Nicole Kidman made a 4,500-mile round trip to shoot ‘Lion’ to avoid uprooting her family.
The 49-year-old actress depicts the real-life role of Australian Susan Brierley who, with her husband, adopted two Indian boys and raised them in Hobart, Tasmania, in the drama – which is based on Saroo Brierley’s book ‘A Long Way Home’.
In order to fulfil her shooting schedule and promotional work for the movie, Kidman chose to make the long trek to work rather than make her family, husband Keith Urban and their daughters Sunday, eight, and Faith, five, relocate from their home in Nashville.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Kidman said: "I was shooting in Louisiana, got on a plane and went straight home to Nashville, so I was able to take my kids to school, spend the morning with Keith, then got on another plane to come here to Los Angeles to fulfil my obligations to ‘Lion’, and then I go straight back to Louisiana again."
The total distance of that round trip is approximately 4,508 miles but it’s something that Kidman endured in order to keep her family happy in Nashville, where she has lived for the past 10 years with Urban.
It enables her to balance her home and work life and means that she can take on new projects rather than pass up opportunities like she did when she turned down the chance to star in the Broadway production of ‘Photograph 51’ – which was such a success for her in London’s West End – because her kids didn’t want to move to New York.
Speaking about her changing attitude to work, Kidman – who also has two adopted children, son Connor, 21 and daughter Isabella, 23, with her ex-husband Tom Cruise – said: "It’s a great play and a great role, and I would have had an amazing time. But we had a family meeting and my kids said, ‘No’. They didn’t want to go to New York for four months – and I get it. I’m not a single girl and not a childless woman, and I need to bow down to that."
And living in Nashville is something that Kidman – who was born in Hawaii and grew up in Sydney, Australia – absolutely "loves".
She explained: "I am lucky because I travel, but in terms of a home base, it’s good for us. It’s very quiet and easy, and it’s just a really lovely way of life."
Nicole Kidman clocked up air miles to see kids while shooting Lion
