Not Nicole Kidman Calling Out Martin Scorsese, Our AMC Queen
Nicole Kidman called Martin Scorsese TF out in her latest interview with Variety.
The 57-year-old Oscar winner shaded the longtime director in just one sentence while speaking with Variety for their Hollywood Issue, which was published on Wednesday, November 13. When asked about directors she'd like to work with, she quipped, "I've always said I want to work with [Martin] Scorsese, if he does a film with women." Succinct, yet cutting.
The question came after the interviewer acknowledged the impressive list of directors Kidman has worked with, whom she mentioned in her acceptance speech for the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award she received in April.
Jane Campion, Gus Van Sant, Stephen Daldry, Noah Baumbach, and Lars von Trier were just a few of the big names she referenced in her speech. The Hours actress later acknowledged other famous directors she failed to mention — like her Aquaman and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director — telling L'Officiel magazine, "There are a lot of directors on that list and I left a few off. I left James Wan off, which was devastating to me." [Yay James Wan, Horror King!]
In her sit-down with Variety, she listed Kathryn Bigelow, Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Michael Haneke as directors she would like to work with one day.
Kidman kept her comments about Scorsese brief, but the 81-year-old directing legend has been criticized before for his films only focusing on men. That's kind of an obvious, no-brainer. Just a few examples of his male-focused films include hits like The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Irishman, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Not saying they aren't good movies, but they really don't do their women justice. Men love watching you watch his movies forgetting that the women (like the wife in Goodfellas, played wonderfully by Lorraine Bracco) often get treated like absolute shit.
Meryl Streep, Kidman's co-star from projects like The Hours, The Prom, and Big Little Lies, even called out The Departed director in a 2011 interview with The Talks. When asked the same question as Kidman, regarding directors she'd like to work with, Streep, 75, didn't mince words. "Yes, I would like Martin Scorsese to be interested in a female character once in a while, but I don't know if I'll live that long," she quipped. Because Meryl is great at everything, including burns.
While speaking at an Italian press conference in 2019, Scorsese expressed his frustration over the years of criticism that he doesn't write films led by female characters.
"That's not even a valid point," he said. "That goes back to 1970. That's a question that I've had for so many years. Am I supposed to? If the story doesn't call for it, then it's a waste of everybody's time. If the story calls for a female character lead, why not?"
Getting angry rather than taking accountability does seem to be the male MO. He gave 1993's Age of Innocence and 1995's Casino as examples of films written for female leads, before suggesting that he doesn't have time to write more female characters.
"But you know what, I'm 76 now. How am I going to have the time? I don't know what's going to happen. We don't know. I don't have time anymore," he shared.
Since 2019, Scorsese has directed:
TV: Pretend It’s a City (2021), Gangs of New York (upcoming), An Afternoon with SCTV (upcoming)
Short: Rolling Thunder Revue: Additional Performances (2021), Squarespace: Marty & Francesca Make a Website (2024), Squarespace: Hello Down There (2024), Bleu de Chanel (2024)
Film: Personality Crisis: One Night Only (2022), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder (upcoming), A Life of Jesus (upcoming), Roosevelt (upcoming)
But… time.
Kidman's highly-anticipated erotic thriller Babygirl, from director Halina Reijn, will be released in theaters on December 25.
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