"Cinema is a director's medium, so you're saying, "What do you want?" Being an actor is about adapting - physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I'm willing to do that too"
About this Quote
The subtext is about control, and the ways performers negotiate it. "Adapting - physically and emotionally" isn't actorly poetry; it's a job description that covers everything from dialect and posture to the humiliations of being seen in high definition. When she thanks a production for making her look great, she's acknowledging the industrial machinery of glamour - makeup, diffusion, costuming - without pretending it's intrinsic. When she says she's willing to have "everything washed away", she's signaling the opposite bargain: the willingness to be unvarnished, even erased, if the role demands it.
Context matters because Kidman has built a career on that duality: movie-star sheen alongside performances that court discomfort and volatility. Her intent reads as a professional manifesto for longevity in an image-obsessed medium: be pliable without being hollow, collaborative without being passive, and treat transformation - flattering or brutal - as part of the contract with the audience.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Kidman, Nicole. (2026, January 16). Cinema is a director's medium, so you're saying, "What do you want?" Being an actor is about adapting - physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I'm willing to do that too. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/cinema-is-a-directors-medium-so-youre-saying-what-92721/
Chicago Style
Kidman, Nicole. "Cinema is a director's medium, so you're saying, "What do you want?" Being an actor is about adapting - physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I'm willing to do that too." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/cinema-is-a-directors-medium-so-youre-saying-what-92721/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Cinema is a director's medium, so you're saying, "What do you want?" Being an actor is about adapting - physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I'm willing to do that too." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/cinema-is-a-directors-medium-so-youre-saying-what-92721/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.





