Nicole Kidman felt 'humiliated' after filming Big Little Lies violent sex scenes

'I was just lying there, sort of broken and crying'

Nicole Kidman has spoken candidly about her performance in Big Little Lies, discussing the effects of tackling such a large role.

The actor played Celeste Wright on the celebrated HBO show, the character trapped in an abusive relationship with her husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård, the pair sharing many difficult scenes.

Speaking to W Magazine, Kidman discussed how acting naked on set would leave her “ashamed”, often paralleling her character’s own feelings about the situation. Being so exposed also left her “deeply humiliated”, particularly during the sex scenes towards the season's end.

“When I would go home, I would feel ashamed,” she told the publication.” And that's the same emotions and the same feelings that Celeste was having, so we were very much parallel in the feelings, but I was willing to do that for the role because that's what I felt was important for the role.

She continued: “I felt very exposed and vulnerable and deeply humiliated at times. I mean, I remember lying on the floor in the bathroom at the very end when we were doing the scenes in episode seven, and I was lying on the floor and I just wouldn't get up in-between takes.

“I was just lying there, sort of broken and crying, and I remember at one point Jean-Marc coming over and just sort of placing a towel over me because I was just lying there in half-torn underwear and just basically on the ground with nothing on and I was just, like [gasps].

“But at times I would have flashes of images of women that have gone through this and I'm like, 'This is authentic, this is the truth and this is what I have to do, and it would just come through like that.'

“But it was beautifully written, I have to say, and Jean-Marc is an exquisite director because he was able to modulate it and allow it to be and to grow and see and then sort of paste it together, you know.”

Kidman also spoke about how she’s received wonderful emails from many viewers, saying how they now understand why someone would stay with an abusive partner.

Big Little Lies was a critical success, many praising the show and Kidman’s role. However, Adam Scott — another one of the show’s stars — said how male critics were unfairly harsh to the female-led ensemble.

“Right out of the gate, to see the reaction from some male critics and the dismissive tone of some of those reviews which clearly is not getting what the show was and immediately pushing it off to the side.”

Liane Moriarty — who wrote the book the series is based on — recently revealed that HBO has already approached her for another season, saying: “The producers have asked me to see if I can come up with some ideas. I wouldn’t write a new book but perhaps a new story and then we’ll see what happens.”