Duana texted me yesterday after bingeing The Perfect Couple on Netflix. It will likely be my binge this weekend and I can’t wait because I’ve heard it’s bonkers and hilarious and also terrible. Terrible in the way the reviews for Showgirl were terrible – which means it’s melodrama and trash, over-the-top, glossy and silly and fun. And not meant to be taken too seriously even with its cast of Very Serious Actors. 

 

As Roxana Hadadi wrote in her review at Vulture:

“It is the most I’ve laughed while watching a TV series all year, and that’s before Kidman’s author character gets up onstage at a launch party for her latest mystery novel, Death in Dubai, and does horrendously awkward jazz hands while her caddish husband, played by Liev Schreiber, drunkenly belts out “Never Gonna Give You Up.” What a time for television!”

SOLD!

 

But also, because this is THE Nicole Kidman, as Duana put it in her text: 

“I think I could watch Nicole Kidman in a psychologically complicated marriage for the rest of my life.”

That’s the thing about Nicole Kidman – she always understands what kind of series or movie she’s in. And she is in SO MANY. 

Two weeks ago I saw a tweet that made me laugh. Some people were offended by it but I understand the spirit because it relates to just how productive she is. So I’ll show it to you even though you might yell at me but there’s a point!

 

 

She works SO much. But she doesn’t work… carelessly. Right now she’s in The Perfect Couple. She just premiered Babygirl in Venice and won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress which puts her in contention for another Oscar nomination. And just yesterday it was announced that she’s producing and starring in Scarpetta, the series adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s character, and Amazon Prime Video has ordered two seasons. Nicole will be playing medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, with Jamie Lee Curtis co-starring as her sister. And Ariana DeBose is also part of it, so that’s three Oscar winners doing prestige TV and Nicole, once again, expanding the reach of her talent, because for all the already iconic performances she’s given us, now she’s getting into a lab coat and a pair of goggles doing crime investigation serving big forensics energy… !

 

This, apparently, has been an opportunity she’s been pursuing for two decades as she said in a statement: 

“I’ve been pursuing Scarpetta for nearly 20 years going back to when it was intended to be a feature, so to unite with the formidable Jamie Lee Curtis, Prime Video, Jason Blum and David Gordon Green on the Liz Sarnoff series version of Patricia Cornwell’s epic and thrilling books feels like it was meant to be. I cannot wait to inhabit Kay Scarpetta and am so thankful to Patricia Cornwell for entrusting me with her.”

Yes, Nicole Kidman works like she’s going paycheque to paycheque. But the quality of that motherload of output is next level. Not sure she gets enough credit for this. 

Here's Nicole in Venice earlier this month.