Nicole Kidman is one of the cover subjects of W Magazine’s Best Performances awards-season series. Nicole is obviously pushing hard for Babygirl, but I feel like this is more about Nicole supporting the work more than angling for an Oscar. She’s been pretty breezy about her Oscar chances, which is the way to play it. Nicole talked to W about fashion, babygirls and her late mother. Some highlights:

Whether she was scared by the ‘Babygirl’ script: “It captivated me; it didn’t scare me. Yes, there’s sex, but it’s existential in its crisis for this character: A woman’s having an exploration of who she is at this particular age, in this relationship—the different roles that she plays, her desire to hold on to her power and then relinquish it. It’s very honest, which I love. Halina has taken that genre of ’90s sexual thrillers and subverted it and made it her own.”

Whether she was nervous when she came to America to work: “I was hungry and nervous. I had done all these things in Australia, but I was so young—I was 19. But I had worked since I was 14, 15 years old. I was a kid who just worked. So I was like, yeah, I can do that. I wanted to go to Broadway. I wanted to have the chance to try things. It was just, am I going to get the chance to play fully rounded, interesting roles? Is that going to happen for me?

Her late mother’s favorite Kidman movies: “The more love and the more intimacy and closeness you have with a person, the more it’s going to hurt losing them. But I’ll take the pain. She loved Rabbit Hole. She loved The Paperboy. She never saw Babygirl. She loved The Hours. She was tough, though, in her criticism. So I’m used to that, which is quite good.

Red carpet fashion: “My mama thought I had many bad red carpet looks. I remember wearing a headdress once to the Golden Globes. I didn’t know what I was doing. Got to have a few train wrecks! [My favorite was] probably the chartreuse Dior gown by Galliano for the 1997 Oscars. But I also love the Galliano gold gown for the 2000 Oscars, which no one talks about. I wore the most beautiful little 24-karat gold vintage mesh gloves. They had little gemstones in them. But, I’m also partial to a tie and a suit. My natural way of dressing would be far more pants, tie, suit, and a jacket. My first purchase when I’d saved all my per diem money was an Alaïa suit. I wish I kept it. It cost a fortune. It’s nauseating that I did that.

Whether she saves her clothes for her daughters: “I’ve saved all the red carpet dresses. I have them all beautifully boxed. They’re museum pieces. They raid my wardrobe all the time. I’m like, “Okay, what’s mine is yours.” But I don’t raid their closet, even though I’m like, “Oh, that’s cute.” But I’m not allowed to take anything. It’s a one-way exchange.

Does she sing in the shower? “I do. I also hear Keith [Urban, her husband] singing in the shower, and I’ll hear his new songs forming. We have a double shower. The double-headed shower: key to a successful marriage. Separate commodes and a double-headed shower!

[From W Magazine]

A double-headed shower? Surely the secret is separate bathrooms. W Magazine also let her play with a Magic 8 ball, which you can see in their video below. The Magic 8 ball gave her some discouraging news about her dream of going to the moon, but she was encouraged by the ball’s confirmation of something she already knows: that there are aliens. She also talked about being a Gemini. It’s a running theme of the W interviews this year, all of the astrology talk. Nicole knows all about her sign, although she says she feels more like a Cancer (she acts more like a Cancer). I’m also including some of the old red carpet photos she referenced – the gold Galliano really was stunning. And that Golden Globes look really was a trainwreck.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, cover courtesy of W Magazine.