Nicole Kidman’s Big Night As She Receives 49th AFI Life Achievement Award
28.04.2024 - 21:13
/ deadline.com
“I think it was Andy Warhol who said, “Make art and let others decide whether it is good or bad. But while they are deciding, make some more”.
That was the line with which Nicole Kidman ended her 15-minute acceptance speech after Meryl Streep had presented her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.
That is something that seems entirely appropriate for Kidman, who doesn’t seem to stop “making art,” taking risks at every turn, telling stories through her power not just as an actor, but also a producer dedicated to bringing those stories to screens big and small. At 56, she is on the younger side of the previous 48 recipients of this very high honor, the first Australian to receive it. And someone very much in the middle of creating those life achievements that led to last night’s honor at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where a large turnout out the industry’s elite came by to celebrate her.
Deadline reported last night on the red carpet and included a gallery of many attending. The list included on-stage participants like Morgan Freeman, who offered the inevitable parody on Kidman’s AMC Theatres spot; Naomi Watts, who told of the early days as each made their way into the business from their home in Australia; Reese Witherspoon, who talked not only about Kidman’s acting prowess, but also her dead-on producing abilities; Mike Myers, Zac Efron, Miles Teller, each telling of their connections and admiration to the night’s honoree.
Her husband Keith Urban perhaps gave the night’s most emotional tribute, not just to her talents the world could see, but to their private lives as well, including a heart- wrenching story of how his wife, shortly after their marriage, helped to pull him out of a downward spiral of