Nicole Kidman has endured several challenging roles in her decade-spanning career as an actor. However, there are some roles that can really take a toll on actors and Kidman has been a victim of playing such characters once or twice.

Nicole Kidman
Kidman and Alexander Skarsgard appeared together in HBO’s acclaimed drama series Big Little Lies. Later, the duo appeared in Robert Eggers’ The Northman, where Kidman played his mother Queen Gudrún while Skarsgard played Amleth— a son with a goal to avenge his uncle who killed his father and kidnapped his mother.

Nicole Kidman Was Traumatized After Her Violent S*x Scene in Big Little Lies

Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies was indeed one great addition to Nicole Kidman’s career but a violent s*x scene in the series has traumatized the actor. In the series, Kidman played Celeste Wright who is trapped in an abusive relationship with her husband Perry Wright. “When I would go home, I would feel ashamed,” Kidman told W Magazine.

“And that’s the same emotions and the same feelings that Celeste was having, so we were very much parallel in the feelings, but I was willing to do that for the role because that’s what I felt was important for the role.”

She added,

“I felt very exposed and vulnerable and deeply humiliated at times. I mean, I remember lying on the floor in the bathroom at the very end when we were doing the scenes in episode seven, and I was lying on the floor and I just wouldn’t get up in-between takes.”

It was the essence of the scene that left the actor in a dark place as it felt so real.

“At times I would have flashes of images of women that have gone through this and I’m like, ‘This is authentic, this is the truth,’” Kidman said adding, “and this is what I have to do, and it would just come through like that.”

Alexander Skarsgard who played her husband Perry, later demanded Kidman play his mother in The Northman.

Alexander Skarsgard Believed Nicole Kidman Would Be Perfect Queen Gudrún

Alexander Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman

Big Little Lies was intense for Kidman, but the show built a relationship of trust between the stars. When Skarsgard was going through the first draft of The Northman, he realized that Kidman would be perfect to play Queen Gudrún. Later, he and the director Robert Eggers pitched the idea to Kidman and she agreed. “And two years later, when we had the first draft of The Northman, we all agreed that Nicole would be the absolute perfect Queen Gudrún. So, we asked, and she said yes, so here we are,” Skarsgård said.

“Nicole and I have another dark, twisted, dysfunctional relationship. There really is no one I’d rather go into those dark territories than with Nicole. We did build a very strong bond from Big Little Lies. It demanded so much trust, and now she’s a dear friend. We were in it together again, and it was absolutely incredible to reunite with her on this project. She is one of the highlights of the entire shoot,” Skarsgård told Vanity Fair.

Recalling Big Little Lies, the Infinity Pool actor said that the HBO series was “an absolutely incredible experience.”  “It was a very tough shoot, because of the nature of their relationship,” Skarsgard told ET.

“To share that experience with Nicole, was a very bonding experience. It demanded so much trust, and we became very tight on that, and basically said, ‘Let’s find something else.’”

Skarsgård now wishes to work with Kidman in a romcom playing brother and sister, “I promise, next time it’ll be a romcom, or something lighter.” Perhaps, a brother-sister road trip comedy, the actor said.

Skarsgård will reunite with Eggers’ in his upcoming gothic thriller Nosferatu. The movie is set to hit theaters in 2024. Kidman is all set to appear in the spy thriller series Special Ops: Lioness. The Paramount+ series will be streamed from 23 July 2023.