Kidman's metamorphosis in 'Destroyer & # 39; even surprises herself

Jake Coyle, AP writer

updated

14:00 PDT Tuesday 11 September 2018

TORONTO (AP) – It's forcibly pushing actress Tatiana Maslany into the trunk of a car that Nicole Kidman pondered on the mere experience of her role in the brutal thriller of L.A. Black.

"I put it in the trunk of this car:" What's that? "Kidman recalls at the film's Monday premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Even if we expected it, Kidman's transformations can even surprise. And as so often has been the case, Kidman 's metamorphosis powers have once again thrilled a film festival and the 51 – year – old actress is back among the Oscar contenders.

In Karyn Kusama's "Destroyer", Kidman is almost unrecognizable because Erin Bell, a haunted and hardened policeman with little will for work or police life. His voice is a hoarse whisper, his skin a lean mask, dried in the sun, his eyes cold and empty. She drinks a lot.

The film, which Kusama described as Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", places a female anti-hero at the heart of a tough genre, usually reserved for men. Maslany, who plays a criminal role in the film, said about the movie, "It was not very masculine, that kind of woman felt really feminine about bending the rules the way we see these stories."

What made Bell a ghost is what drives "Destroyer", which Annapurna Pictures will release in December. He cuts between a current murder investigation and a previous connected infiltration operation that ended tragically. In flashbacks, Kidman appears herself, beautiful and witty, and only reinforces her radical changes in the role.

"I was just watching the last 15 minutes of the movie:" My God, is it me? "Said Kidman." And it's weird because I look at it and it almost looks like a dream because it was so different for me to exist at this place. "

Kidman said that the inner darkness of the character was more difficult than the outer transformation.

"The film was really hard for me, it's so extreme, so different from me, I wanted it to be real and authentic, I did not want to show myself and perform," she said. "So I had to move into a place and live there for a while that I did not like to be – mentally, physically, everything, I did not know until I was in there that I was would it take? "

Kidman co-starred in another film at the Toronto Film Festival: "Boy Erased", who plays the mother of a young man (Lucas Hedges) forced to a gay conversion therapy. Although this film has also attracted positive reviews, it seems more likely that his performance in "Destroyer" could bring Kidman to his fifth Oscar nomination. She won the "The Hours" award in 2002 and was recently named last year for "Lion".

Kidman is committed to working with female directors at least once every 18 months. It's the first time she's working with Kusama, the director of "Girlfight" and "Jennifer's Body", and she has continued the role, written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Kusama recalled Kidman's shivering and shivering performance in a dramatic scene where Bell realizes that something terrible has happened.

"It was like we were watching in real time a person in shock," Kusama said. "When you see an actor no longer acting, just living in this very special and rarefied space, we had access to Erin 's (mind) moment that gives me shivers every time I look at it. It was an awesome day. "

The filmmakers chose to shoot the flashbacks with a younger Bell, a decision that Kidman acknowledged having initially launched.

"But then I have this thing as an actor where I always say," You go with it. "I never try to beat myself under any circumstances because I do not know what is best for me as an actor," Kidman said. "I could have a plan in my head but it's usually wrong, so it's better that I continue with the flow, Nicole, and that's for life too."

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Follow AP Movie Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP