Nicole Kidman was honored with the 49th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday night as a group of her A-list friends and collaborators reflected on her long career in Hollywood.
Reese Witherspoon, Morgan Freeman, Naomi Watts, Zoe Saldaña, Aaron Sorkin, Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Joey King, Mike Myers and husband Keith Urban all took to the Dolby Theater stage throughout the event to pay tribute to Kidman. At the end of the evening, Meryl Streep presented her with an award.
Streep joked after the clip was shown: “Did anyone notice that [costume designer] Ann Roth put my nose in hers Hours? You’re welcome,” took time to reflect on working alongside Kidman in season two Substantial little lies.
“This is the very, very hardest part for me, being constantly called the greatest actress of my generation,” Streep teased as the audience roared, dramatically throwing her hand above her head. “What is the hardest thing? Oh! The hardest part is when you meet or work with another person who is also really, really, really, really, really, really great. This is hard.”
“It’s like someone you work with all day and then you come home – ‘It was a great day, great day,’ and then you come home and say, ‘How did she do it?’ – the star teased, pretending to do so. pour a drink. “‘I could do this.’ – No, I don’t think I could. ‘Yes, you could!’ “No, no, you couldn’t do it,” he pretended to sip his drink.
Miles Teller, Reese Witherspoon, Lee Daniels, Nicole Kidman (in Balenciaga), Meryl Streep and Zac Efron
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for AFI
Looking back Substantial little liesStreep recalls, “It was a moment where I could really take a breather from the incredible talents that Nicole has, her process and the seismic emotional bank that she’s locked in, and her resilience and drive and discipline as an artist. ”
He remembers how Kidman decided to shoot a very emotional screaming scene on her first day and repeated it over and over with equal passion. “I didn’t recover from the first day, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Streep added. “For me it was traumatic because I thought this woman was a Valkyrie. How can she stand it? Never give up, never give up.”
Accepting the award, Kidman burst into tears: “Meryl Streep, I just love you, I’ve always loved you; I don’t know what it is, but you are a beacon of perfection, warmth and generosity, but you have been my guiding lightweight, so I have no idea whether to receive it from you. My husband will confirm this, my parents will confirm that it has always been you and no one can touch you.
In her acceptance speech, Kidman recalled her journey to Hollywood stardom, which began in Australia when she slept on friends’ floors and sofas while trying to book jobs. She talked about her love for and learning from actors, noting, “Some of them you may never meet again, and some of them you will meet again. You can laugh, joke and cry incredibly with some of them; Some you fall in love with and some you marry” – apparently referring to ex-husband Tom Cruise.
Kidman praised many of the directors she has worked with, saying that filmmakers “embrace you, teach you, take you under their wing, and then surprise you. I have so many directors who have been very good to me and I would like to thank them all,” before listing all of her previous directors and thanking them. She also expressed gratitude to “the viewers who were with me all the time. I just want to say thank you because I’ve made so many weird videos and I know there are people who find them and watch them. You have stood by me and supported my weird, weird choices and I am so grateful for that.”
She also shouted out the “loves of my life” in Urbana and their two daughters, who she noted appeared by her side on the red carpet for the first time that evening. “I like to think I’m just getting started, but that’s not true because actually, hopefully, I’m in the middle. Fingers crossed. There are many more stimulating youthful directors and voices who are completely original and need to be heard, and who have a lot to say. We need to give them a chance to say it and hear it, and I’m here and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves,” Kidman concluded. “I am always here to support these voices.”
Urban’s portion of the show was particularly emotional, as he recounted how he got her number at a party in 2005, and four months after they were married, they went to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. “I had no idea what was going to happen to us, and if you want to see what love in action really looks like, watch this,” the country star told the audience. “Nic overcame every negative voice, I’m sure even her own, and chose love and here we are today, 18 years later.”
Morgan Freeman also got some laughs, starting with a parody of Kidman’s renowned AMC Theaters commercial where he sat in a movie theater and only watched her movies. In addition to the stars in attendance, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Jimmy Fallon, Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, George Miller and Baz Luhrmann appeared virtually to express their congratulations to Kidman, who became the first Australian to receive an AFI honor.
The event raised over $2 million, with all proceeds from the AFI Life Achievement Award supporting the American Film Institute as a nonprofit organization. The special tribute will premiere on TNT on June 17 and on Turner Classic Movies on June 27.
Later that evening, Kidman (shining in a gold metallic Balenciaga dress with a long train and an Omega watch) and Urban attended the official after party at the Sunset Tower Hotel, where they met guests that included AFI CEO Bob Gazzale, AFI founder George Stevens Jr. (creator of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award) and Lily Rabe.
