Why Nicole Kidman Never Chooses Films With This Theme

You'll never see Nicole Kidman in an epic revenge movie.

In her recent Glamour cover interview, she explained why she's more interested in characters who pick themselves back up when they're knocked down than those who respond to mistreatment by getting even.

She practices these values in her own life, she said. To stop her from getting discouraged in an emotionally difficult job, her husband Keith Urban gives her a safe space to vent her feelings. "I don’t even think of the risks, I just go, 'This is totally going to work.' Exercising those muscles gives you resilience. And I’m fascinated by resilience in human beings — what people endure and somehow survive. I just bow down to that," she said. "Keith always says to me, 'You stay raw and sensitive, and I’ll buffer things for you,' which is a beautiful offering. He is always told, 'You’re so tough.' And he says, 'That’s not what I want for you, Nicole. You don’t need to get a thick skin.'"

This prevents her from becoming bitter when life is hard on her, she explained. "That way, I can actually go back open and curious and willing. And at times scarred and a little damaged, but not with a sword like, 'I’m seeking revenge.' Because that just doesn’t interest me. I actually never choose films that are about revenge."

Kidman recently won an Emmy Award for her performance as Celeste Wright, a woman in an abusive relationship, on the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies. She was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the adoptive mother of a boy searching for his birth family in the movie Lion, which she's called a "love letter" to her own adopted kids. As she said in her Glamour interview, she likes to play "women who somehow find their way through."