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Nicole Kidman’s acting chops have taken her to wild places, but one role cranked her rage dial to an 11, and it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it turned her into a full-blown fury machine, unearthing emotions she’d never played with before. The moment was so jarring that many viewers found it impossible to watch.
Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies | Credits: HBO EntertainmentKidman’s deep dive into this emotional chaos proved her unmatched commitment to exploring the darker corners of the human experience onscreen.
Nicole Kidman’s Big Little Lies role turned her into a rage-fueled force, and here’s why
Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies | Credits: HBO EntertainmentNicole Kidman’s role as Celeste Wright in Big Little Lies pushed her into uncharted emotional territory — and turned her into a rage monster, both on and off the set.
For one intense assault scene with Alexander Skarsgard (who played her abusive husband, Perry), Kidman convinced him to actually beat and choke her to make the performance as raw as possible. The result? A chilling moment so brutal that many viewers struggled to watch.
But the emotional toll didn’t end there. Offscreen, Kidman found herself unable to shake the tension. One night, locked out of her house and frustrated beyond belief, she hurled a rock through a window to get in — something she’d never done before.
Even Kidman admitted it was an uncharacteristic outburst, but the pent-up energy from filming had clearly taken its toll. She said during an interview with THR:
I threw a rock because [the door] was locked, and I couldn’t get in. I’d never done that in my life. I obviously [had a lot] pent up. I broke the whole thing. It cost a fortune. And then I went back the next day, and I said to Alexander [Skarsgård] and [late director] Jean-Marc [Vallée], ‘I threw a rock through the window,’ and they were like, ‘Whoa.’ I said, ‘I was kind of pissed off.’
But there’s a way in which we operate where the show must go on, and so you just keep going — you show up and you do it and do it and do it and do it. And a lot of times, it’s six months of 12-, 14-hour days and there really isn’t the time to go, ‘I need to take care of myself.’
The series didn’t shy away from difficult themes, diving into domestic violence, sexual assault, and the trauma it leaves behind. The season-one finale revealed Perry was not only Celeste’s abuser but also Jane’s (Shailene Woodley) rapist, making him the father of both their children.
Zoë Kravitz in The Batman | Credits: Warner Bros. PicturesHis shocking death, caused by Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz) pushing him down the stairs to stop him from further beating Celeste, set the stage for season two, where everyone grappled with the aftermath.
Kidman later reflected on the grueling process, admitting she struggled to balance such dark roles with self-care. The constant emotional strain led her to seek lighter projects post-filming, calling the experience “unhealthy” for her psyche. She revealed during the same interview,
After Expats, I went and did a comedy because I went crazy with my own psychology. I was like, ‘This is unhealthy.’ And it’s something that I think we need to talk about as actors — protecting your body so that you can live for as long as you are given on this earth. Because it’s very tough on the psyche.
Big Little Lies showcased Nicole Kidman’s unparalleled ability to embody deeply uncomfortable characters. But as she proved, even a seasoned pro like her sometimes needs to smash a window — literally and figuratively — to break free from the weight of it all.
Halina Reijn’s Babygirl reimagines Nicole Kidman’s Eyes Wide Shut role with a bold twist
A still from Babygirl | Credits: Man Up FilmsHalina Reijn had one question: What if Eyes Wide Shut’s Alice Harford actually acted on her fantasy? Her film Babygirl was the answer. Reijn shared flipping the focus from Tom Cruise’s wandering husband to Kidman’s overlooked wife:
It’s my playful revenge on all the movies that are made by men where all these women are either a femme fatale or a Lolita…[Samuel gets] a fairy tale introduction. So, I almost want to have people wonder, ‘Is this real or did she dream him up?’ Because we start and end the movie with orgasms, we can see the whole movie as a metaphor of one big sexual fantasy.
This wasn’t your typical erotic flick. She wanted to create a sexual movie, where the real steam was in the power plays and imagination.
Mixing Hedda Gabler inspiration with Christmas-in-the-Hamptons vibes, Reijn turned her frustration into a fresh take on freedom, proving desire doesn’t need a whip — or even nudity — to hit deep.
Big Little Lies is available to watch on Max & Apple TV.
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