It is such a joy to see Nicole Kidman at this moment in her career. She makes gutsy choices in projects, and she’s on a mission to champion emerging filmmakers, especially women. Having been a fan since way back, it’s particularly gratifying to see Nicole completely out of the shadow — and power vacuum — of Tom Cruise. Even when she won her Oscar in 2003, and she was working as much as she is now, you could tell that she was still sad. But now she just seems like she’s having a ball, she’s worked with almost everyone in Hollywood, and she’s happy to accept her flowers. She’s also happy to give her flowers, as she just told People Mag. Nicole was doing promotion alongside costars Matthew Macfadyen and Gael García Bernal for their new thriller, Holland, when a discussion of tulips in the film led Nicole to share that she grows her own wild roses. And if you’re an extremely super special friend, the best gift she can bestow is a bunch fresh from her garden.
Nicole Kidman has a thoughtful gift reserved only for the “super special” people in her life.
The Oscar winner is surrounded by tulips as the star of the new thriller Holland, about a meticulous homemaker whose perfect life is upended when she suspects her husband is up to no good.
Kidman, 57, tells PEOPLE in an interview alongside her costars Matthew Macfadyen and Gael García Bernal. “I love giving flowers, but I like growing them in the garden. I grow roses. My greatest gift to someone can be a bunch of my own wild roses.”
“So if you get that, it means you’re super special. There’s only a few of them though,” she adds, as Succession alum Macfadyen, 50, calls the gesture “lovely.”
Her favorite flowers at the moment are tulips and daffodils, she says, and she’s also fond of fragrant varieties, like night-blooming jasmine, honeysuckle, gardenias, hyacinths and lilacs. The list goes on. “I’d like to have a flower shop,” she says with a smile.
The trio’s twisty new thriller goes to some dark places, though they agree things stayed light on set.
“I think the darker the subject matter is, sometimes the more fun on set it is,” explains Macfadyen. “Naturally, actors sort of play against how grim, or otherwise, the material is. Sometimes when you’re doing comedy, it’s quite serious. Everyone’s like, ‘Is this funny?’”
“Yeah, that’s true,” agrees Kidman, who adds, “But this is such an interesting tone, because it’s got that really dark humor, but it’s very… how it presents, it’s like a package with a big bow and then you unwrap it and you’re like, ‘Oh!’”
I agree that giving flowers is one of the greatest gifts you can confer. In fact, when I was a little tyke at JCC, after learning about the 10 Commandments we were all asked to come up with a commandment of our own, and mine was: “You should give people flowers.” My efforts are slightly less thoughtful than Nicole’s, though, since I don’t grow my own (I consistently kill plants and flowers, sigh). And speaking of, I can’t believe Nicole has the time to tend to her own garden! Is this in Tennessee? Are roses that hearty that they can survive global indie film schedules? And yet I still can’t keep a bloom alive in the apartment I’m in everyday… Also, who do we think has gotten one of these super special bunches? The only name I feel completely confident about is Naomi Watts.
As for Holland, it’s out now on Amazon Prime, and it’s at the top of my list for what to watch next. Every shot of Nicole in one of those Dutch Bonnets absolutely slays me. Plus she’s got that slightly psycho look in her eyes that’s giving me To Die For vibes — I still think that movie is one of her best performances, ever. Only where Suzanne Stone was a cool character, Holland’s Nancy Vandergroot seems ready to burst in spectacularly unhinged fashion. I also feel, based on nothing more than the trailer, that a clog shoe may end up being a murder weapon.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty