Nicole Kidman's Speech | AFI Life Achievement 2024 | TNT

Ladies and gentlemen, the recipient of the 2024 AFI Lifetime Achievement, the American Film Institute Lifetime achievement. Nicole Kidman. Come on baby. [applause] They told me I had to put it there because when Al Pacino got it, it went like that. And so it's better to have it like that, but... S**t. And I never swear. Can I just say, Meryl Streep, I've... I've just loved you. I've always loved you. I don't know what it is, but you have. You're a beacon of excellence and warmth and generosity. But you've been my guiding light. So to receive this from you, you have no idea. My husband will attest. My parents will attest. It's always been you, and no one can touch you. [applause] You take it. Muah. And every other gorgeous person that got up here, Nahay, Reese, all of you, and you got up here and you spoke so beautifully. And now I have to say, you don't really want to hear me speak, do you? Because there's been too much said. I think you said it when you were on yours, where it's like, God, I wish I could know that person because it's not me. But, I, I've written down a few pages. But I want to first of all, say thank you to the American Film Institute and the people that put this together tonight. [applause] Unbelievable because you work tirelessly to keep film alive. And I celebrate you and thank you and thank you because it's important and it's necessary and indelible. So onward, as David would always say to me. The path to this sort of astonishing room tonight began in Australia with my sister who's here. And I, and we were raised by parents that let us be who we were. From the minute we were born, we were allowed to just be who we were, which is so important because we were challenged, we were listened to, and we were allowed to just be. And for me, that was being allowed to act in local plays and to do theatre. And my family also allowed me to read books, to read any books I wanted. And that is very important. And often those books were payment for the plays that I was in because I was too young to be paid money. So I was paid in books, and I would choose plays, and I would read them voraciously, and I would read Chekhov and I would read Ibsen. And that was the most beautiful payment. Um, I'm still happy to be paid in books, or maybe. I'll take a paycheck and buy the books. But the family, my family also allowed me to dream and exist in my imagination, and there were a family that had no idea that I would be what we call in Australia, "wag school", but basically that was be absent. And I would sneak out and I would go and watch films. And I would then forge their signatures. Please don't do this, Sunny, Faith. Um, on the absentee form for school. And I would. Literally that was how I went and saw Clockwork Orange and so many, so many films that I would never have been allowed to see. And that was my classroom. I started work at 14, so I didn't have the wayward teenage years. And it doesn't hurt because I met a woman who was also in her formative years, Jane Campion. She was i, um, she was doing student films, and she came to the local theater that I was working, that I was performing in, and I think I was doing Sweet Bird of Youth at the time. And she said, I want you to be in my short film. And I read it and I went, "I don't like it." So I've learned, be careful who you say no to. Because I actually then became she was so good because she still said, "But I want to be your friend." And we became friends for life. And I've subsequently learned you don't turn down Jane Campion ever. I was born, as has been said in Honolulu, Hawaii, which gave me my American citizenship. But I am an Australian girl, and I have wanted to explore the world and I dreamt of of doing that. And acting is the perfect career for that. But it is a nomad's life. So you actually go where the work is and you go where you can earn a living and where there is opportunity. And so you try and you try and you try and you try and get a role and you hope that someone's going to cast you in their film. And I was lucky. I was incredibly lucky. And I came to America. And even though I'd had some work, I still was auditioning. I was auditioning for films. I was relying on the kindness of friends as well as strangers. And a lot of those friends, though, are in the room, and I would sometimes sleep on their floors, on their sofas. I would sometimes have them give me a lift to an audition, because when we were growing up as Nay said, it was really expensive to get a cab. And, um, and if you got a cab to an audition and didn't get it, then that meant you couldn't have dinner that night kind of thing. And I was like, trying to also pay for hotel rooms to stay and then having to go back to Australia and get more money and try to come back. So I just want to say thank you to all those people that are in the room tonight who did that for me. And there's a lot of you and I know exactly who you are. And the other thing that would happen as Australians is we would support each other because when one of you gets a job, it's like, "Oh my God, you got a job." And they would all celebrate you. And it was just pure magic. And then, of course, what happens is you meet your director, you meet the writer, you meet the the producers and all the other people, and then you meet the actors. My tribe. My. Yeah. I just love actors. There's only one person clapping for that. Come on and you see how they work and you learn and you see how other people work and you share and you go, "Oh my God, who are all these talented people?" And some of them you may never meet again, and some of them you do meet again, some of them you you have incredible laughter and jokes with, and you cry with some of them. You fall in love with, some of them you marry, you have new adventures, you have wondrous things happen. And some of the people whom you get to know become your best friends or they become your allies, or they become your supporters, or they become your biggest champions, or all of those. And even though you may not see them again for years, maybe never again, or sometimes you'll see them down the road on another film, that's being a nomad. That's the nomadic life of what we do as actors. So I have been part of so many families. I've had the good fortune to have worked with some of the greatest actors and some of the greatest directors who have not only raised the bar, but they have also had the ability to raise it so high that we all always learn from them. And a lot of them are in the room tonight. They take you in, they teach you, they take you under your wing, and then they blow your mind. I have so many directors who were so good to me and I would like to thank them all. Phillip Noyce, you're in the room tonight. You took a bet on me. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. And I slept on your sofa as well. Robert Benton, Ron Howard, Gus Van Sant, you were amazing because you gave me that role, and I had shown absolutely no skill that would make you believe that I could do that. So, Stephen Daldry, you were by my side during the most vulnerable, difficult time of my life. You held my hand. You got me through it, and you won me an Oscar. Thank you. [applause] Lars von Trier, Alejandro Amenábar, Jonathan Glazer, Noah Baumbach, Mimi Leder, John Cameron Mitchell, Rob Marshall, Lee Daniels, Jonathan Levine, Philip Kaufman, Director Park. Thrilling. Wild. Amazing. Can you believe this list? But it goes on. Paul King, Werner Herzog, Garth Davis, Susanne Bier I mean, come on, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sofia Coppola, Karyn Kusama, Jay Roach, Billy Ray, Harold Becker, Ryan Murphy, Richard LaGravenese, and Aaron Sorkin. Thank you! Thank you to all of you. You all took a bet on me. And then there's the new kids on the block, who I've also worked with. Robert Eggers, Lulu Wang, Mimi Cave, and Halina Reijn. If you get the chance to work with them, take it. They're amazing. They're going to take over the world. Thank you. It hardly feels enough. We're especially when it comes to the masterful George Miller. Thank you. My darling friend Jane Campion and the incomparable, dazzling divine Baz Luhrmann. My family's all of them and there are a few who have left us, and they need to be mentioned too, because one day you look around, they're there, and then they're not there. And Tony Scott, Joel Schumacher. Yeah, please. Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella, Nora Ephron. [applause] Jean-marc Vallée. Oh, God. And Stanley Kubrick. [applause] May they live on. May they live on in beauty, in spirit, and in all of our imaginations forever. It is a privilege to make films and glorious to have made the films in television with the storytellers who allowed me to just run wild, be free, and play all of these unconventional women. Thank you for making me better at my craft and giving me a place, however temporary, in this world. Thank you for inviting me into your movie families, and thank you for my childhood dream that became a reality. And to the audiences who have stuck by me through everything, I just want to say thank you, because there's so many little weird films I've done, and I know there's people out there that go and find them and watch them and you've stood by me and stuck up for my weird, weird choices, and I so grateful for that. There's an enormous amount of luck in my life, but there is also the most important thing, love. Big, big love. And then right there is the love of my life and the loves of my life. [applause] My daughters have never been anywhere publicly except for with me on a red carpet. Tonight was their first night. So they're here. [applause] Sunday and Faith. My mama who can't be here. But they said there's a live stream available for her and she's watching it. So I hope that, that's what I love about technology. And my papa, who isn't here. But I feel him every day. And then there's all my nieces and nephews and my sissy. Aunt. My beautiful aunt and her husband, who's our family now. And I am really this is all because of you, and I love you so much. So there's no place like home. As they say, click, click. You're my home. And thank you for flying halfway across the world. I'm going to shut up in a minute. I like to think that I'm getting started, but it's not true. Because really, let's just hope I'm in the middle. I've got my fingers crossed. There's so many more exciting young directors and writers and voices, that are completely original and need to be heard. And they have a lot to say. We need to give them the chance to say it and to hear them. And I am here. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves. As you see, Meryl and I are always ready to roll up our sleeves, give whatever we've got, whatever power, whatever help to help you so that we can get there. I am, I am here always to support those voices. So, you know, if we get a chance to do something together, that'd be great. I think it was Andy Warhol who said, "Make art. Let others decide whether it's good or bad. And while they're deciding, just make some more." Well, that's, that's what I do. So I believe art can hurt, but it can heal. And love does win. And film is forever. And I am so, so grateful to all of you for tonight. Thank you.