would throw parties

and we would hang out a lot.

We would go and dance salsa.

I threw a party once and it was sort of Moroccan themed

and we had all sorts of, I mean we just had fun.

And I think the fun, you feel that in the film.

And then you feel the strength of the sisters.

She's just Jillian.

I created Jillian, the Redheaded Witch.

Weren't you burned for that?

[Director] There's talks of a Practical Magic 2?

There is. It's definitely coming to fruition rapidly.

Hold onto your husband's.

Hang on to your husband's, girls.

[people chattering] [crowd cheering]

Academy Awards.

I was actually doing Eyes Wide Shut at the time.

I was in the UK.

And so I would go to Paris on the weekends a lot.

And that's how I built my relationship with John Galliano.

And I didn't realize that it was sort of such a bold move

for the Academy Awards at that time.

It just seemed like an exquisite gown and creation.

It was made for me and made for my body.

It was just fantastic. And I still have it.

I own it and I love it when makeup artists go,

I just wanna give you a lip

that looks like you've just been eating berries.

Isn't that nice?

Or the other one is,

I'm just gonna give you a lip

that looks like you've just been kissing

and you've been slightly bitten on your lip.

Yum.

And it was mesh down the back.

I mean, when you see the dress, your jaw drops.

All of the embroidery.

I mean, it's so intricately beautifully made.

It just seemed like, wow, you know?

'cause I grew up with a grandmother who was a seamstress.

My mother was a seamstress.

They could embroider, they could knit, they could sew,

they could do everything.

I was the child that had the couture clothes,

but the couture was made by my grandmother and my mother.

And I would have little fur collars

and I would have little coats and I would wear gloves

and I would wear little hats.

And I was so, I was that child. And it makes me feel loved.

This is the weirdest thing.

So it makes me feel loved when I'm standing there

in a fitting and you are putting a dress on me

and you're fitting it to me and you care

because that I had a grandmother

and a mother that,

that's how they expressed their love to me.

So there's some deep psychology for you.

[dramatic music] [crowd applauding]

Being the Ricardos.

Inspiring, like a high wire act

because it's Aaron Sorkin's dialogue mixing in with,

I'm not playing Lucy, I'm playing Lucille Ball.

Very different.

But it was the biggest challenge really of my career.

And it was so difficult and it was so fulfilling.

It's so beautifully written, that role,

and to have been nominated for it

and acknowledged in that way, I'm so grateful

because the work that it took technically as well

as emotionally to combine the two was enormous.

There was a physical transformation,

but Aaron did not want that.

He's like, I wanna see you.

I'm not interested in the, oh my gosh,

we've pulled off the feat

of making her look exactly like Lucy.

He wanted the essence of her

so vocally we committed to that.

But in terms of the actual look, he's like,

That's not what I'm looking for.

Otherwise I'd do it all with AI, you know?

We're not doing that.

Lucie Arnaz is an amazing support through it.

And she was a lifeline for me,

and she gave me so much confidence when we first screened it

and people accepted me in the role.

And I remember walking into, I think it was in Westwood,

and there'd been the first screening of it.

I literally started crying.

So that shows you how much pressure I felt.

And you know, she was of that era where you dressed,

you were a lady, you know, you came in.

But boy, as I always say,

she was the smartest person in the room.

Male or female. I'm just grateful I got to play her.

We love you Lucille Ball. You carved the way for us.

We come to this place for magic.

The AMC commercial. Are we still talking about that?

I'm very, very glad to be able to say that

we did that during Covid.

The people that did it with me, there was Billy Ray

who wrote it, and the cinematographer who directed it,

he and his brother, we all just were like,

okay, we can do this.

Quick, buckle down.

We'll do it in a day and let's do this

because we owe this to our industry and to cinema.

And that was that. And it was the purest of intentions.

It kind of took on a life of its own. Thank God.

I never thought it would take on this life,

but I'm grateful that it did.

It was a Michael Kors suit

and my stylist, Julia von Boehm was just

like, Here, this is it.

And there was no sort of overthinking of anything.

It was just very matter of fact and direct.

And that was that.

[Director] Have you seen your outfit immortalized

as a Loungefly backpack?

Oh my gosh. Are you kidding?

That's amazing.

I'm still, see?

I'm still deeply connected to AMC theater.

I go, I pay money and I go

and I see my commercial in the AMC,

but then I always go and see movies.

I'm a paying member of the public who goes

to the movie theaters with huge enthusiasm, and I love it.

How did you get in here?

I came in through the door.

I am Masha.

Nine Perfect Strangers.

[Director] How would you describe Masha?

What do you want to know? [laughing]

Masha is a healer with her own trauma and her own troubles,

but she's actually there to help.

That was really fun to play.

We also shot that during Covid in Byron Bay.

And the show has that dream quality

and the whole thing was like a dream.

It was Noriko, my makeup artist who's Japanese was like,

I really think this is the feel.

And it felt right then we slowly put together the clothes

and the movement and vocally.

It's not like it happens where you're mapping it out.

It's more like it starts to unfurl,

it gets discovered as you're in the rehearsal process

and the whole thing just eventuates that way.

[Director] How is Masha reinventing herself

for season two?

Does she have completely different hair?

She needs to for a reason. It's a crazy ride.

Very different to the things I've done.

Thank you for having me, Allure.

I had the best time doing this shoot.

Thank you for existing.

I get lots of tips from you, so keep it up.

[mellow music]