Nicole Kidman isn’t shy when it comes to getting into character. She has a knack for getting under her character’s skin so thoroughly that she becomes synonymous with the role and it’s impossible to distinguish acting from reality. During her career she’s taken on a number of adventurous roles that have required her to transform her look in one way or another, including playing Virginia Woolf in The Hours, Sue Brierley in Lion and now Erin Bell in Destroyer. To celebrate Destroyer’s release, in cinemas January 25, 2019, we’re taking a look at some of Kidman’s most transformative roles and why those films are so defined by her presence in them.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! sees Kidman star as the glittered courtesan, Satine, dancing at the infamous Parisian nightclub during the late 18th century. She stole the show with her beauty, dancing and surprisingly good singing. The performance earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the 2002 Academy Awards.
The Hours (2002)
This intertwining drama follows three women, each living in different times, searching for more meaning. This film is notorious for making Nicole Kidman completely unrecognizable. Three hours a day were spent applying the prosthetic nose that completely transformed Kidman into novelist Virginia Woolf and her commitment to the character won her an Oscar in 2003.
Lion (2016)
In the biographical drama Lion, Kidman becomes the adoptive mother of Saroo, an Indian boy who is separated from his biological mother and begins searching for his birth family later in life. She rocks a motherly 80s perm and is transformed to look aged as the boy grows and her health deteriorates. Kidman’s performance as the real-life Sue Brierley in 2016’s Lion earned the actress her fourth career Oscar nomination.
Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017)
This TV drama features Kidman with a complete cosmetic transformation, which allows to sink deep into her role of the estranged, adoptive mother to the daughter of the show’s detective protagonist. To embody the persona of Julia Edwards, Kidman sports grey stringy curls, freckles, a gap between her teeth and another nose job to give her an imperfect nose.
Destroyer (2019)
n her latest role, Kidman’s character is meant to look like she wears her haunted past on her face. Her dramatically altered image dons dirtied and sun damaged skin, a matted dark wig and deep permanent eyebags to convey years of sleep deprivation and stress. Her look only tells the beginning of the story; it’s Kidman’s acting that takes the film to the next level, making Destroyer worth watching again and again.
Destroyer officially hits cinemas across the UK on January 25, 2019.
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