Nicole Kidman and Jodie Foster are proof that women support women in Hollywood.
“There’s this misconception that somehow female actresses are at each other, or they don’t like each other or whatever,” Foster, 61, told The Hollywood Reporter during their Drama Actress Roundtable published on Wednesday, May 29. “Even this year, going to the various events [for the movie Nyad], it always just feels so nice because the women really feel like they want each other to succeed.”
Foster recalled taking over a role from Kidman, 56 — who was also part of the conversation — in the 2002 movie Panic Room.
“I was in a really bad way,” Kidman said. “I was like, ‘I’m having a breakdown.’ And Jodie took over, thank the Lord.”
While Kidman was initially set to star in the thriller directed by David Fincher, she dropped out of the film in 2001. At the time, Entertainment Weekly reported that it was because of a “lingering knee injury” sustained on the set of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.
Foster nabbed the role and starred alongside a young Kristen Stewart in the movie, which followed a mother-daughter duo hiding out in a panic room while people break into their new home. Unbeknownst to them, the panic room is hiding a safe filled with $22 million.
While Foster helped out Kidman for this particular film, the Australian actress returned the favor for Jennifer Aniston — another member of THR’s Roundtable.
The group of actresses, which also included Brie Larson, Anna Sawai, Sofía Vergara and Feud’s Naomi Watts, were asked: “Who in this industry has helped you navigate the tougher or lonelier parts of this life?”
Aniston, 55, was quick to name Kidman.
“When we did that movie in Hawaii [2011’s Just Go With It], you helped me out on a lot of hard things that I was going through,” the Friends alum revealed. “Just to have that community, it’s very helpful.”
Larson, 34, shared her own experience with female actresses as well.
“Over the years, I’ve gone out of my way to make friends with other women in the industry because there was usually just one woman on a job,” she admitted. “It was just me, and there are things that make me uncomfortable or things that I’d like to change or to laugh about, and connecting with other women has been a game changer because you get to swap stories.”
