Nicole Kidman might make freezing on a mountaintop look glamorous, but even she has her limits. The Oscar-winning actress recently opened up about the challenges of filming the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers – and let’s just say it wasn’t all hot cocoa and snowflakes.
Chatting with People, Nicole, now 57, gave fans a peek behind the scenes of the latest season, which swapped the sunny calm of coastal Australia for the icy wilderness of the Austrian Alps. This time around, the story takes a much darker turn, and the location change helped set the mood.
“I love the Austrian Alps,” Nicole said, clearly still enchanted by the snowy peaks. “I fell in love with that. There’s something so invigorating about being outside and actually being on the locations and actually being really cold and walking in snow.”
And this wasn’t your average set built in a studio lot. The team filmed in real snow, in a real castle, over the course of six long months. That’s a serious commitment to authenticity – and it shows.
Nicole explained, “I think there’s just something about the air and the water and the landscape and having it be authentic.” It’s clear she has a deep appreciation for the place, even if it wasn’t always comfortable.
While the beauty of the Alps won her over, it didn’t stop her from admitting that not every moment was a dream. Night shoots in freezing weather were a particular low point. “It’s just night shooting in the cold or that sort of thing,” she shared. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m tired and I’m cold.’”
We’ve all been there – that moment when the thrill wears off and you’re just counting the hours until you can crawl into bed with a hot water bottle. For Nicole, those icy nights were the toughest part of the whole process.
But ever the professional, she also acknowledged that enduring the cold added something real to her performance. “But then that can penetrate and infiltrate the story and the performance,” she added, showing how even discomfort can fuel creativity when you’re fully immersed in the role.
So while viewers might be wrapped up on the sofa with a cuppa watching this new season unfold, it’s worth remembering that behind every intense scene in the snow is a shivering Nicole pushing through the cold to bring something raw and believable to the screen.