Nicole Kidman Says Acting in Blockbusters Is ‘Not About the Check’; People Asked Her Why She’d Star in ‘Batman Forever’: ‘Because I Get to Kiss Batman!’

Nicole Kidman said in a new interview with L’Officiel that she’s never just seeking a paycheck whenever she decides to star in a major Hollywood tentpole. Given the Oscar winner is acclaimed for her work in indie films and dramas, she always gets questioned whenever she signs on to star in big movies like the “Aquaman” franchise or 1995’s “Batman Forever.”

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“Everyone’s like, ’Why are you doing that?’” Kidman recalled about the confusion her “Batman Forever” casting as Dr. Chase Meridian. “I’m like, ‘Because I get to kiss Batman!’…The thing people don’t understand is, it’s not about the check. A lot of the mainstream big blockbusters that I do are hopefully different.”

Kidman got the same questions when she signed on to star as Queen Atlanna in “Aquaman,” a role she reprised in the sequel “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” Surely she did not have a passion for the “Aquaman” comics, but she did have a passion for director James Wan and his horror movies. She signed up for him. In fact, Kidman was elated when he called her for the role because at first she thought it was going to be for a horror film.

“I’d really wanted to work with him in horror,” Kidman said.

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In recent years, Kidman’s work on limited television series has become just as well known as her performances in film. Her Emmy-winning work on HBO’s “Big Little Lies” was just the start of a TV run that would include “The Undoing,” “Expats,” “Nine Perfect Strangers” and the upcoming Netflix limited series “The Perfect Couple.”

“I’ve fallen in love with the long format because I like the building of character and I like that they’re limited,” Kidman told L’Officiel . “You’re not committing a huge amount of time. It’s still got a cinematic feel to it. It’s more like a slow burn than a film, where you only have two hours to tell your story and build a character.”

“The Perfect Couple” streams Sept. 5 on Netflix.

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