Nicole Kidman, executive producer and star of The Family Fang, which is directed by co-star Jason Bateman, stepped out early on the red carpet at the premiere of the film Saturday night at the Tribeca Film Festival.
By her side was her husband, country music star Keith Urban, who spent a lot of time looking up at her adoringly as she was giving interviews. Occasionally, he would take out his iPhone and take photographs of his wife, but more often, he held her hand and listened quietly as she talked to the press.
Kidman and Bateman play siblings of wacky performance artists, played by Maryanne Plunkett and Christopher Walken, who make their children, often against their will, become part of their art project/pranks. Based on Kevin Wilson’s 2011 bestseller, the screenplay is by David Lindsey-Abaire, who wrote Rabbit Hole, for which Kidman was nominated for an Oscar. (She received the Oscar for “The Hours” in 2002.) For Kidman, who optioned the book, the movie is a big deal, and she spoke to almost everyone on the long press line.
On the red carpet, Kidman talked about what drew her to the book. “I liked that it was a dark comedy, which is always something that I’m drawn towards. I optioned this book, so being able to produce and star in it is really a wonderful opportunity, especially for me as a woman.”
She added, “I love having the ability to sit down with an author and say, ‘We can get your novel made into a film if you will let us.’ And it was so good when Jason responded, and to play his big sister was really appealing.”
NICOLE KIDMAN: “I’m always looking for complicated characters to play” – The Family Fang Premiere, Tribeca Film Festival
Kidman said she’s always searching for complicated characters to play and especially movies that ask big questions. “All of those things ran through this particular novel and I’m drawn to sort of big questions, I suppose. I don’t have any of the answers, but I’m definitely drawn to the questions,” she said. “I have ideas all the time circulating in my head. I write things down every now and then. At some point I would love to write something, but I have two little girls and I have a great husband, and right now that’s my priority.”
At the press conference for the film earlier in the day, Jason Bateman, who is most famous for the television series “Arrested Development,” said, “The central and hopefully relatable theme and premise of this film is that anybody who is here or has ever been here has or has had parents. And so therefore, everybody has gone through that inevitable moment or process whereby your parents become human. They become as flawed as you are. You become old enough and perceptive enough to see through the disguise that they know how to wear, and the veneer that you’re working on building yourself as you become older.”
Christopher Walken, who wore an overcoat and scarf, barely stopped on the red carpet, but had some choice words about parenthood. “There’s a lot of luck, accidental stuff in everybody’s life. Your parents can mess you up and you turn out great. But you can have every advantage and turn out to be useless. Who knows?”
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