Nicole Kidman on playing an Al Pacino-esque character in Destroyer

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Women don't always get the chance to take on gritty lead characters in crime thrillers, but Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies) will be doing just that in DESTROYER, an upcoming film from THE INVITATION director Karyn Kusama. Kidman will be playing Erin Bell, an LAPD detective, who, as a young cop, was "placed undercover with a cult-like gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past."

Nicole Kidman spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming film, and discussed how thrilling it was to play "the kind of damaged anti-hero role that’s usually reserved for men."

I grew up on these kind of films. I watched [Al] Pacino play these roles, I watched all of the men in the ‘70s get the chance to do it, but I don’t have a female [equivalent]. That’s exciting as an actress to get the chance to do that. This character is also so far removed from me, so that’s part of the appeal as an actor: going to places I haven’t been given the chance to go. I’m all about finding characters and stories that [make me] go, ‘This is new, but it’s still emotionally relevant.’ And also playing a character that is so damaged, sleeping in her car, sometimes not even sleeping, I mean, she's at a place in her life where it's over, you know, she's barely able to get through the day, let alone think of the future.

As a big fan of both Karyn Kusama's THE INVITATION and Nicole Kidman herself, I'm exited to see what the pair have cooked up with DESTROYER. We're also fortunate to have quite a lot of Kidman in our future, who, in addition to the second season of HBO's Big Little Lies, is also set to appear in BOY ERASED on November 2, 2018, AQUAMAN on December 21, 2018, and THE GOLDFINCH on October 11, 2019. DESTROYER premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August and will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival before hitting theaters on December 25, 2018.