Well, I was in the play version of Closer too, and when we did the play, people walked out almost every night [laughs]. They seemed to find me repellent.
Don’t be ridiculous. Closer was full of intense sex
scenes—and so is Hemingway & Gellhorn, your movie for HBO,
which airs May 28. Do you prefer doing sex scenes or scenes in which you
die?
It’s much harder to do a death scene. You’ve got to do it
convincingly, and it’s a huge thing to die [laughs]. Sex scenes
are only hard if there’s no narrative conveyed through the sex
scene. In the Hemingway film, the sex scenes have a story going through
them. It’s part of who these people are and what they are.
In the movie, the aspiring journalist Martha Gellhorn meets
Ernest Hemingway—who is married—in Key West in 1936. As they
begin their affair, he encourages her to become a war correspondent.
They eventually marry, and for four tempestuous years travel the world
in search of war zones. Did you know about Hemingway before you started
this project?
As a writer, he doesn’t have the same impact in England as he does
in America. I spent five, six months doing research. I went to his house
outside Havana, Cuba. The incredible thing about the house, which his
wife donated to the Cuban government, is that the moment he died, they
locked the place down. They don’t usually let people inside, but
they set it up for me. I got in Hemingway’s home, and everything
is still there. His clothes are in the closet. His books. His
typewriters. His coats are still hanging in the closet just as he left
them.
Did you try them on? Did you read his books?
Everything! I tried on his boots. I don’t think I’ve ever
done anywhere near as much research for any part. It was hugely
enjoyable to walk around hearing Hemingway’s voice in my head.
I liked the way you-as-Hemingway wrote. He typed standing up,
his typewriter placed on a tall chest of drawers. And he attacked the
keys with a great intensity.
We wanted the writing to look virile. After writing a page,
Hemingway would let it float to the ground. He never crumpled
pages—he believed that if you crumpled them, you’d be insane
in a year. He could also drink all night—legendary
amounts—and then every morning at 6, he’d be up and would
write for six hours straight. After that, he’d start drinking
again.
And you did the same?
Absolutely! [Laughs.] Research!
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Lynn Hirschberg: In Hemingway & Gellhorn, you play Martha
Gellhorn, the war correspondent. The film chronicles her relationship
with Ernest Hemingway, which was often its own particular battlefield.
What attracted you to this project?
Nicole Kidman: I knew nothing about Martha, but I’ve always been
drawn to unique women who are willing to take on the world. The exciting
thing about this film is that you see her discovering her nature. At the
beginning, she’s a lot of talk. She knows that she’s either
got to get her hands dirty and become what she pretends to be or
she’s a fraud. In the end, Gellhorn out-Hemingways Hemingway.
