Nicole Kidman Pushes Back on Industry Ageism at Kering Women in Motion Gala in Cannes: ‘Invest in Us and Believe in Us Because Our Voices Are So Important'
'I'm so happy to be here supporting women's voices in cinema,' Kidman said as she floated down the press line outside of the glamorous dinner held at the Place de la Castre, overlooking the Croisette. 'I'm an advocate and want to continue moving forward with my pledge. It ain't over.'
More from Variety
Marie Kreutzer's 'Gentle Monster' Wins ArteKino Prize at Cannes Investors Circle
Director of Julian Assange Film 'The Six Billion Dollar Man' Wins Golden Globe Prize for Documentary
Hong Kong Cinema Makes Splash at Cannes With Industry Push
Following a clip reel of her greatest performances, including 'Moulin Rouge,' 'Far and Away' (her first film to debut in Cannes) and 'The Hours,' Kidman took the stage to a standing ovation from the A-list assembly, including Isabelle Huppert, Julianne Moore, Sean Penn, Charli XCX, Dakota Johnson, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Paul Mescal, Juliette Binoche, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Guillermo del Toro.
Longtime festival delegate Thierry Frémaux, who presented the award alongside festival president Iris Knobloch and Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault, declared Kidman a 'Cannes legend' — and she continues to add to that mythology each time she returns to the festival. Case in point, in 2017, Kidman used the festival spotlight to make a declaration: she planned to work with a female director every 18 months.
'I had been having a conversation with Meryl Streep, where we talked about how we have to actually do the work — which is be in films directed by women,' Kidman said during the glamorous dinner held at the Place de la Castre overlooking the Croisette. 'Because you can talk about it, and you can say you support it, but you actually have to do it.'
In the eight years since, Kidman has managed to work with a woman behind the camera 27 times between film and TV projects. 'There's so many extraordinary women out there, and, once you go looking and searching there, they are just waiting to be found,' Kidman said. 'So I continue that pledge today, but I continue it not with just female directors. I continue it with female writers, female cinematographers, female crew members.'
Kidman, who executive produces and stars in Hulu's 'Nine Perfect Strangers' and was last seen on the big screen in Halina Reijn's 'Babygirl,' also advocated for stronger representation on screen.
'We need to give women better roles, particularly as they get older. We are here, and we can prove to you that we will make money for you,' Kidman added. [To note: 'Babygirl' was a box office success, grossing $64.5 million worldwide.] 'Invest in us and believe in us, because our voices are so important. We will help change the world, but we will also give you a glimpse of our hearts and our souls and what it means to be a woman. If you just give us the chance, we are so ready.'
Kidman's honor marks a milestone for Kering's Women in Motion program, which the luxury fashion house launched in 2015 to spotlight the creativity and contributions made by women, both on and off screen, in the world of culture and the arts. In accepting the award, Kidman joins a luminous lineup of past honorees: NBCUniversal entertainment & studios chairman Donna Langley, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, Patty Jenkins, Gong Li, Salma Hayek Pinault, Viola Davis, Michelle Yeoh, Jane Fonda and Huppert.
Hayek Pinault was elated to add Kidman to this elite sorority. 'Her talent and her endurance and her movie stardom have positioned women in a different way; whereas before, it was men and very few women who'd get to that level of movie stardom, so she has opened the way for many of us,' Hayek Pinault told Variety. 'She's always been very conscientious about women's causes — not just recently — and, of course, her pledge of working with and supporting female directors personalizes everything that we stand for.'
'The Substance' director Coralie Fargeat also weighed in Kidman's impact. 'She has a way that is unique in the industry. She commits to very risky projects. She doesn't repeat herself. She explores new territories, and she stands for women,' Fargeat said about Kidman's pledge. 'Those are the type of actions that matter, because we are all responsible for the real, deep change, and that goes through action. Nicole does that, so I'm a huge admirer.'
Likewise, Tessa Thompson has been inspired by Kidman. 'She's really one of those women that walks the walk and talks the talk, in terms of [recognizing that] the first thing that we need to do to empower more women is just to work with them early stage in their career,' Thompson said, reflecting on her longterm collaboration with Nia DaCosta beginning with the director's first film, 2018's 'Little Woods.' 'It's the thing you have to do. The impediment to getting in the door is having someone to open the door for you, so I'm so proud of Nicole for continuing to do that. But, goodness, I'm just such a big fan of hers.'
Brazilian director Marianna Brennand was also honored at the dinner with Kering's emerging talent prize, which includes a €50,000 ($57,000 USD) grant towards the laureate's second feature. Brennand's debut feature 'Manas' addresses sexual violence and incest in the Amazon. Because 'manas' is a word for 'sisters' in Portuguese, Brennand focused her acceptance speech on the sisterhood between the women and children she met while researching her film, plus the one she entered as a 'Women in Motion' with Kidman.
'What she's done for us in the film industry is really special and powerful,' Brennand told Variety, sharing what she told Kidman upon meeting her a few hours prior at the Oscar winner's Kering Women in Motion talk. 'It was one of the greatest moments of my life, and she was so sweet and so caring. She held my hand. She told me, 'You deserve it. Congratulations.' She's beyond words.'
Scroll for a look inside the black-tie soirée, with a guest list that also included Vicky Krieps, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Julia Ducournau, Julia Garner, Charlotte Le Bon, Jameela Jamil, Carla Bruni, Zhang Linghe, Elodie Bouchez, Chie Hayakawa, Pierre Niney, Costa-Gavras, Amélie Bonnin, Virginie Efira and Camélia Jordana — and ended with a special performance from French singer-songwriter Clara Luciani.
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
NYC supermarket mogul Catsimatidis makes debut in Timothée Chalamet flick: ‘I never knew who he was!'
City billionaire John Catsimatidis is making his big-screen debut in heartthrob Timothée Chalamet's newest film, 'Marty Supreme' — and, in true form, is making cash off griping about the high cost of things. 'I actually got paid! I'm a member of SAG. And so I got a new career at my age,' the 76-year-old supermarket mogul told The Post on Friday. 3 New York City supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis is making his film debut in the upcoming Timothée Chalamet movie 'Marty Supreme.' x/RealChalamet Advertisement 'Josh Safdie — who is the big producer on it — he was looking for Upper West Side people and approached me, and I said, 'Yeah! Sounds like fun!' ' the mogul said. Catsimatidis — who is also famous these days for his WABC radio show, where he regularly complains about rising costs in the city — revealed he will star in 'two or three scenes' of the new film about the life of a fictional table-tennis star, Mary Mauser. The film is based on the actual life of legend Marty Reisman, who ran a ping pong parlor in an Upper West Side building owned by Catsimatidis. Advertisement The onetime mayoral candidate also makes a cameo in the final seconds of the film's trailer, which was released Wednesday, in a scene in which Chalamet tries to convince two men with New York accents to purchase a custom orange ping pong ball with his name branded on the surface. 3 'I got a new career at my age,' Catsimatidis crowed to The Post. Stefan Jeremiah for New York Post 3 Chalamet stars as Marty Mauser, a fictionalized version of table tennis legend Marty Reisman. x/RealChalamet 'A custom ball like that, it's going to cost a lot of money,' Catsimatidis tells the actor. Advertisement When it came to working with the Academy Award-nominated Chalamet, Catsimatidis admitted he had no idea who the heartthrob was. 'I never knew who he was! I was complaining to the director that he was getting a bigger role than me!' he quipped to The Post. It wasn't clear whether Chalamet, a fellow New Yorker and public-school graduate, knew who Catsimatidis was before filming. Advertisement Catsimatidis said his ping pong-peddling scene took as many as seven hours to shoot. 'I would say I'm used to days of work for five days,' Catsimatidis told The Post. '[Filming] was like 14-hour days. By the time I got [done], it was like midnight.'
Hypebeast
5 hours ago
- Hypebeast
The Slow Death of the Contemporary Art Gallery
The contemporary art gallery as we know it is dying. In cities like New York and Los Angeles, dedicated spaces that once buzzed with foot traffic and formal openings are now struggling with rising rents and changing expectations. The old model, where a gallery does everything for its artists, feels like it's falling apart. Big gallery chains, the ones built on endless art fairs, multiple cities and huge rosters of artists, are losing their grip. Last month, Tim Blum announced he would close his Blum & Poe galleries in L.A. and Tokyo and even stop plans for a new one in Tribeca. He was blunt about the reason: 'This is not about the market. This is about the system,'he told ARTnews, pointing out that collectors have more power than ever to negotiate. His decision echoes a wider feeling across the industry with many giving up on the idea of building giant gallery empires. You can see this shift happening at major events. The latestArt Baselconfirmed that galleries are showing more mid-priced work, not just the massive, ultra-expensive pieces they once counted on. A recentreport from Art Basel and UBSshowed that while the overall art market shrank last year, the number of actual sales went up. It's a clear signal that the business is no longer just about a small group of big spenders, it's now about reaching a wider audience at lower price points. 'The old model was built on scarcity and prestige. The new one runs on access and attention.' A significant force behind this change is the shifting demand for different types of art. The once-dominant 'blue-chip' artists, masters whose work commanded staggering prices, are no longer the only game in town. Collectors are increasingly turning their attention to 'red-chip' artists, a new class of talents whose value is built on viral hype and cultural relevance rather than institutional endorsement. These artists are attractive for two main reasons: their work is often more accessible and affordable, and it brings fresh, diverse cultural perspectives that feel relevant and exciting to a global audience. This hunger for new voices and unconventional methods is reshaping the market. A key example isOlaolu Slawn, a London-based artist who sold out his solo show,I present to you, Slawn, at the Saatchi Yates gallery in 2024 by creating and selling 1,000 individual, more accessible pieces, an approach that challenges the fine art world's focus on scarcity and prestige. A separate but related trend sees celebrities entering the art market with their own work, often commanding high prices based on their fame. Actor Adrien Brody is a notable example. His art, which he described is about celebrating the little nuances in life has sold for significant amounts, as per a convo withInterview Magazine. For instance, a painting he created of Marilyn Monroe was sold at a Cannes gala auction for $425,000 USD, illustrating how star power can directly translate into commercial value. However, his work has drawn sharp criticism from the industry, with critics often labeling it as kitschy and derivative. One critic writing forARTnewsdescribed his work as having a 'faux naïve aesthetic' and 'mediocre production value,' while others have accused him of cheaply appropriating the styles of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. As the old guard shrinks, smaller galleries are finding new ways to thrive. In New York,Tiwa Galleryshows self-taught artists in a relaxed space, rejecting flashy Landddcombines Latin American crafts with immersive events. In L.A.,Marta galleryblends art and design right into everyday life. These new spaces care more about quiet, genuine connection than putting on a spectacle. Retail is also becoming a new kind of gallery. Stores like South Korea's Gentle Monster and London's Dover Street Market are blurring the lines between art and commerce, transforming shopping into an immersive cultural experience. Gentle Monster's stores are famous for their fantastical, ever-changing installations, from surreal kinetic sculptures to robotic figures that draw in visitors who are just as interested in the art as they are in the eyewear. Dover Street Market, founded by Comme des Garçons's Rei Kawakubo, is a 'beautiful chaos' where each brand and artist is given a dedicated space to create a unique installation, turning the store into a constantly evolving exhibition. By blending high-end retail with cutting-edge art and design these spaces offer a new kind of public access to creativity, making the gallery experience a part of a commercial transaction rather than a separate cultural outing. 'If your space is fueled by DJs and cocktails, maybe it isn't really a gallery anymore.' It's clear that going to a gallery is no longer the only way to see or buy art. Today, buyers can just scroll on their phones and purchase work directly from studios or social media. This instant access has replaced the slow dance of white-cube shows and champagne previews. Some galleries are trying to keep up, creating online art drops and hosting pop-ups in different retail spaces. But others are pushing back, as one veteran gallerist puts it: if your space is fueled by DJs and cocktails, maybe it isn't really a gallery anymore. Art isn't disappearing. It's just moving, becoming more accessible and less tied to one physical location. The old model was built on scarcity and prestige. The new one runs on access and attention. The question isn't whether galleries will survive, but which ones can change fast enough to matter.
Elle
8 hours ago
- Elle
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee Reunite for ‘Highest 2 Lowest'—Here's How to Watch
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. Spike Lee and Denzel Washington reunite for the fifth time in Highest 2 Lowest, a modern reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's revered 1963 thriller High and Low. Set in present-day New York, Lee casts Washington as David King, a music mogul pulled into a high-stakes ransom plot. Today's theatrical release arrives after the film premiered at Cannes Film Festival, where it earned a six-minute standing ovation (and a rare Rihanna red carpet appearance). This marks Washington and Lee's first film together since 2006's Inside Man, a collaboration Washington says was built on deep mutual trust. 'There was only one person to do this. And I'm sitting next to him,' the actor recently told Vanity Fair. Lee approached the project as 'a jazz reinterpretation of a great film,' adding, 'I knew if I was to do this, it had to be a reimagining. And it was right up my alley—a big, fat, juicy one coming down the middle of the plate. And I feel like I knocked it out.' Washington sees the project as long overdue in his career. 'In [most of] the time I've been an actor, I wouldn't even have been allowed to play a part like this. No white directors were hiring us, and no studios were hiring us,' he told Vanity Fair. 'That's why I called Spike. I trust Spike, and he trusts me.' Lee hopes audiences catch the film on the biggest screen possible. 'No matter how big that TV on the wall in your home is, see it in theaters first,' he says. Washington added, 'In the theaters, in the theaters, in the theaters. I'll keep saying August 15.' Not yet, but soon. After debuting in theaters today, the film will land on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5, 2025, just 19 days later. Until then, you'll need to catch it during its theatrical run. Take it from Lee—it's worth seeing on the big screen. GET TICKETS
