Nicole Kidman Reveals Her Secret Of Playing Lucille Ball To Kristen Stewart

Both Nicole Kidman and Kristen Stewart play iconic women in their latest films, and each found the way to their characters in different ways.

Stewart said that when she was getting ready to play Princess Diana in “Spencer,” she had a hard time hearing the princess’s voice in her head.

“There was such a long period of time where I couldn’t hear it. I could do an English accent, but there was something that was, like — you’re never not you,” Stewart confessed to Kidman in a duel interview for Variety.

Eventually, Stewart adapted.

“Maybe a week before we started shooting the movie, she did show up, and I could fully relate,” Stewart said. “She became a kind of friend; you do the best impressions of your best friends. At the last hour, I got lucky and got it, or got whatever it was that I got to.”

Kidman found the key to playing Lucille Ball in “Being The Ricardos” in a slightly different place: a pack of cigarettes.

“She’s a heavy smoker. I’m not. That was a huge key to it,” Kidman said. “I started smoking, which I know you’re not meant to say, and then gave it up the minute I stopped.”

Kidman admitted that trying to imitate Ball’s sound made her very nervous.

“There’s a rhythm to Lucy. I had to lean into the sounds, and slowly, it would wash into my mouth, my body, my brain, my psyche,” she explained. “Suddenly she was there — she just appeared. Then it was effortless, but the work it took to become effortless was climbing the mountain.”

You can see the complete conversation with Stewart and Kidman below.