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Nicole Kidman Almost Pulled Out of Destroyer: ā€˜I Didnā€™t Want to Go to That Placeā€™

Photo: Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for BFI

Nicole Kidman only had a three-week break between filming the family drama Boy Erased, where she plays the mother of a son in gay conversion therapy, and the crime thriller Destroyer, where sheā€™s an LAPD detective battling a gang. During a Focus Features reception for Boy Erased last Friday, Kidman told the crowd that she tried to drop out of Karyn Kusamaā€™s new film because both were so emotionally intense. ā€œI did Boy Erased first. And then I tried to pull out of Destroyer. I did! I went, ā€˜Iā€™m tired, Iā€™m absolutely terrified to go into that role, get me out of it,ā€™ and I was told that I couldnā€™t get out of it. I do that a lot,ā€ she said with a chuckle. ā€œAnyone in this room thatā€™s about to work with me, know that! Between the prep ā€” I did an enormous amount of prep ā€” there was a three week break [between Boy Erased and Destroyer].ā€

Kidman explained she likes having a career that keeps her busy, because itā€™s more similar to the revolving-door-style of working that drama students get. ā€œI fight hard to keep [my career like this] because the idea of getting pigeonholed is terrifying to me,ā€ she said. ā€œBut then comes the fear and then comes the idea that you canā€™t do it, and then comes the struggle to go in. And thatā€™s what I struggled with, with Destroyer: I didnā€™t want to [do it] because I didnā€™t want to go to that place.ā€ Understandable ā€” you try making back-to-back emotionally wrought prestige dramas!

Nicole Kidman Almost Pulled Out of Destroyer