Nicole Kidman grateful to join Babygirl ‘on the ground level’

Nicole Kidman was grateful to join her erotic thriller Babygirl in the early stages and help shape what it became.

The Australian actress read one of the first drafts of the script for Dutch director Halina Reijn’s thriller and immediately agreed to play Romy Mathis, a CEO who embarks on a risky affair with an intern.

Once she was on board, Kidman enjoyed being able to help Reijn shape and refine the story until it became what viewers see on screen.

“I read (the script) beginning to end and then I just called her and said, ‘Okay, how do we get it made? What do we do? Tell me now what to do,'” the Moulin Rouge! star recalled on the Just for Variety podcast.

“It was different to what the film is now, because it was the first draft, or it was I think, one of her first drafts where it was still in the shaping form. There were things in it that you and I can talk about another time, that are not in there now. But it was beautiful to be on that ground level, entering the project that way. Because the other times you enter and it’s a final draft and there’s nothing to be shifted or moved. So this was very much, it was still in motion. But the ideas were so solid and the structure was solid.”

Kidman likes to use her clout to help up-and-coming directors, particularly female filmmakers, get their projects made. In the case of Babygirl, the film was Reijn’s second English-language directorial effort after 2022’s Bodies Bodies Bodies.

“I get to put my weight and my power and my voice behind people that are either having second chances, third chances, beginning or needing guidance. That’s a purpose for me, so I’m happy to be doing it,” she added.

Babygirl, also starring Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas, is cinemas now.