This is a still from Destroyer, the film where Nicole Kidman plays a grizzled cop. Kidman underwent quite the transformation for the role, including hours of “pigmentation” makeup to look like a boozy older lady who has lived a hard life. Grey wigs were also involved. Much was made of Kidman’s transformation, because… well, there are a million reasons why people talk about an actor’s transformation for a role. But here’s the question: is all of that conversation sexist? It’s more complicated and nuanced than yes or no. Nicole chatted with the Guardian about the role and the expectations that an actress has to look a certain way even if she’s supposed to be playing a hardened cop or an action heroine. Some highlights:

The look of action heroines: “A lot of times if you are going to be a female in an action film, they want you to look gorgeous, be bad-ass, be capable of firing guns and doing high kicks and still having lipstick and being svelte and being in a whole different class of action hero.”

Destroyer is different: “This is gritty and raw and totally authentic. It’s very different to give screen time – and this amount of screen time – to a woman who looks like this, who behaves like this, who is riddled with shame and anger and fury and rage, yet is also a mother and not a good mother.”

How we discuss actor’s transformations versus actress’s transformations: “I’m always astounded at the harsh way in which women are judged, and I shouldn’t be. I should know that by now, but it is what it is…. Maybe in 20 years time, for the next generation of women, it will be different but by god, I want to be one of those women who’s helping carve a path for the next generation, because I’m the recipient of those that have come before me to even be in this position. We didn’t get to work 25 years ago, women were pretty much cast out by now, and that’s abominable. But that’s in any work force, and those trends are changing, thank god, but we have to keep the conversation moving forward.”

[From The Guardian]

Here’s my take on the whole “transformation” thing: most of the time, the transformations wouldn’t be so noteworthy if only a different actor had been cast. I hate the fact that they award actors for being so woefully miscast in sh-t that they needed ten hours in a makeup trailer. Like Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill – he won an Oscar for his makeup and for acting drunk. And that’s it. And while I appreciate the fact that many actresses and actors are willing to put aside their egos to make drastic transformations, let’s also acknowledge that they’re happy enough to make that the conversation because they want to win awards for “uglying up.” Nicole’s right about the whole looking pretty-while-shooting-a-gun thing though. It’s like, Manic Pixie Dream Avenger or something.

Here are some photos of Nicole filming The Undoing last month. These photos have gotten so much attention because Nic went back to her red hair for this movie! She looks a decade younger with red hair.

Photos courtesy of ‘Destroyer’ still and Backgrid.