Nicole Kidman Plays Tough Matriarch in Murder Mystery 'The Perfect Couple'

Actor Nicole Kidman attends the UK premiere of the TV series "The Perfect Couple" at the BFI IMAX in London, Britain, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
Actor Nicole Kidman attends the UK premiere of the TV series "The Perfect Couple" at the BFI IMAX in London, Britain, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
TT

Nicole Kidman Plays Tough Matriarch in Murder Mystery 'The Perfect Couple'

Actor Nicole Kidman attends the UK premiere of the TV series "The Perfect Couple" at the BFI IMAX in London, Britain, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
Actor Nicole Kidman attends the UK premiere of the TV series "The Perfect Couple" at the BFI IMAX in London, Britain, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim

Nicole Kidman brings murder mystery "The Perfect Couple" to the small screen in a new Netflix mini-series in which she plays a matriarch of a wealthy American family with plenty of secrets.
The six-part show, adapted from the 2018 novel by Elin Hilderbrand, stars Eve Hewson as zookeeper Amelia Sacks who is marrying into one of the richest families on Nantucket.
Kidman plays her disapproving future mother-in-law, murder mystery novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, who has organized a lavish wedding at the family home over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
When a body washes up ashore on the day of the nuptials, however, secrets unravel and an investigation begins.
"I grew up on (murder mysteries) and... I haven't seen one like this for a while, so it was really exciting to be a part of it and to be able to produce it as well," Kidman told Reuters at the series' UK premiere in London on Monday.
The Oscar winner said the role was "so different" to the one she plays in "Babygirl", an erotic drama she premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week.
"(Greer is) strong and, and powerful and that was exciting to play... I'm always on this quest to find things that I haven't done or have different experiences," she said.
Liev Schreiber plays family patriarch Tag, a role the actor said he needed "some convincing" taking on.
"But once I talked to (director) Susanne Bier for about two weeks and Nicole (Kidman), I just realized how deliciously dark and wonderful this was going to be so it worked out,” he said.
Meanwhile Hewson's character is the outsider.
“I was a little bit jealous of the Winburys (family characters) just because they have amazing one liners," she said. "I was the grounded one... the serious one."
The series cast also includes Dakota Fanning, Meghann Fahy, Jack Reynor, Billy Howle, Sam Nivola and Ishaan Khatter.
"The Perfect Couple" premieres on Netflix on Thursday.



British Actor Ian McKellen Feared He Would Die in London Stage Fall 

Actor Ian McKellen attends a Service of Thanksgiving for Sir Peter Hall at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 11, 2018. (Reuters)
Actor Ian McKellen attends a Service of Thanksgiving for Sir Peter Hall at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 11, 2018. (Reuters)
TT

British Actor Ian McKellen Feared He Would Die in London Stage Fall 

Actor Ian McKellen attends a Service of Thanksgiving for Sir Peter Hall at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 11, 2018. (Reuters)
Actor Ian McKellen attends a Service of Thanksgiving for Sir Peter Hall at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 11, 2018. (Reuters)

British actor Ian McKellen said on Monday he feared he would die when he lost his footing and fell off a London stage mid-performance in June.

McKellen, 85, was starring in "Player Kings", combining William Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Parts One and Two", in the capital's West End theater district, when he tripped during a fight scene.

The actor, who is best known for playing Gandalf in the film versions of "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" and was also Magneto in the "X-Men" movies, was taken to hospital. He did not return to the role for the rest of the tour.

"I am absolutely physically recovered," McKellen told BBC Radio. "It is emotionally that I've got some residue that I've got to deal with. I said to myself as I slid off the stage ... 'this is the end', these were the words in my mind."

"Apparently I shouted out, 'My neck is broken, I am dying'. I don't remember saying that. So there was a lot going on in my head as the body responded to the fall."

McKellen broke his wrist and chipped a vertebrae in the fall but said he was saved from more serious injury by the padding of the suit he was wearing to play the overweight character John Falstaff.

In a separate interview with BBC television, McKellen, whose stage career stretches back to 1961, said he had no plans to retire from acting and did not want anyone else to play Gandalf in the next instalment of the Lord of the Rings franchise, due in 2026.

McKellen's latest film, "The Critic", based on the novel "Curtain Call" by Anthony Quinn, in which he plays powerful theater critic Jimmy Erskine in 1930s London, is out in cinemas later this month.