Kidman: Oscars and "The Hours"
March 10, 2003 -- Nicole Kidman is virtually unrecognizable as Virginia Woolf in The Hours, the film for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, but she told ABCNEWS' Chris Cuomo that her two kids are still not impressed.
The following in an unedited, uncorrected transcript of the interview that aired on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.
ABCNEWS' CHRIS CUOMO: You were on Good Morning America right at the time of the nomination for this.
NICOLE KIDMAN: Yeah, we were doing our, our press tour in Europe
KIDMAN: It was sort of one of those things that you remember. You go wow! This will be something that I remember when I'm an old woman when you look back at it, always think of that. What am I going to be like when I'm an old woman looking back on this particular time period of my life?
VOICE OVER TAPE: An "old woman" is the last thing that comes to mind when looking at Nicole Kidman, and yet her Oscar nominated performance in the hours had nothing to do with her famous beauty.
(Movie Clip: The Hours)
VOICE OVER TAPE: Masked in a prosthetic nose, portraying Virginia Woolf, it was her talent that caught everyone's eye.
CUOMO: Are you afraid of the jinx factor? You know people saying she's going to win by a nose. It's actually two to one, you're a favorite. Do you think about that?
KIDMAN: I am?
CUOMO: Two to one.
KIDMAN: That's not good to be the favorite. The favorite never wins.
CUOMO: Two to one. I figured after this maybe I'd have some inside — put a little money down on …
KIDMAN: No, the favorite — don't put money on the favorite. Hey, my dad used to take me to the horse races, and we never backed the favorite.
VOICE OVER TAPE: Well like it or not, she is the favorite and the world will be watching on Oscar night, but Nicole says she stays grounded with the help of her two children, Connor and Isabella.
CUOMO: Have you explained to the kids though look, mom's up for this award and the movies are doing really well?
KIDMAN: No they don't care.
CUOMO: They don't care!
KIDMAN: They shrug, they shrug it off. It's very … brings you back down to earth.
CUOMO: So now it's your big night and the big decisions that are surrounded — people want to know, what are you going to wear?
KIDMAN: Well you know as a girl you go wow, this is — it's fun. You get to get dressed up. And I suppose that's also part that you're saying this is something that has a tradition attached to it. But in terms of just the fun of being a girl and being invited to the prom, I mean that would be the equivalent of it, right.
CUOMO: Do you know what you're gonna do yet. Have you figured it out? What you're gonna wear — what ...
KIDMAN: Yeah. Pretty much. Just decided that on something.
CUOMO: Are we allowed to know. That's like a big deal. Can't know that.
KIDMAN: Well I might change my mind at the last minute which has happened. My prerogative, women's prerogative, right?
VOICE OVER TAPE: She has come a long way from just being Mrs. Tom Cruise — now a superstar in her own right — in fact the world has never been more interested in her personal life.
CUOMO: Do you ever feel that the success that you're getting is also tradeoff. That people become more interested in everything that goes on outside of your work.
KIDMAN: I mean I try to just say well, this is a time in my life when there's all that. I mean it's part of the thing I was saying to Renee Zellweger, I think being a single woman and suddenly you're like linked with all these other people, and you're like oh my gosh. What do I do here? And then you just say I've just got to take care of my kids, do my work and everything else will come and go.
CUOMO: Given that you seem to have a great sense of perspective about what this all means and I guess you'd need it because it's pretty heady stuff?
KIDMAN: Well I've kind,of been through a lot now. So I've been through a lot in personal ways, in the public arena and I've seen the ups and downs and I've had a lot of experience now.
CUOMO: So when are you the happiest then?
KIDMAN: I got to just spend a month with my family. Reading a book and hearing your kids laughing. There's something about having your family around you and the simplicity of some water and sunshine and a good novel and kids laughing that you can't beat.