Nicole Kidman: <i>The Paperboy</i>

Nicole Kidman: The Paperboy

Selections from Nicole Kidman's filmography that demonstrate her extraordinary talent and risk-taking commitment.

I'm often asked if there are other actors I might be interested in giving the Michelle Pfeiffer treatment—a series of reviews offering a thorough career retrospective.

The short answer? No. But, if I'm being honest, yes, there are a few performers whose careers I'd like to explore in a similar series of posts. Although I have no desire to do an entire run through anyone else's filmography—mostly because I'm only that obsessively interested in Pfeiffer's career, but also because I just don't have the time to do it for another actor—certain actors do leap to mind. Vera Farmiga. Al Pacino. Winona Ryder. Michael Keaton. Gina Gershon.

One legend stands out in my mind as particularly deserving of special attention, so much that I could imagine doing closer to a dozen or more reviews of her work: the inimitable Nicole Kidman.

Kidman is not only one of the best actors working today, but also one of the bravest. In terms of superstars who can carry a movie, few working today compete with her level of commitment to every single role she takes on. She inhabits her characters. She also does things in her films that few—if any—major stars would even consider, let alone do.

Take for example Lee Daniels's The Paperboy (2012). This lurid and swampy southern drama is, for me, an instant trash/cult classic, only with a bigger budget and better cast than most cult films. And what a cast! Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack, Zac Efron, and of course Nicole Kidman.

As noted on the film's website, The Paperboy is "A sexually and racially charged film noir from Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious) ... takes audiences deep into the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, as investigative reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and his partner Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) chase a sensational, career-making story. With the help of Ward's younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman), the pair tries to prove violent swamp-dweller Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) was framed for the murder of a corrupt local sheriff ... The Paperboy peels back a sleepy small town's decades-old façade of Southern gentility to reveal a quagmire of evil as dark as a Florida bayou."

I would add one more descriptor to that: Sweaty. This film is sweaty. Everyone in it is sweaty, thanks to the suffocating heat of the Deep South, but also due to the "sexually charged" tone, which is most evident in Kidman's astonishingly steamy performance.

Two scenes are particularly notorious, and both feature Kidman doing things you might not expect from a major Hollywood star, especially one who at the time of filming was forty-five years old and nearing thirty years in the biz. One of these scenes involves Kidman urinating on Efron after he's been stung by a jellyfish, thus saving his life. But the one that always stands out for me has to be when Kidman, McConaughey, Efron, and Oyelowo visit Cusack at the jail.

Kidman, as the "death-row groupie," proceeds to "sexually charge" herself up into a full-blown orgasmic frenzy for Cusack's Van Wetter [insert your dirty "Wetter" jokes here]. She climaxes in front of the rest of the cast, and part of the shock of the scene is watching the other men's squirming reactions, or rather watching them try not to react, especially down below the belt, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

To put it mildly, the scene is bonkers, batshit crazy, and 100% unforgettable. You never expect to see Nicole Kidman spreading her legs wide open, ripping her nylons open at the crotch, and moaning in ecstasy, yet there she is, doing just that. Mind blowing. As Jen Chaney noted for The Washington Post, "Kidman is really something to watch in this film. She’s a walking libido, the personification of psychological damage in a short skirt, a sorry soul who, despite being Australian in real life, is all tawdry twang in this movie. She is, in a word, fearless."

While Kidman's scorching sensuality is almost unbearably hot, what makes the performance so memorable for me (beyond that scene) is how beautifully she empathizes with the psychologically damaged Charlotte. As wildly over the top as everything about this film can be, Kidman never condescends in her performance. Charlotte might be troubled, but Kidman imbues her with a well-earned nobility that is equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring.

When compiling the list of Kidman's greatest performances, few would include The Paperboy, but I think that's a mistake. Look past the gratuitous southern soft-core erotica and you'll find a gem of a performance, and one that serves as an excellent example of just how fearless an actor Kidman really is. She commits to her work. Rarely has she done so with more gusto than in The Paperboy.

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