Nicole Kidman recalls Stanley Kubrick telling her she is a ‘character actress’

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Washington Bureau Chief

Nicole Kidman has recalled being told she is a “character actress” by Stanley Kubrick.

In a new interview with The Guardian, which was published today (26 December), the Big Little Lies actor spoke about the definition of a “movie star”.

The 54-year-old said: “That term confuses me. Can you define it? It’s too cerebral for me.”

She continued: “I can only go to what Stanley Kubrick would say to me, which was, ‘Nicole, you’re a character actress.’

“Usually I’m resistant to labels. There’s a new generation now, saying, ‘No, you don’t get to define me just this way.’ I’m hugely supportive of this. And you can also change. I love that.”

A character actor is someone who specialises in playing supporting roles who are commonly eccentric people.

Kidman and Kubrick worked together on the 1999 erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut, in which she starred as Alice Harford opposite Tom Cruise.

Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick’s final film. The Oscar-winning filmmaker died aged 70 in March 1999.

Elsewhere in the interview, Kidman spoke about her pledge to star in a female-directed film or show every 18 months as a means of “paying it forward”.