WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1191 - Nicole Kidman

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

Nicole Kidman keeps going for a very simple reason: She feels like her job helps her understand the meaning of life. After winning pretty all the major film and television acting awards, after being one of the world's biggest movie stars, and after becoming a major producer, Nicole says she's still working because it allows her to explore what makes humans the way they are. Marc talks with Nicole about those explorations, including Eyes Wide Shut, To Die For, Big Little Lies, Destroyer, The Undoing and more. There's also a cameo appearance by Keith Urban.  Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series,

FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life when i die here you'll never leave japan alive fx's shogun a new original series streaming february 27th exclusively on disney plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks

i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome uh if you're new here, hang out. Just sit in the back. You can share if you want, but it's probably best to listen today so you can get a sense of what's happening here. How the regs doing? How the regulars doing? How my people? Everybody all right? Are you holding up? Nicole Kidman is on the show today. You know Nicole Kidman. Kidman is on the show today. You know Nicole Kidman. I guess the reason she was available and hanging out was the limited series on HBO, The Undoing, which you can watch on HBO Max. Talk about that. We'll talk about a lot of stuff. I didn't know what to expect, but I found her completely charming and great. I imagine that most of us would expect that.

It was a beautiful chat. Beautiful chat. It's hard, right, knowing the vaccine's there and knowing that perhaps some semblance of, I don't know, normalcy, but a little more freedom of movement is possible if we could just get it. But the entire infrastructure of the federal government has been destroyed and no one's really in charge.

And all the agencies and cabinet posts are occupied by amateurs and con people and fascists. I don't want to be gender specific on the con people. and con people, and fascists. I don't want to be gender-specific on the con people. I find that in this last week or so, week and a half, week and a day, of the King Chaos pig's reign, that every day's a fucking cliff, people.

And all those cocky motherfuckers who thought there would be no punishment they're getting picked up cuffed put in the car charged with a number of different things that fella who so arrogantly and proudly had his feet up on nancy pelosi's desk for his photo op with that smile on his face apparently uh one of his primary concerns is the uh the chips you know they're gonna put chips in us the vaccines they're gonna chip us they're gonna chip us like our pets so when we're lost we can be returned to our owners but i got no owner man no one owns me i'm free man don't you understand what liberty is me and bobby little jimmy we're going to get the truck and we're going to take our country back i think his wife is is suzy coming jimmy Did you pick up some dip?

We're going to need like three or four tens of Coke before we go. No, I got all the other stuff. I got the vest. I got the zip ties. And I got twist ties as well. For, you know, sandwich bags, leftovers and whatnot. Zip ties are for hog tying senators. And the twist ties are for the trash, you know in the car did you get the dip we're gonna take it back no one's putting a chip in my head did you set the gps fuck the

chip in my head man fuck that man we're fighting against the chips we're fighting against the 5g what's the gps say do we just get on the interstate? Man, remember what it was like without GPSs? They're not putting a fucking chip in my head. Give me that dip. And scene. This is an inflection point. If something is not done today to punish and force responsibility onto those who refuse to take it,

then it's over. It's over. It's only going to happen again and again and worse and worse. They got to do whatever it takes.th amendment impeachment whatever something has to be done in a big way but we don't know what's going to fucking happen and that's i guess that's probably one of the reasons people are going more crazy it's been like that for four years but now in this final week in that day. It's pressing. The anxiety is profound. Fear is profound.

Sleep is difficult. But God damn it. They're not putting a chip in my head. Here, I'm going to do an IG post. Fuck that, man. Fuck 5G towers and chips in my head. Take a picture of me with my phone and post it on ig make sure the location thing is switched so people knows we're here give me that dip you got any dip i don't know it's kind of interesting, man. Twitter just shut him out. Everything's a little late.

Dollar short, day late, but good. If anyone's wondering who's really in charge, see how it feels to get your Twitter shut down, to be booted off Twitter. Then who are you? A person without a country, a human without land, nowhere to get your little angry voice behind the veil of a fake name out into the world to cause pain. Or you're the president. People are screaming censorship. It's censorship. I don't know. Maybe

you shouldn't have adjusted so efficiently. Maybe you shouldn't have turned your brain over to the technological overlords. Maybe these are privately held companies that can make privately held decisions. Maybe you just got to pass it up the chain and ask their shareholders. Do you mind? Do you mind if we block the president because he's beginning to turn the country into a fascist shithole filled with very shallow, aggravated apes with guns and hats. And dip. They brought the dip. I got five tens of cope. You've turned your brain over.

Do we have a choice? I don't know. Let me check my phone if I have a choice. Do I have a choice? What's trending? Am I trending? Is there something trending that I should be part of? I think that's what it means, right? Doesn't that mean that? What does trending mean? Trending. See what everyone else is doing so you can do it too. Lists. Are the lists over? Because I need to know what to think, this or that. Lists, content. What is content? Distraction profiteering.

Oh, right. Personality. What is personality? Template that you apply to the goo, the psychic goo that is you. A personality template. Character. What's character? Character is your resume.

That's what you present yourself. What is your brand? What are your likes and dislikes do you have a list is there a list what's trending are you trending the singularity has already happened most of who you are was created by the internet somehow you are designed your desires thoroughly mind mind your mind is it poetry day holy shit the fuck is happening i did yoga yesterday for the first time i've had the mat in and around it's only taken me you know months and months what is it how many months are we into this? I think I'm through most of the daily PTSD of grief. And now I reflect, trying to make memories of my girlfriend who passed away, blessings, trying to keep my head

above water mentally, psychologically, emotionally. Mornings are difficult. I've been meditating. And then I tried yoga. I did the yoga. I did some sun salutations. And I don't know what I'm expecting from meditating and yoga in the morning right when I wake up. But by the end of the day, I don't feel great. My body's still beat up. I'm still sore. There's no going back. There's no going back.

I'm just trying to stay engaged so my brain doesn't turn to mush. Something needs to happen this week. Something in the form of punitive action, justice, saving the system that we live under. Something has to happen. If it doesn't, we won't. Right? Can you dig it? Nicole Kidman.

It was very exciting to get to talk to her. And you can watch the most recent bit of business that she is involved with, The Undoing, on HBO Max. Watch Hugh Grant be a monster. A different kind of monster than he was before. At the beginning of this, you will hear another voice. It was Keith Urban.

Keith Urban, her husband, made an appearance getting her set up. That was kind of exciting in a weird way. I don't know one song that he's played. I know he's good at what he does, but just seeing him, I'm like, oh, shit. That's Keith Urban. This is me talking to Nicole Kidman and to Keith Urban briefly. It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything.

So, no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now.

For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of

Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at TorontoRock.com Wow Wow. A country music star and a movie star in the same frame. Do you play guitar? I do.

I got a lot of guitars right behind me. What does Keith play? What do you usually play? What's your guitar? Telecaster? Everything. Telestrat, Gibson, Les Pauls. What's your guitar? Telecaster? Everything. Telestrats, Gibson's, Les Paul's. What's your favorite one, though?

It changes. You like that single coil sound? I just got a 62 Les Paul Junior a few weeks ago. Oh, 62. Very nice. Right, with just the one P90 on there? It's great. There's nothing like it.

I know. It's a good rock guitar. Great rock guitar, yeah. Billy Armstrong agrees. uh-huh all right bye nice to talk to you that's who you should be talking to i don't know enough about guitars i always get lost with the guys who do it for a living they know a lot more you play good music though thank you do you want to uh are you going to put some earbuds in? No. No?

Do I need to? Because I don't know how to Bluetooth my AirPods. Well, go get the guitar guy. Let's get it. Yeah, let me do it. Hi, baby. How's that? Is it happening? How's that? Testing one,'s that testing one two hello hi better better i mean look at this yeah

good is that good thank you yeah hi nicole are we ready to go now? A bit too loud, a bit too loud, baby. Oh, it's a bit too loud, baby. Turn it down, baby. Turn it down, baby. Turn it up. Turn me on. Turn it down. Okay. That's the best interview I've ever done already.

See you later. Bye. Go practice. Don't go practicing. Go practice these days. Get better. How does it, like,

how does it, do you, I don't just before I, I, I'm just curious. Now, does he ever get any flack from the country music community that he's Australian?

Um, or they just don't care. He didn't make, no, no. I don't, I don't know, actually know actually i mean there's another um uh guy now younger guy um who's also really big in um and married to um kelsey ballerini and he's australian but keith really is the only australian that's ever been put into the country music, the Ryman. Oh, he's already played the Ryman.

All of them, to have won the awards. I mean, Olivia, John won a CMA, I think, once. But yeah, but he's like a jukebox, honestly. I mean, his understanding of country music is, we were sitting last night, here's the thing. We were sitting in our porch, and he's like, oh, this is a pickin' porch. And he got his guitar because we had the sunroom with the fly screen and it's summer here. And he just started playing Willie and Don Williams and all these old country songs.

Wow. And reeling off stories about Charlie Pryde. I mean, so he's grown up. His father loved country music. So since he was a baby, he's been listening to country music. And that's how he's understanding. Yeah. Yeah.

And then he taught himself guitar. Yeah. In his bedroom. And all year he would go to Tamworth, hear the country music. It sounds like you're talking to me like you just went on a first date with this guy. I love this guy. We're just on the porch and he knew all this stuff about country music. Well, I mean, I was sitting there going,

because he was telling me a story about Charlie Pryde, who just passed. And he was telling me a story about how chet atkins had to put his first i think it was his when he sent it out to be played on radio in a brown in brown paper bags so no one would know he was black wouldn't know that he was black yeah and chet atkins produced it probably yeah and i'm like how do you know that because everybody knows that and i'm like oh i don't know that um and now you do but you know that's just he has so much knowledge and then he had he plays by ear yeah so he you can play him one song and he'll play he can play and he can play drums and wow you know he's just that he's yes he can you play it and he'll play piano guitar drums well that's

exciting to have that in the house, right? It must be always entertaining. My music man. My music man. Good for you. So you just got back from shooting a movie? Yeah, I was shooting in Belfast. In Belfast?

Yes. I love Belfast now. I love Ireland. I love Ireland. I want to live there. I love Ireland. I love Ireland. I want to live there. I want out. Yes.

The weirdest thing was I'm in Belfast and I'm like, and I have this sort of this way of going, oh, maybe we should move here. I'm that person. Me too. So I'm in Belfast going, this place is really special. Yeah. And there's something about it. I was just drawn. I have Irish blood.

My family came over to Australia in 1839 on the SS Susan. Wow, you know the big history. I have zero Irish blood. i have i'm all jew and some part of me i know you are i've been listening i've been listening to the come up a lot some of your podcasts and i now subscribe to you oh good well that's very nice yeah i'm flattered yeah because i was i was saying you're one with glenn oh yeah i learned about glenn fascinating and i've worked with glenn years and years ago but i didn't know that I was saying you're one with Glenn. Oh, yeah. I learned about Glenn. Fascinating.

And I've worked with Glenn years and years ago, but I didn't know that. And then Carrie's one was so extraordinary because she went to India. I mean, all of these things. So I've been very excited to do this with you. Yeah, I've been excited, too. I was nervous. I'm nervous. You've done a lot of things and i uh like

i've been to australia a few times and one thing i remembered now i don't know what this is but i'm going to ask you because i'm curious you know whenever you go to australia you're an american australians talk about like you know seven people you know the the the australians that everybody knows around the world and you're one of them. But then there was always this thing. It's like, oh, her family owned the entire country once. Is that? Yeah, no, no. I'm not of that family. Okay.

That's the Adelaide Kidman. Oh, you missed out, huh? South Australia. Yeah. And he was a cattle king. Oh. And I'm not related to him. Do you get that a lot though?

Do people assume that about you? Yes. They do? They're like, oh, she's like a rich, old money Australian lady. Nope. Yeah, that's not the case. I came from a working class father who built himself up and he got his degree and became a biochemist and then became a psychologist. A psychologist? Your then became a psychologist. A psychologist? Your dad was a psychologist? He started as a biochemist.

And then I remember in my teens, suddenly my father was a psychologist. He'd gone and studied with Albert Ellis. And all of that was sort of CBT and cognitive behavioral therapy. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Did he have an office in the house? He did. Oh, wow. And, yeah. Did he have an office in the house? He did. Oh, wow.

So you were that kid? How did you know that? I would peep through the window and see people coming in and be like, I wonder what's wrong with them. But as an actor, that's a wonderful thing because just his understanding of behavior and the things he would share anonymously was interesting to me. And also his real compassion and ability to view things through different perspectives and lenses, I think, had an enormous effect on how I view the world now. I bet. Well, I mean, cognitive behavioral therapy, I mean, an enormous effect on how I view the world now. I bet.

Well, I mean, cognitive behavioral therapy, I mean, that's the most practical one. Like out of all of them, that seems to be the one that you can actually see working because it really relies on you going like, you know, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. Don't catastrophize give some tools as to how to yeah but as a of course as a as a teenager i was like oh so not gonna apply any of that and that's all crap and i'm not interested and oh yeah don't tell me you push back push back pretty hard it's my nature. You fought the good fight.

A little bit willful, yeah. Were you born in Australia? You weren't, right? I was born in Hawaii. How long did you live there, though? For a bit over a year, and then we moved to, oh, no, until I was about 18 months, I think, and then we moved to Washington, D.C., because my dad was studying at the Institute of Health.

D.C.? They had no money. Like no money. And they had to go and get, I even remember, you know, to get it. They went and got a mattress. My dad, you know, before my dad passed, he was telling me all these stories. And I think it must have been because maybe he knew that his heart was weak. But we didn't.

But he told me a lot of stories about when I was little and things they did when they were in the States. Oh, really? When did he pass? It feels like yesterday. It was six years ago. Oh, man. I was very, very close to him. That's sad.

I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah. But you were able to do that's sad i'm sorry to hear that yeah and so you but you were able to do that so like he he like did you feel like it was uh he he wanted you to know all this stuff like before he went did it have that kind of feeling about your childhood and everything felt like that now when i look back on it do you have pictures and stuff i have loads of pictures because my mom took pictures and um but i and i stories, but these stories were very particular and very specific.

And strangely enough, I remember the last time I saw him, I had this unbelievably strange sensation where I was like, wow, this is going to be the last time I see my dad. Really? And then a month later, he died very suddenly. Yeah. But he wasn't sick? I hated i hated having that no not sick at all oh jesus i mean malcolm gladwell would say that's just your mind saying you know you know the the sort of obvious thing is you're distanced from your family a lot and he's 75 and anything can happen, right?

Right. Or I can go into that other place and go, I had a premonition. So I fluctuate between spiritual and science. Sure. Yeah, he's a magic killer. Don't let him kill the magic. Okay. I don't mind that.

I don't want to be someone that can have premonitions or feel things and my thing no but you got to find some mid midway you know poetry is poetry and feelings are feelings doesn't mean that you you know you believe in an afterlife or you're talking to spirits i mean there's yeah but i do believe in an afterlife you do what happens help me out. Jews get kind of this. I don't know what happens. I know a lot about Jewish men. You do? Why is that? Because I know a lot of Jewish men and I've been very interested in the religion. And I have a lot of, yeah, so I just know a lot. You probably know more than most Jews if you're fascinated with the religion.

Most of us are just happy with the framework. Yeah. You like the religion too? I like sitting shiver. And yeah. What religion are you? Catholic, raised Catholic. Well, Catholic is one of those ones.

It's pretty ornate and complicated and mystical. And there's all kinds of magical books. I mean, I went to Italy. Every church has a few dead wizards in it. There are dead wizards everywhere in Italy. How many popes were there? And everyone, there's pieces of bodies everywhere. It's dark, man. Yes, the catacombs in Rome. But every church has like a finger or a saint's ear or a head. That's how you were raised Catholic. So you believe in the burning i have i i'm always grappling with what i believe and what i don't believe

that's probably part of my nature which is fine with the with where i stand with science but i've been taught to question um but ultimately like when when, say, when my father died, the first place I go is church. When Stanley Kubrick died, the first place I went was church, kneeling, praying. So I, but I was raised in it since I was a baby. And what do you get out of that? I get peace. Yeah, I do. I actually do. I get I do. I actually do.

I get enormous peace. I'm a Jew, and I walked into those churches in Italy where they invented the Catholic stuff. Those churches, I mean, you feel the weight, man. I mean, they're designed to make you feel a certain spiritual weight that's really beautiful. I almost became catholic well i i think i was catholic when i went in there not really but i mean when i went to the churches i was like i get it you feel that yeah i could sit here and do it you know just switch the god out for my more nebulous kind of unexplained god uh you know just switch out to

jesus yeah but so you're brought up with Catholic the whole time? You did, your parents were? My, yes. Then my mother became agnostic. Did something happen? I never, I was just suddenly, it was, my mom wasn't coming to church on Sunday. Oh, wow. So I wasn't quite aware of what happened.

I remember there was sort of closed doors and tears and about a year and whispering. And then, well, it took course over maybe a year or two where she just slowly, she converted to Catholicism. And then maybe when I was about eight, I think it was that she just stopped coming. And my dad would take us and we would go to folk mass where you would sing. Oh, that's nice. Let it be, let it be. That was part of our, with the guitars. God, I sound so daggy.

Were they singing nuns? Were they nuns singing? I went to a school with the nuns when I was little. And I would be told the nuns are married to God. And then I would go over into the convent where they lived and be like, oh, I hope I can see God and I want to see who they're married to. And it was all very like wide-eyed.

And then they'd give me biscuits and cookies and I'd sit there and wait to see how they were married to God. And eat cookies. All part of the reason I became an actor i think george miller says that he says there's something to actors who were raised in catholicism because they have all that relationship with i don't know big really sort of ideas yeah george miller who did the mad maxes and yeah yeah i know i'm familiar with him he's's great. Yeah, I mean, the acting thing, I guess I'm just trying to do it now.

You're very good at it. You've been good at it a long time. And I think it's like, it's strange to me that like every year, anytime you do anything, it seems that they're writing like, oh my God, Nicole Kidman's back. Or like, she really is amazing.

How many, I mean, like you've been here for years doing amazing work but every time you do anything they're like surprise nicole kidman has read has read whatever they act like you're brand new every time what the hell's wrong with people why can't they just say she's amazing again no well i think i've definitely not been amazing and i think i've probably what do you mean how When were you not amazing? And I'm 100. But what do you look back at and go like well that was terrible. Do you actually have things that you think back at where you're like I wish that movie didn't exist

Wish it didn't exist. It exists. It's there Yeah there's things I've done that I go God I wish I'd done better. But didn't exist it exists it's there yeah there's things i've done that i go god i wish uh um i'd done better yeah but none of the none of the yeah i mean i i look at every scene practically and i'm like god that doesn't i need a long time before i can watch the performance and have any sort of i mean i literally feel nauseous when when i watch things and i and i have a physical um response to things that you're in yeah yeah yeah and very disappointed i feel very disappointed i think i'm way better than i am i watch i go that's terrible what a what um so it's interesting so I I tend not to watch unless I'm producing

and then sometimes I look back and I go that was interesting okay then I see why that connected or didn't connect and but I'm always trying not to have um I suppose it's more putting it out into the world and seeing how because it shouldn't be about me and my response to it. It should be that I have given blood, hopefully. Yeah. You're telling a story. I try to give blood. I try to smash myself into a wall or give blood when I do a performance.

You do every time. Yeah. Yeah. I want it to be that. performance you do every time yeah yeah i want it to be that um like i i really look to life or death almost like everything's relying yeah yeah yeah never cause so like sometimes you watch you watch like the nauseousness is probably like you'll see like a scene and you'll be like no i could have made a different choice or maybe uh you know why they use that take kind of stuff yeah and i'm not a good judge of it and i shouldn't be a good judge of it you can't be no right no just no yeah like yeah because like

whatever our feelings are whatever your feelings are i mean you know the object is to do good work but you know a lot of people aren't they're not going to be as critical as you are of yourself no and they're my emotions they're my offerings and hopefully that a lot of it is unconscious if that makes sense instead of conscious because i'm yeah i'm interested in um acting that that involves the unconscious we all know how to do something and hit beats and you know deliver yeah particular performance but i'm interested in the performance i don't know how to deliver that oh really yeah yeah and where that's gonna go so no not planning huge amounts so that there's a, almost it's, it's very fluid when you're in a take.

So there's very few and there's definitely some structure to the scene because of the dialogue or because of the way in which the scene's going to play out. I rely heavily on the director for that structure too, but I'm here to bring responses and, and, and and truth so what do you put into place first i mean like if you're going to do a character like destroyer which was so clearly you know a shattered person and not you and somebody who you know was deeply uh you know troubled and kind of uh you know kind of her soul was kind of broken up.

Like, what do you put in place first to get to that person so you can have this experience you're talking about? Well, everything's different. I mean, on that character, I found a walk, actually, which was more of I just started moving in a particular way, which was to do with pain in the abdomen and not being well and protecting the heart and sort of beaten down by life. Right. But also particular pain, which is dying, slowly dying.

So where does that pain exist? it's in the abdomen and it's taking over slowly and that was the starting point yeah that's how i went into her and then just shame which is a huge emotion to carry and shame of um in relationship to the things that have been done to my child, to my partner, to myself. And that then creates a person. Yeah. This is a heavy person. And then the vocally. Yeah. Yeah. It's like this, like almost like a haunting person,

haunted person. A person who knows they're going to die and has no problem with that ultimately, but wants some sort of salvation with her daughter and in her life, but is actually heading towards death. And that was awful being in that place, and I stayed in that character. I actually would come home in the jeans and the jacket and not get changed. Really?

Is that why? Because you were afraid you'd lose it? Yeah, I didn't want it to feel like acting. You wanted to live in that skin for a while. Well, I didn't want to walk on set and be, now I'm going to perform. I actually needed to, because I would have felt silly. I actually needed to just slowly go into her and become her. And I would growl and moan before.

I was not pleasant. I was a very unpleasant person during that time. Do all roles take that? I mean, do you have to do that with all roles? Do you have to live in them? Not to that degree. Right. The big little lies I did.

And even on undoing, it kind of happened where I just was like, suddenly I was in this place of, there was a sort of a disquietness to my personality where I was uneasy and there was duress on who I was. I actually got really sick. And I think this is a big thing that happens to actors. With the undoing? Yeah. Yeah, I did. I went down for a week with just having put my, because your immune system doesn't know the difference between acting and truth when you're doing them. Yeah. And I have not learned the technique to tell my brain and my body oh this is just acting right um i haven't learned how to clean that out you know i've been told oh wipe wipe it like this after each time it doesn't really work for me i don't think it's gonna happen i don't sleep well and i i'm not well. And if it's that disturbing to me.

Well, those women, all three of them were kind of brutalized, you know, emotionally and psychologically and physically. The three that seem to be the most taxing that you're talking about. I mean, to stay in that sort of gaslit zone or that abuse zone. I don't know. That must take its toll. I wonder why you felt like you had to live in those more than other ones um but then something like angie and the prom i just go great i get to dance and i get to love everybody and i get to go come here let me hug you

it's all gonna be all right do. Do you understand Eyes Wide Shut? Does it make sense to you? Yes. It does. Yeah, it does. Well, because I spent two years with Stanley, like kind of woven into his psyche. And yeah, yeah, it makes sense to me.

It's an unusual film, but it definitely makes sense to me. Some of the most interesting parts to me are the marriage, I mean, and the basis of it being do you know your partner? And the same, that's, you know, one minute they can be lying next to you and I love the line in it where there's a sword between, and it was in the script, I'm not sure if it's in the film, but there's a sword between us. And you're lying there next to your partner in your bed and there's a sword between you.

And who's going to pick up the sword? I mean, that's just fantastic, right? Right. Well, I mean, that's also in the undoing. Like, how well do you know your partner business? Yeah, but different because they're not in, he quickly in eyes wide shut we're together right and we're working through and i tell him something about myself that unleashes insane jealousy yet nothing happened it was a thought yeah it wasn't even a it wasn't even um there was no action behind it but there was desire

and a thought and that was enough yeah yeah men those things are fascinating to me because you know as i said i've said it before but i'm really interested in philosophy and kubrick is a great philosopher and i'm interested in hunting down the the modern day philosophers who happen to be I think filmmakers and writers but but a lot of filmmakers I think did you you spent a lot of time with Stanley then like hands-on yeah and did did were you guys in contact in until he passed I mean were you did you remain friends type of the night before he passed oh yeah yeah yeah I mean I was deeply attached to him and we would talk all the time and and faxes were big then so he would fax and but he called the night before and said um I was in New York and I remember um him saying

um he'd sent a fax saying can we talk and I'd come home and I was like I York and I remember him saying, he'd sent a fax saying, can we talk? And I'd come home and I was like, I can't call him tonight. I'll call him in the morning. And I put it off and said, well, I'll call you in the morning. What are you looking at? What's wrong? Nothing. I just want to make sure I was recording loud enough.

Go ahead. He said call in the morning. I saw you hunking nervously over to the side. Yeah, I went into a mild panic about my levels. I saw your eyes. Nothing to do with you. So what happened? But yes, I didn't call him that night.

And then the next morning, Leon, his assistant, called. And I answered the phone. It was still when there were hard lines. And the phone would ring in when there were hard lines and and the phone would ring in the apartment and it rang and i picked it up and i thought it was going to be stanley and it was leon and leon just said stanley kubrick is dead like that oh my god that's how he said it yeah and i just started screaming and i had young children at the time. I mean, I have a very, very, I have a huge fear of phone calls in the night now because I've received a number of them with that sort of news. They're never good.

My father included. No. So I actually have trauma attached to them. But I just started screaming. I collapsed on the ground. But I was that close to him and that upset. And then Tom and I had to get on the plane and get to the funeral. And it was just like, hmm.

Oh, my God. But, yeah, what an amazing genius guy. Oh. He could speak to everything, I imagine. Like, you know, whatever range of conversation you wanted to have, he had probably a wealth of ideas and experience and thoughts on it. Yeah. And knew about everything. Big leader would call people up and ask questions. So you could ask him. He would challenge everything as well.

Like I would say. And I was young, so I had a lot of ideas that I, you know, would throw down as truths. And he would completely, you know, pull them apart. Comparatively, what was the process of like, you know, working with a guy like that, you know, versus working with like, say like, because like, I love that movie you did that Sidney Pollack movie. I really, I mean mean i love his movies and you know he always struck me as a sophisticated intellectual guy and his approach to filmmaking was very grown up like it's you know what i mean he lets the um he's not uh nervous about stories being accessible i like i just like what he does as an actor great filmmaker yeah yeah was in eyes wide shut yeah came over yeah sydney came over so very good friends with sydney both john and i john had done the firm with him and the firm is a great movie yeah yeah yeah and um yeah it was

yeah i was down there in memphis while they're shooting it the whole time and we adopted Bella during that. But it was fascinating because he came over and Tom and I were like, oh, right, and Sydney was like, oh, I'm going to be here for a week. And we shot the scene and it was like fantastic. I don't know what you're all talking about. And then he was there for six weeks doing one scene yeah yeah but I remember Tom and I going right uh okay Sydney yeah yeah and then we came in after we shot the scene and Stanley was like no no I've actually looked at the scene terrible we're going to go back and then we just slowly

started working it and working it and working it and yeah so he came over thinking he was going to be there for a week he ended up there for six weeks and we would cook pasta in the trailer he's a great cook sydney oh great cook so we basically lived in our trailers because we were on the set you know or in the trailer with the kids and yeah it was it was and people say oh that must have been so hard being there for that amount of time but i always have this response which is it is if you fight it but if you go with it and go i'm here these people are fantastic people to be surrounded by the i mean we're with the greatest filmmaker in the world right so it's like being in school and he comes in and eats the pasta at lunchtime that we cook or you know he has a little bite and we sit around and we talk about life and ideas and then

we go back and we're on the set and i mean that's kind of why we do it yeah right and was was tom engaged in as engaged as you were intellectually with that stuff? He was on every single day of the film. Yeah. So his workload was so much more than mine. So it was much harder for him in terms of the stamina that was required because that's a 12-hour day every single day for years. Right, yeah.

So that's a year and a half it was almost, plus the rehearsal. Oh my God, a year and a half. So almost plus the rehearsal oh my god a year and a half so what do you when you're when you're doing that kind of work with kubrick like i mean you after a certain point are you like what are you looking for what what what are we missing yeah but you don't that then creates this right and you don't want that yeah no you just have to flow and we kind of got into that flow yeah i mean but yeah my hat is off to tom on it because it was like every single day whereas i would be told you can go home right and wait at the house on standby i mean i was naughty because after being on standby for

two months and never being called in but on standby from 7 a.m in the morning waiting um but i was allowed to be at home i decided look we're over here i'm gonna go to paris so i went to paris for a few days and tom would say to stanley we go is she in the house and he'd be like yeah yeah yeah she's in the house um but then he got hip to it and one time he said i'm actually going to call her in and he called me in and i was in australia i was in australia and tom's like oh we're screwed we're screwed and um you're gonna have to get on the phone with stanley and so i'm like, Stanley, I mean, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

I'm actually not in the house. I mean, I'm in Sydney. And he goes, unfaithful woman. Oh, wow. Called me. Yeah, but he was really kind of sweet about it. Yeah. And with Sidney Pollack, too, like he was also a great director.

But wait, let's go back even further. Great performance director. Yeah? Why? What makes it different? Because he's an actor? Yeah. And a great actor.

I mean, Sidney was a great actor. A great actor. I love him. I love when he plays the morally compromised guy. You know what I mean? He did so many of them. Husbands and wives and oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

Great. When he has to take that girl out of the party, the girlfriend, oh, my God. It's crazy. So good. Yeah, yeah. And Judy Davis in that as well. Oh, my God. Great.

That's some of the greatest film acting there. I haven't seen her in a while. Yeah. No kidding. She's a while. Yeah. No kidding. She's, she's, she's a goddess. It seems like you continue to kind of like push yourself into whatever, you know, you want to, you want to keep taking chances. You can't stop. Yeah. I want to be fierce in terms of my, um, my art. And I want to try and, um, really, I, I really, I just, I'm interested.

I'm curious and interested and hungry to explore and examine what life means, what human beings are, who we are, how we exist. I'm still completely enraptured with the examination of what this life is and who we are as human beings. And the depth of that is so, I love it, you know, and I love the big things. And I live like that as a person.

big themes and I live like that as a as a person or I I'm I mean I I've I connect deeply to the people I love I experience things deeply and and I'm interested in exploring characters that way and I also love perspective because I feel by viewing the world through different um people's eyes and the motivations and the reasons and all of those things i find that very it brings me into living well i mean that makes sense it's like that scene like i keep like the one there's a quote that actually sydney pollack said in michael clay, which is a movie I watch over and over again. It's a great movie. It's fucking great. Where he goes,

where he says, you know, people are fucking incomprehensible and, you know, and it's so like, you, you, there's so many things we think that are like,

you know, simple that there are patterns that we, as people, you know, some people are predictable or whatever, but I have no idea what the hell makes some people go and how people handle things. Everybody's totally different. And like, like recently, like, and I know you've had to deal with this as well. It's like contextualizing loss. You know, what the hell is that about?

How do you go on living, you know, knowing that this is life? I mean, this is what it is. There's nothing unusual about dying. So how do I make this not a defeat of some kind or some sort of, you know, dark hole that you go in? How do you sort of process it in that like, well, this deepens my experience of life. And I, you know, I see this as a blessing. Yeah, no, I have trouble with that. I mean, I think that I remember when my father died, the moment that it happened, everything became so unstable. It was like, none of this is real. Everything is, is, is Everything could go in any second. And I had a very existential response to it.

I had a very visceral, but also had that really existential response, which is I'm none of this now exists because the thing that was so solid in my life for so long and was actually probably I knew he would leave at some point. He would die at some point, but it wasn't going to be now and it wasn't meant to be now and all of what happened and none of this is real. So I went into that very existential place. But at the same time, I'm a mother, so I had two little, this was the scariest thing. One of my daughters, because I was screaming because my sister called me on the phone and said, Papa's gone.

He's gone. Yeah, yeah. He's not here anymore. And I'm like, what? What? What is this? What? And started screaming.

And my littlest one, who was really little at the time said is mummy acting which was devastating to me because she'd heard me rehearsing in the bedroom sometimes where i practice and rehearse and she said that to sunday who's the older one and she said mummy acting like that and i had to come out and go and Sunday told me and I'm like no mama's not mama this is real this is real and then she said but you're not going to be sad tomorrow right and I'm like I'm going to be sad for a long time but I realized they don't want a sad house. So I'm going to have to rally now and push through for them because the thing a child doesn't want is a sad house where you get up in the morning day after day and it's a sad house.

Right? Right. So I had to pull myself out of all of that for them. So how extraordinary to have to be something for somebody else. And that's the basis of life really, isn't it? Right. Well, then that's like, that's the natural sort of course of it, isn't it? That, that, you know, countering that extreme loss and then having to parent with that, the, the, the almost polar opposite of loss, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So you live in that moment that, you know, you're going to share your heart that both things are happening simultaneously. And that is the natural course of things. Yeah. Yeah. But the idea of, I mean, I've always circled loss, sorrow. I love that word.

I was listening to Fiona Shaw talking recently, and I was like, oh, I so love you as an actress. And she was talking about the word grief, but then she was talking about the word sorrow and what an extraordinary word that is because it's almost like sorrow is an ongoing emotion and I thought yeah it so is and I've circled that a lot in films I've made birth is one of them where she's still so willing to believe that her husband is alive in a 10 year old child because she's still experiencing such grief and sorrow at the loss of her husband, who she loves so much. So when a 10-year-old comes and says,

I'm actually him, I'm in this body, but I'm him, she's so willing to believe it. Right. There's a lot of them where you're in a proximity to it. If you're not in it yourself, it's nearby, the sorrow. Yeah. I mean, even in lying. I'm trying to move to some joy. You're not in it yourself. It's nearby the sorrow. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm trying to move to some joy. But lion to me is actually joy because it's, well, it's love. It's unconditional love, which is a beautiful thing to depict on screen. And that was, I just love you. And I will always love you and you can go and find other people who will love you just as much and that will make me happier because you deserve love what a beautiful person to be giving that to um to a child and watching him grow and saying yeah go find your birth mother because i love her too and i want you to have more love i'm not threatened by that i love her because she made you and that was a real person right yeah yeah so who i'm still very close to and really really

yeah yeah yeah oh that's nice i'm i've been a mother in so many capacities because i'm a mother of adopted children i'm a mother of um biological child i'm um who i gave birth to i'm a mother of a surrogate child who was given birth to by somebody else but who is my genetic child so a full range of motherhood experience. Yeah, I mean, I love part of, I'm an oldest child, so probably that. How many were there? Just two, but I just think there's that oldest child personality sometimes, which is caretaker and mother. And I wanted to, and I love,

I love that. I love being able to, I actually love giving to other people and seeing them happy. Oh, that's nice. I'm in the oldest child, but I went more of the self-centered look at me direction. I, I'm the main one. I got a lot of look at me my mother says i was hot housed so i had a lot of attention and a lot of um yeah just sort of directed at me so i never i i crave the approval but i'm not sure i crave the attention but i crave approval from her. From your mother? Yeah. She's still around, correct? Yeah.

That's nice. Powerful. Yes. Both of mine are still around, both my parents. Oh, you're very fortunate. Yeah. They say you've got that wall between you and when both parents are gone, it's like mortality really comes crashing towards you, right?

Yeah, yeah. That's all starting. Yeah. You start to really realize, like, what is important? Do you know? Like, what am I doing that is not necessary? You know? But I like the idea that, you know, you've gone through all these characters to sort of, like, get understanding of of life yeah you know whether you want it to or not that living in these characters

and being with these filmmakers because part of my um sort of journey has always been trying to seek out um teachers and and really smart people just so these you know working with the greatest writers and filmmakers in the world is i mean talk about how to be um how to grow right and i love to learn on a day-to-day basis you know outside of stanley you know and we talked a little about about sydney pollack but i mean like who were like what were the most some of the most provocative sort of projects you were working on intellectually and and creatively satisfying because of who was driving it who was directing it oh yeah i mean jane campion changed my life um von trier came in. I mean, I sought Von Trier out and went over there to try and I saw Breaking the Waves and was in a fetal position after that movie, which I know has been, you know, they say it's misogynistic and there's probably parts of it that are. partly because of the faith and the desire to give over this woman who would give and give and give,

partly because she felt that she had done something wrong and had to, that theme for some reason resonated so deeply with me, I had to crawl out of, we saw it in a screening room in london i were meant to go to dinner after and i just went home and got under the covers in a fetal position so really oh and that made you like precious i watched preciously daniel's precious and i we were meant to go out and grab a bite after it i saw saw it in New York. I was like, get in a cab, get home. I mean, I could start weeping about it now. There's this scene with the father and the young child in the bed.

I was just like, I couldn't even, I couldn't function. I just, so I have these responses to movies. So they go so deeply into me that I just, I have to. Yeah. Has that always been, is that what made you want to do it yeah and even reading books I mean I read Beloved Tony Morrison's why I was like I read Beloved and I couldn't even move after I would just I was just like oh and I mean just so viscerally responding to something but yes have always been like that since I was a child.

But that made you want to see Galvantrier? You're like, I need to go wherever that guy takes people. I was fascinated as to who he was and how he got, I mean, the performances in that film are, I mean, Emily Watson is like, it's beyond, it's from some other place. So, yeah, I wanted to go and be in that world. And I love traveling the world and going to other places to exist with people from all over, different nationalities, different filmmaking techniques.

And which was the Jane Campion movie? Portrait of a Lady. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which was, yeah. And then, I mean, but Baz, Baz Luhrmann came along and went. And I wanted to make a love story. I'd been wanting to make a love story. I didn't know it was going to, I was like, a tragic love story?

Okay. I'd like to make a love story now where it ends beautifully. But, yes, Satine dies. But of but hey it's still a deep love story yeah i love the um like well i like so many of the movies i was sort of amazed that like i i feel like i've known you my whole life because i've seen you because i kind of i kind of have really from at least dead calm and then all the way up through all the other ones. I'm just amazed at how many I've seen, you know? Wow.

To Die For was like a life-changing movie. Yes, Gus. Oh, my God. I've talked to Gus. He's great. But I mean, but that whole story, like that weird, you know, Joaquin when he was like almost feral. Joaquin. You're so young.

But he was open. I remember emotionally and he would just shake and some of those. I mean, the stuff we had to do together, the scenes we had to do and the sexuality of that. It was so, I think the first day was the scene where I have to, you know, be going down on him. And Gus was shooting it with the camera. And I just remember going, God, this is so weird. But it was so well written by Buck Henry, right? Yeah. And then realized by Gus and the combination of Buck and Gus

because so many of these things are the combinations in which the way we're put together, which is why I feel it's incredibly important with casting when you do a film, who are you working with? Yeah. Because all performances are about us like how we're in the same together so who is your partner who are you working with i know i'm i'm in a movie right now good by yourself right and who are you working andrea riceborough oh she's fantastic i know i

feel well i mean like i feel like i'm a little outgunned here, and I'll just show up with all I got. You're okay. I'll just do everything I can to be this guy. But we had a scene the other day. It's great casting the two of you. Well, I'm trying to focus on what it is of who I am, because I have a lot to learn as an actor, but I'm focusing now because I talk to people like you. I talk to other actors. And we had a moment the other day that was just sort of like, I have a lot to learn as an actor, but I'm focusing now because I talk to people like you. I talk to other actors.

And we had a moment the other day that was just sort of like, oh, my God. Like, you know, we were both, you know, we had to sit down and we were all crying. And like, and it was a nice scene. It wasn't, it was like a beautiful scene. It wasn't a sad scene, but it just broke something open. And like the entire, everybody on set was sort of like, whoa. And it was just a pleasant, was no it was i don't know it's really kind of fascinating to feel that but i never feel like i'm doing it right do you always feel like you know when you're

in it um no i know when i'm i'm existing out of it which is not good so So when I can't actually remember what I did terribly well, that's when I know, oh, okay, we're in something else now. But I need my director. I need my actors around me. And I love the collaboration. I love working together. You've worked with everybody. That's heaven for me.

You've worked with, like, everybody. Oh, no, no. There's so many people I want to work with still I mean I've worked with some extraordinary actors I'd love to work with Denzel at some point I'd love to work with Denzel you know it's so funny I interviewed Ethan Hawke about

a while back I just worked with Ethan in the Viking movie yes he played my king really king king arvindel this is in the one he did in ireland yes and i'm now crazy about ethan i mean he was always a great actor but just personally what a great guy yeah and so much knowledge yeah and such an artist such an actor and director and writer and just a renaissance man, actually, right? Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. But he was funny because he was talking about training day, about getting ready to work with Denzel. And he said he watched Denzel's old movies, like football players watch old game films like he wanted to know how denzel was going to do it so he could not get eaten alive by denzel's acting so he had he had to study denzel so he could hold his own in scenes with him right so that he wasn't intimidated as well but they're great but they i mean he did it's great it's great they were great. But they, I mean, he did. It's great. It's great. They were fantastic together.

So is this movie, this is by the guy who did The Lighthouse? Yeah, Robert Eggers. Is it weird? Yeah, very weird. How'd you guess? I said to him, I'm terrified to come over and do this. One, because it's a pandemic. Yeah.

And flying into the middle of sort of a lockdown to work on a film. Right. I know. It's really, it's scary. I just know from doing it myself, I'm in it now. Yeah. It's really, because I thought it would be so horrible and sad and it is scary and it's not 100% safe, but you are taking a sort of risk, but they're doing everything they can.

I thought it would be just diminishing without having the community out of scenes to be able to kind of hang out and do, but it actually it's kind of intense. It sort of helps the focus in a way. And it's a little sad, but it makes the work feel all the more important in a way. I don't know what your experience was. Yeah, no, no. And also just grateful to be doing the work because I'm gone. Oh, this is so important. And that's why I went because I was like, I don't want to one, let down a huge production.

And two, I want to work with these people. And if we can do it with safety, how fantastic. And we did, and we did it. And the film is finished. And they did it.

And it was, I'm moving to Belfast. And it was crazy wild. And I'm a supporting role in it. So I got to sort of, but he's really fascinating, I guess. He's one of the new guard. They're coming in. They're going to take over.

That's good. He's a great filmmaker. Yeah, I like the Lighthouse a lot. How long have you been producing? What was the first thing you produced? Rabbit Hole. So, like, what was the shift there? I mean, was it your people said you should put together a production company,

or you were like, I want to have more control, or what was the decision? Because I know everybody puts together a production company, but you're doing very well with it and you're starring in a lot of it. So why did you feel like you needed to do that? Because I believed in the piece and no one else was going to do it. So we bought the rights.

David Lindsay-Aber is a gorgeous, brilliant writer and I wanted to... dark movie that movie a dark movie but so nuanced yeah and special and and we had no money we had to really you know beg steal and borrow for that because that was um that subject matter and i was not sort of where I am now in terms of my career and being able to get things made and it was just like please please please and John Cameron Mitchell came on and was so just brilliant at going we're going to do this and then just beautifully directing the performances and it's a performance piece um so uh i was just really proud we got it made and you like that you liked all that part of it do you like it as much as acting putting it together

bringing people together casting pulling money together all that um i don't like the i don't like once i'm in the performance i really try to delegate off a lot of those things, but I like being able to go, what can we do to get this actor? Because let's think, or give somebody a chance that they would never have been considered for the role. Like in undoing Noma, Noma had not done,

she plays the lawyer and she'd not really done film or television, little tiny bit, but this was her big, big thing. And it was just great being able to go yeah we're gonna cast her yeah she plays your friend the lawyer no she plays hughes oh oh oh my god she was spectacular fabulous yeah yeah and just being able to you know at the same time make decisions artistic decisions that will help um propel and support the director i'm deeply into going what do you need so you can go and realize your vision as a producer and then trying to sort of corral it so that it's not blown out. And you worked at both these last two big TV projects,

The Undoing and Big Little Lies. You were actively producing. But Big Little Lies, there must have been a lot of... Because Reese was part of producing that as well, or what? Yeah. How did you all get along? Everybody get along good? Yeah, I mean, we're all still very close

to the point that we do want to do a season three if we could, you know, muster it all together. But otherwise, we're just, yeah. I mean, that was the first time and we've all said it. One, you get to experience enormous success together. So that's a lovely thing to share. But we got to be on set. We got to be up in Montecito with great characters and be together. It doesn't happen.

Right. As we said, we've never worked. I mean, for Laura, Reese, Zoe, Shay, all of us to get to know each other and go out to dinner and be able to discuss and go, how do we change this? And we've got to fix that. And how did it go today? And what do you need? And even when we were doing the big scene at the end of BLL1 with Alex where he's sort of, and it's really violent, and Laura's going, are you okay?

After each scene where we're being thrown around and punched, kicked, we're all going, are you okay? Are you okay? Your head almost just hit the ground. No, no, no. What about your arm? You know, just being able to advocate for each other as well was really um just just good it felt good oh it's so wild the three like i i just

reese and laura and you having been working so long and i guess it's it's only the first time you've worked with either of them together yeah oh yeah and subsequently of now because it's only the first time you've worked with either of them together? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And subsequently have now, because it's been years that we've now been in each other's lives. But we all started as around 14. I think Reese even started younger. She was maybe 12. So we've shared all those stories. Wow.

And that's a particular path having started as a child actor and come all the way through and this whole thing you did with Hugh Grant being like this filthy monster like with the undoing he's definitely a different thing and you're watching it to to see you know Hugh Grant right yeah and you're watching you and you know old Donald Sutherland doing his thing. Wow. Yeah, Donald. Donald has great stories. He's like a weathered mountain, Donald Sutherland. A weathered mountain.

Yeah, and just the fantastic. I mean, talk about having great, great partners to work with. I mean, Donald, he's so on it. All his dialogue, all his ideas are superb. Yeah. I mean, and he's over 80, and he comes in, and he's just extraordinary and a force. And for me, looks a little like my dad, has the essence of my father. So I didn't have to.

I just wanted to go and put my head on his shoulder and be held by him, which, you know, which is a fantastic thing as an actor because if that's there, that vibration exists just because. That's a fantastic thing. I don't have to work for that. I don't have to find it. I don't have to explore it because that's just there in the air. You've got to look for it.

Don't you have to look for that in almost any role you're playing? Isn't it better when you can find that something that's just there or that you can connect with as yourself? It just vibrates between you without. Yeah, something that's just um i guess you can't force it that you can't no that's what i mean by the unconscious it's so wonderful when that that feeling of um everything you don't know comes flowing out of you and you didn't even know it was there that's and that's sort of probably what stanley was always interested in that's why he shot for so long he wasn't interested

in what he could do he was interested in finding what he didn't know and that was suddenly there and it was a discovery and and um so a lot of his, a lot of his time was spent experimenting. And there's something to be said for that. Oh, yeah. It's great. It's amazing that he took that time using film. I mean, now it's easy. Like, if you have time,

you can just blow through takes all day long with digital. But he was doing that with rolls of film. It's crazy. The movie I'm shooting now, he's shooting on film. film it's crazy i'm the movie i'm shooting now he's shooting on film and it's crazy because like you know you gotta you actually have to check a gate and then you have to wait to reload oh you did it up there with yeah that was on the on robert's movie on eggy's movie yeah it was like check the gate and you stand around going oh was that a lie um because he was shooting a lot of things in one shot,

and we would do a lot of takes, and then suddenly you have a take that's print. Well, then you've got to check the gate. So we all stand there holding our breath. Right. You don't want to direct? Have you had a hair in the gate? No, it hasn't happened yet, no.

No, no. What about directing? What's going on? Have you tried directing? Do I not know? No, no. I'm happy being an actor and a producer yeah but i love the art form of acting i just do and i used to be embarrassed to say it was an art form but it is and i embrace it and i love it and it is um i'm deeply attached to what it is.

And I've given a huge amount of my life to it. Yeah. And it's like, that's the amazing thing that we were talking about at the beginning, where it's sort of like, every time you do something, it seems like people are like, you know, either like, you know, rediscovering you or like all of a sudden, like, they're like, oh, my God, she's so amazing. Like, you've always been amazing like the work you've done is so varied and interesting and you know different it's it's really uh a great uh weird some of it's weird some of it's weird but but but you can tell that you're doing it because you love to do it and you want to take these chances within these characters to engage in in in what interests you about living you know yeah and i want to yeah i do i want to support auteurs yeah i want their voices out there i want that's what you're doing as a producer to

be supported yeah yeah and as an actor it's why I went for Regas because I was like, okay, this is one of the auteurs, you know, so yes, let's, you know. I mean, I love financiers that are doing that. Anna Milch on these, she's putting the money up for that, you know. And so I have to contribute. That's part of my life's contribution is helping those voices. They have to. Yeah, they do. They have to.

And I've learned so much through it. And it's like it's so great to see movies. Yeah, because movies have changed my life. They have. And novels and art has changed. I respond to it. They do. We just talked about so many movies

that changed our life just now. Yeah. Crawling out of a cinema in a fetal position and then going, I want to go and work for women and help with violence against women. I mean, those things, that comes from my own. So even just with the prom recently, people going, I got to go to a prom by watching that movie. I got to. And the ultimate message of that film being a parent saying to their child, I love you. I just love you. It's just you because of you. I mean, one of the greatest parenting things is to say to your child, you don't have to do or be anything to get my love. You just have it.

Yeah. And now when people are so isolated and kind of alone, these stories about life are very important. Yeah. I've been the most lonely in my life and I've picked up a book and read it. And it's given me the chance to escape and be and feel. And probably at times saved my life. And then watched a movie and gone, I have to change my life now. I actually have to go and change the direction of where I'm going. Are you at peace? Are you at peace with everything? Like, you know, in context of with, you know, but like in your past, like, you know, have you, have you gotten like, you know,

you're, do you have like regrets and stuff or do you have a certain amount of peace? I grapple with all those things. I grapple with all of them still. Regrets, not so much regrets, regrets not so much regrets more i can retread things and go back and then i have the sense of oh i wish some of that would come back i'd love you know all of those so i fluctuate and i'm very um i suppose but you like your life oh deeply down on my knees praying saying thank you for this life yes and also at the same time going um what can i do yeah what can i do to still be a part of it and to move forward and to give well you certainly do a lot so that's great great. It's nice talking to you. Yeah, nice talking to you. Do you think we covered everything?

No, we're near everything. This is just the beginning. Oh, okay. No, I'm joking. But I love talking and thank you for asking me. Yeah, it was very exciting. i was nervous and it was great and i'm a big fan and you do great work and it's nice to talk to you oh thank you so nice to talk to you and as i say i subscribe i'm listening oh good so keep them coming because they're good and i'm learning i just was i just watched um i'm gonna talk to uh i just watched speaking of movies that are sort of like you know auteur and unique i just watched kate winslet's new movie the ammonite

movie i want to see it oh my god is it wonderful it is it's pretty intense like this yeah there's some real stuff going on there and to what actors both of those i talk about combination i want to see how they vibrate together yeah yeah i just watched it because i'm gonna i'm hopefully get to talk to her but like i i realized watching that movie that like you know these are the kind of movies that you know we need that need to keep happening is these very specific poetic you know artistic uh movies that take chances that don't abide by some sort of mainstream appeal or access that happen only because an auteur you know wrenched it into being it's important well she for for serger and and kate to do that movie is so important and that that character sounds really complicated in terms of just um

how reserved what she was holding within and i mean i can't wait to see it hardly talks yeah yeah um but uh okay great i've watched i just wanted to know that i watched all of the undoing i watched all of uh big little lies i've watched most of your movies i watched i don't have to do that nicole i don't have to no but i But I did because I wanted to make sure you were okay in the end of both of them. Oh, you're nice. I hope I'm okay in the end. Yeah, you are. Talk to me when I'm 80. Can we talk again? Yeah, any time. All right. Take care of yourself. Yeah, to be continued. Okay. Mwah, you too. Bye.

Bye. All right. That was exciting. She was lovely. It was good talking to her. I feel like it was a good talk. That was Nicole Kidman. If you're just tuning in, you can see Nicole.

If you're just joining us, that was Nicole Kidman. You can rewind it and listen to it. Rewind it. Fast forward backwards. Fast re... What do you... You know, it's behind us. But you can get it.

Why would you just be joining us now anyways? I'm being silly. You can watch The Undoing on HBO Max. And you can watch any one of her thousands of movies. And yeah, something has to happen. Something in the direction of punishment. The process. We've got to get back on some kind of track.

Anyway, that said, I'm going to play some Fender on Fender. Here's some Fender on Fender action being driven by a Jew. Thank you. Thank you. BOOMER LIVES! Boomer lives. Monkey Lafonda. Yeah, cat angels everywhere, man. Look out, they're gonna put a chip shipping you. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special

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