‘I Didn’t Feel Exploited’ : Nicole Kidman Says Erotic Thriller ‘Babygirl’ Was ‘Very Freeing’ to Make

Nicole Kidman hopes her new erotic thriller, “Babygirl,” is a “liberating story” for women, as she found it “very freeing” to make.

At the film’s Venice Film Festival press conference, Kidman spoke on the raunchy themes of the movie, saying it’s “obviously about sex, it’s about desire, it’s about your inner thoughts, it’s about secrets, it’s about marriage, it’s about truth, power, consent.”

She continued, “This is one woman’s story and this is, I hope, a very liberating story. It’s told by a woman, through her gaze — Halina Reijn wrote it and she directed it — and that’s to me what made it so unique because suddenly I was going to be in the hands of a woman with this material. It was very dear to our shared instincts and very freeing.”

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The buzzy A24 film sees Kidman star as a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern (played by Harris Dickinson). The film also stars Antonio Banderas, Banderas, Sophie Wilde and Esther McGregor.

Kidman said working with a woman director in Reijn (“Bodies Bodies Bodies”) was key to her feeling comfortable on set.

“I knew she wasn’t going to exploit me. However anyone interprets that, I didn’ -

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t feel exploited. I felt very much a part of it,” she said. “There was enormous caretaking by all of us, we were all very gentle with each other and helped each other. It felt very authentic, and, at the same time, real.”

However, that hasn’t made Kidman any less nervous going into the film’s premiere at the festival on Friday night.

“This definitely leaves me exposed and vulnerable and frightened and all of those things when it’s given to the world, but making it with these people here was delicate and intimate,” she said. “Right now, we’re all a bit nervous. I was like, I hope my hand’s not shaking.”

Reijn later explained that one of the main reasons for making “Babygirl” was to address what she described as the “huge orgasm gap” between men and women, adding “take note men… but not you, Harris,” referring to Dickinson. The actor quickly responded, “Everyone deserves a good orgasm,” to laughs from the audience, before apologizing and putting his head in his hands out of apparent embarrassment.

After Venice, “Babygirl” is due to have its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival before releasing on Dec. 25.

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