Nicole Kidman…The Australian Academy Award-winning actress is many things to many people: She’s the face of AMC Theatres for countless souls. Others view her as a gay icon. Still others know her as the woman who delivered the killer final line of both “Eyes Wide Shut” and Stanley Kubrick’s entire directorial career. Part of Kidman’s legendary movie star reputation is that she’s also an Oscar darling, having been nominated on five separate occasions and even winning one Oscar for “The Hours” in 2002. It’s an esteemed track record worthy of such a prolific figure in modern cinema.
Given how many times she has been invited back to the ceremony, it can be easy to lose track of what she has been nominated for and when. What is Kidman’s Oscar history, and could this year see her add another nomination to her sterling track record for her bold performance in Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl?”
Believe it or not, it took Kidman nearly two decades into her acting career to receive her first Oscar nomination. Though she was already headlining movies as early as 1989’s “Dead Calm,“ she would have to wait until the 21st century for her first Oscar nomination. Initially, that might not seem super surprising, given that Kidman’s 90s exploits primarily centered on mainstream fare like “Batman Forever,” “The Peacemaker,“ and “Practical Magic.“ Such movies were glitzy popcorn-munchers, not awards-season darlings.
Staggeringly, Kidman didn’t receive Oscar recognition for her unforgettable work anchoring Gus van Sant’s “To Die For.” Her turn as Suzanne Stone-Maretto is integral to making the dark comedy work as well as it does. To this day, Kidman’s “To Die For“ performance is still inspiring memes, praise, and discussion. In hindsight, it looks like she came close to securing an Oscar nomination for “To Die For,“ given her slew of Best Actress nominations at many of the significant Oscar precursors. She scored a Best Actress BAFTA nomination for the role and took home the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy statue at the Golden Globes.
This win (following her Best Supporting Actress nomination for “Billy Bathgate“ three years earlier) cemented the Golden Globes as a very friendly place for Kidman. However, such a reputation wasn’t enough to get her into the Best Actress Oscar field that year, a stunning development that only grows more shocking with time. Kidman’s big Best Actress Oscar nominee debut would come at the 74th Academy Awards, where she was recognized for her lead work in Baz Luhrmann’s Best Picture nominee “Moulin Rouge!.“ That same year, she also garnered acclaim for her lead turn in the horror film “The Others,“ which gave her a second Golden Globe for Best Actress (this time for Drama) nomination that year, alongside “Moulin Rouge!“
Being a genre feature and opening the same year as “Moulin Rouge!“ meant that “The Others“ would always be limited in terms of the awards attention for Kidman. However, delivering two deeply eclectic performances in one year reinforced the specialness surrounding her aura. Things were only going to get better for her during awards season. A year later, she won the Best Actress Oscar for “The Hours.“ It was a tremendous accomplishment, solidifying her as a bonafide movie star. The following year, Kidman scored another Golden Globe Best Actress nomination (as well as equivalent nominations at various critic association awards) for her work in “Cold Mountain.”
For three consecutive years, Kidman was everywhere as an awards season darling. Save for headlining 2004’s deeply divisive “Birth“ (which got her yet another Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress), she then parlayed her Oscar win into more mainstream cinema efforts like “The Stepford Wives,” “Bewitched,“ and “The Invasion.“ After this, Kidman was in the wilderness for a bit, anchored to forgotten DTV titles like “Trespass“ and “Grace of Monaco.“ Come 2016, though, Kidman roared back to life with the role of Sue Brierley in Garth Davis’s “Lion.“ This emotional role earned Kidman her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and kick-started a Kidman renaissance that continues to this day.
In the late 2010s, Kidman anchored several acclaimed films that came very close to giving her a fifth Oscar nomination. However, despite mustering up impressive award-season presences, they never came to fruition. “Destroyer“ gained Kidman some Best Actress nominations at various critics groups ceremonies, including (to no one’s surprise) the Golden Globes. However, this Karyn Kusama directorial effort didn’t score Best Actress glory at the Oscars or any other major Oscar precursors. More prolific that same year was various Best Supporting Actress nominations for “Boy Erased.” Kidman was a fixture in this category at different award shows for Joel Edgerton’s film, though that wasn’t enough to propel her to the Oscars again.
After a successful Emmy awards season run on HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” the 94th Academy Awards brought Kidman to the Best Actress race again finally, with Aaron Sorkin’s Lucille Ball biopic, “Being the Ricardos,“ her fifth Oscar nomination. Now, three years later, all eyes are on whether or not this year will make Kidman only the 43rd performer in history to secure six or more Oscar nominations. The film that could be responsible for such a feat is this Christmas’s new theatrical release “Babygirl,“ a new acclaimed erotic thriller headlined by Kidman and Harris Dickinson from “Bodies Bodies Bodies“ director/writer Halina Reijn. Given Kidman’s rampant award season presence and her “Babygirl” performance receiving so much praise (not to mention the film hailing from the awards season experts at A24), she’s already won the Venice Volpi Cup for Best Actress, received her sixth Golden Globe nomination and won the National Board Of Review for Best Actress.
Still, erotic thrillers are not guaranteed Oscar glory. They can sometimes repel the more squeamish voters in the Academy. Just look at how Glenn Close’s work in the horniness-fueled “Fatal Attraction“ and “Dangerous Liaisons“ failed to get her a single Oscar win. Plus, Halina Reijn is still a relatively fresh face in the industry, which voters may not be ready to formally recognize with such a prestigious nomination. Academy voters may opt for leading lady turns from filmmakers with whom they’re more familiar and have stronger narratives behind them. Even with those hurdles, though, “Babygirl” still has a very strong shot at securing another Best Actress Oscar nomination for one of the best actresses working today. Period. After all, Kidman is an Oscar heavyweight with countless nominations under her belt, not to mention a reputation that means so much to so many people in endlessly varied ways from her diverse work in film and television, working with auteur directors who push her out of her comfort zone and giving a shot to up and coming female filmmakers by lending her star power to help get their projects financed by her involvement. In other words, discount her Oscar nomination chances at your own immense peril, and we hope you venture out to the theaters this Holiday season to see her latest accomplished work in “Babygirl.”
Have you seen “Babygirl” yet? If so, what did you think of it and of Kidman’s performance? Do you think she’ll be nominated for Best Actress again this year? Please let us know in the comments below or on Next Best Picture’s X account, and be sure to check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
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