Nicole Kidman worked during the pandemic, and she continues to work through… whatever we’re still experiencing. Like, the Phase 3 of the pandemic, where millions of people are vaccinated but highly contagious variants are exploding through the population. Most countries still have travel restrictions in place, and most countries also have mandatory quarantines set up for the few travelers coming in. Hong Kong has a mandatory three-week quarantine for every person entering the country, regardless of vaccination status or nationality. Except that Nicole Kidman arrived in Hong Kong for work and she was exempted from the quarantine procedures.
Australian actor Nicole Kidman was exempted from quarantine in Hong Kong last week, the government appeared to confirm even as the Asian financial hub braced for more draconian COVID-19 travel restrictions to take effect from midnight Thursday. The city’s government did not directly identify the 54-year old Hollywood star but said it had granted foreign overseas film personnel permission to skip quarantine for “the purpose of performing designated professional work”.
The exemption contrasts sharply with entry rules for residents that are some of the most stringent coronavirus requirements globally, sparking online criticism from residents in the special administrative region of China.
Many travellers to Hong Kong have to do up to 21 days mandated quarantine in a hotel, even those who are vaccinated. The measures have led to many residents not being able to visit relatives and travel overseas for nearly two years.
Kidman was in the former British colony to film an Amazon television series called “The Expats”, online news site HK01 reported. She was spotted shopping and filming after arriving from Sydney last week, according to HK01.
Australia is battling an outbreak of the fast-moving Delta strain and reported its biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 infections on Thursday. Hong Kong’s government has upgraded 15 overseas places including the United States, Spain and France to “high risk” effective Thursday midnight, meaning only vaccinated people from those countries will be allowed to enter. The measures have sparked chaos for travellers who are desperately trying to rebook hotel quarantine and flights with limited supply available.
I knew that Nicole spent a good chunk of the past year in Australia, working on various projects in an almost entirely Covid-free area, but I thought she was filming the Lucille Ball movie in the US? So has she been able to move freely between Australia and the US this whole time, with minimal quarantines? Variety says that Nicole flew to Hong Kong from Sydney on a private plane, and that she’s in Hong Kong for The Expats, which she’s executive producing. Hong Kong, like Australia, has some of the strictest border controls in the world right now because of the raging Delta Variant. Anyway, the people who actually live and work full-time in Hong Kong are pissed. As they should be. It’s astounding to me that Kidman has been able to travel so freely this whole time. Australia also made a huge exception for her last year, remember?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I would be so ticked off.
I will join you in being pissed off.
What’s more angering? The pass she’s given or the fact she takes it? Celebrities.
This is completely unsurprising. There are different rules for the rich. At least she is using her pull for work. Unlike some of these fuckboys, looking at you Sebastian Stan, who used their status to party through the pandemic.
But she could confine herself to the film set, but she’s also out and about shopping in a crowded city. That adds to my annoyance about this whole thing.
I don’t know why people are focusing only on her, it explicitly says that “foreign overseas film personnel received permission to skip quarantine for “the purpose of performing designated professional work”
I’m pretty sure she’s not there filming by herself
I saw my dad who lives in HK for the first time in 1.5 years (second time he has ever met his grandson). Probably won’t see him for another year because of these restrictions. Yes, this is very annoying to see people granted exemptions.
Is it like an essential worker type thing? It sounds like she fits into a certain category. I don’t think her celebrity alone would be enough to get the exemption but it seems like all the crew are in as a group with exemptions because of how their work is categorized by the country.
Right, lots of countries & states in the US have/had exemptions during restrictions. I doubt anyone is actually mad at her specifically. If it’s essential travel, it’s essential travel. In Hawaii, I got a governor’s exemption from the mandatory 14-quarantine for inter-island travel whenever I had to fly from Molokai to Oahu to go to the drugstore to pick up my prescription or see one of my docs.
Also wanted to say–love Nicole’s entire outfit in that candid shot of her opening her car door.
She works constantly – like back to back. I am so fascinated how her family situation works – like do the kids go with her everywhere. Do they bounce from school to school or do they just stay in one place and she pops in and out? She’s one of the few actresses who doesn’t really go down that work/life balance talking point at all, which I’ve always found interesting.
I find this interesting too. She’s so public about her family life but we really know very little. And though she talks about her kids, she never pretends to be a domestic goddess type, unlike so many other actresses who claim to be hand washing their kid’s school shoes every night lol.
My guess is she has staff, the kids have private tutors and travel with her, maybe go to school on location if they’re staying more than a few months, but they go with her.
Like you I find it interesting that she doesn’t push the work/life balance thing in interviews which is kind of the go-to chatter for actors.
Since she’s also producing it, I bet the country extended some permits in order to shoot as long as they hire local crew and benefit the economy in some way or another. I’m sure they are hiring extras, paying for locations, etc. So that would put her and whoever she is working with as a business exception.
Yes, I live in Hong Kong, and everyone entering must undergo quarantine, at a designated hotel, at your own expense. I’ve done quarantine twice, the first time for 14 days, and then for 21 days. Hong Kong is very responsive, and adjusts the entry requirements based on how cases are trending, so in early 2021, it was stretched to a nasty 21 days. It was not easy, but I feel we are lucky in Hong Kong because everyone has worked hard to have the relative ease we can go about our day in Hong Kong. I’m sure Nicole could’ve done some remote work for at least seven days (which is now the current requirement if you’ve been vaccinated and flying in from Australia), just to avoid this very bad look.
Maybe off topic but Nicole’s bad acting in Nine Perfect Strangers completely took me out of the story.
I feel like this is an unpopular opinion, but I’ve never found her a particularly good actress (I can always tell she’s acting, if that makes sense? I feel the same way about Meryl Streep, so maybe I just don’t know good acting when I see it lol! To me, Viola Davis is a supreme actress – she becomes someone completely different in every role, and always rings authentic).
I totally agree with you, I never understood the hype. But yes to Viola Davis – she is AMAZING and you get completely lost in the character she plays.
Anners, this is not an unpopular opinion to me. I can’t help it, I’ve always thought of Nicole as a wanna-be actress. I don’t care how intelligent she is or how hard she tries. I’ve seen her in some spectacularly bad acting. Embarrassing. Glad to hear someone else thinks so.
Please, someone, anyone stop her from messing with her face!
Yes, thank you. I was so scared by the header picture I couldn’t focus on the story.
Well I never liked her to begin with this reinforces why. She should be dragged for filth over this but she won’t.
And yes, her face. I don’t understand how someone who is proported to be very intelligent can do that to their face. She would have still been an attractive woman if aged naturally, very cute older woman. But you really don’t want to look like a freak. That isn’t attractive. I’m really surprised at the work she has had done. I was shocked when I saw her in the undoing.
According to my Australian friend, the rich and famous have been able to come and go as they please. While their own regular citizens are not even allowed to come back.