Nicole Kidman has been honoured with an American Movie Institute life achievement award at a ceremony wherein stars shared tales of “fairly merely one of many best actresses”.
The Oscar-winner turned the primary Australian actor to obtain the best honour for a profession in movie at AFI, throughout a ceremony which featured speeches from Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon, and her husband, Keith City.
The Gala Tribute on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles additionally included appearances from former co-stars together with Miles Teller from Rabbit Gap, The Paperboy’s Zac Efron, Zoe Saldana from Particular Ops: Lioness, and Joey King from upcoming movie A Household Affair.
The ceremony opened with a video of Freeman in a parody of Kidman’s AMC Theatres advert, earlier than he took to the stage telling the viewers that the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge, starring Kidman and Ewan McGregor, was “one in all my favorite movies of all time”.
Streep, who co-starred in The Hours which gained Kidman an Oscar in 2003, offered the award.
She joked “the very hardest a part of being incessantly referred to as the best actress of our technology” is working with actually nice actresses equivalent to Kidman – “that’s troublesome”.
“The vary of your work is beautiful, your listing of credit and roles and good deeds on this planet would take a traditional particular person three lifetimes to realize,” she stated.
“Your life and your resume problem all the pieces we find out about what number of hours there are within the day and what number of locations a girl may be in a single time.
“It’s exhausting to not envy Nicole, however it is usually not possible to not be in awe of her.”
Streep additionally stated she was “floored” by Kidman’s efficiency on the primary day of taking pictures the TV sequence Massive Little Lies.
“That’s the time I got here inside respiration distance of the formidable items Nicole has, and her course of, and her seismic financial institution of feelings that she’s acquired locked up inside her, and her stamina and her drive to be an artist and her self-discipline.
“I haven’t recovered from that first day, I’ve by no means seen something like that in my life.”
Accumulating her award, Kidman stated Streep has been her “guiding gentle” throughout her profession, including: “It has at all times been you, and nobody can contact you.”
Kidman praised all the administrators she has labored with, together with The Hours director Stephen Daldry who was “by my aspect throughout probably the most weak, troublesome time of my life – you held my hand, you bought me via it and also you gained me an Oscar”.
Throughout the ceremony, British actress Naomi Watts spoke of assembly Kidman aged 15 at an audition for a swimsuit advert, earlier than Kidman provided to pay her taxi fare dwelling, starting their “a long time lengthy” friendship.
“Nic has at all times been probably the most beneficiant particular person – she has opened up her properties to me, she has made me really feel like part of her household, she was just like the sister I by no means had,” Watts stated.
“She’s extremely supportive of different ladies, for 10 years after I lived very a lot underneath the radar, she repeated to me, one factor Nad, one factor will change all the pieces, I swear simply dangle in there. And he or she was proper. And sure, she saved me. So many instances.”
Amongst those that made digital appearances was Russell Crowe, who described Kidman as “fairly merely one of many best actresses who’ve ever labored on this enterprise”.
Kidman was attributable to be offered with the award on 10 June final yr, however the ceremony was postponed indefinitely because of the writers’ strike, which was resolved in September after 146 days on the picket line.
She has been nominated for 5 Academy Awards and has gained a Bafta, two Emmys, and 6 Golden Globe awards.
