Nicole Kidman has subtly called out Martin Scorsese for not making enough films that centre on female characters.
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The actor was being questioned by Vanity Fair about the directors that she would still like to work with in her career, and the Killers Of The Flower Moon filmmaker was one of the names she came up with.
However, it appeared to come with a sly comment about his propensity to make predominantly male-centric movies.
“I want to work with Martin Scorsese,” she said. “If he does a film with women.”
Scorsese built his reputation with a series of films that explored the psyche of complex male characters, including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas. It has at times led to criticism that his movies do not make enough space for female protagonists – something he dismissed while promoting The Irishman in 2019 as “not even a valid point”.
Ellen Burstyn did win an Oscar for her role in Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1975, however, as did Cate Blanchett for The Aviator in 2005, while Jodie Foster, Diane Ladd, Cathy Moriarty, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Lorraine Bracco, Juliette Lewis, Winona Ryder, Sharon Stone and Lily Gladstone have all been nominated for Oscars for Scorsese films.
Kidman is preparing to release her new film Babygirl, which is out in the US on Christmas Day and in the UK on January 10. She has described the film as so “exposing” that she is afraid to watch it in the cinema.
The erotic thriller, directed by Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies), sees Kidman playing marketing executive Romy, who embarks on a forbidden romance with Harris Dickinson’s significantly younger intern Samuel.
The film features frank depictions of female sexual fantasies and Kidman told Vanity Fair that there is “something in my going, okay, this was made for the big screen and to be seen with people. But then I’m like, that’s a high-wire act. I’m not sure I have that much bravery.”
She also recently starred in Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple, a mystery drama adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel. The dark show featured an incongruously upbeat opening credits scene in which the cast danced on the beach to Meghan Trainor’s ‘Criminals’, something Kidman and her co-stars set up a WhatsApp group to try to get out of having to film.
Elsewhere, Kidman has given an update on the status of the third season of Big Little Lies, which she revealed back in November last year was in the works. “We’re moving fast and furious,” she said in June. “Liane [Moriarty] is delivering the book. We’re in good shape.”
Scorsese, meanwhile, is set to host, narrate and executive produce the docuseries Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, which kicks off on Sunday (November 17). Each episode will focus on a singular saint, with episodes dedicated to Joan of Arc, John the Baptist, Sebastian, Maximilian Kolbe, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, and Moses the Black.
The director has also produced a new Beatles documentary, Beatles ‘64, which will arrive on Disney+ on November 29.
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