Nicole Kidman recently earned immense praise for her new Prime Video series Expats. The series, based on the novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee focuses on the tragic tale of a mother, Margaret, whose son goes missing in a Hong Kong nighttime market excursion. Kidman revealed that the subject matter of the series made it tough for her to pull off the job and certain scenes even forced her to pause to grasp everything.
Speaking about one painful scene in Expats, we see Nicole Kidman’s Margaret laughing at a very morbid situation. Tom Cruise’s former wife replied that she based that scene on her tendency to laugh at inappropriate times. She explained that she needs this moment to keep her alive in devastating moments of grief.
What did Nicole Kidman say about her weird laughing scene in Expats?
Besides starring in Expats, Nicole Kidman was also one of the executive producers of the recently concluded Prime Video series. Interestingly, Kidman’s Blossom Films started its journey with the film Rabbit Hole which also focused on the story of a grieving mother coping with the death of her son. Both Rabbit Hole and Expats explored stories about women who are dealing with child loss.
Among all the tragic moments in Expats, a particular scene features Nicole Kidman’s Margaret going into a morgue to inspect a dead body that matched the description of her son. The scene takes a weird turn when Margaret starts laughing at the body bag. The pain in Margaret’s eyes was evident as she could not stop herself. Kidman explained to Elle that the scene was based on reality as something similar occurred when she was too devastated to see her father’s body in a coffin.
“I literally started laughing because I was so grief-stricken and so devastated. My body and my psyche just couldn’t handle it. Even at other times in my life, I’ve laughed at inappropriate times because I have this weird short-circuiting. It’s like you need this moment to keep you alive, in a way, otherwise you’ll die. It’s too much pain.”
One of the primary differences between Rabbit Hole‘s Becca and Expats‘ Margaret is the point that the former got closure but the latter could not. Nicole Kidman explained that the role was a tough one to play as a mother herself. The Eyes Wide Shut actress also had to face several other difficulties while playing the role.
Expats was an extremely painful job for Nicole Kidman
Even though Nicole Kidman admitted that she never shies away from exploring emotional and heavy subjects, she had to face several hurdles while filming Expats. The show was made in the difficult times of the pandemic in 2021 and presented a challenge for the Days of Thunder actress to film the series away from her family in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s extreme COVID-19 restrictions did not let the 56-year-old actress either take her family with her or visit them during the long production schedule. According to USA Today, Nicole Kidman sometimes found it very strange and painful to film the series.
“You’re doing it sometimes and it’s just a flood of emotion. Because it took so long to make (the series), it became a part of who I was. It was strange, because it was always there. There was no closure, even for so many years that we were working on the show.”
Expats received immense praise from critics and audiences. Starting from Lulu Wang’s direction to the performances of the entire cast including Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, and Ji-young Yoo, everything was a treat to watch and makes up for a powerful story of grief and loss.
Expats can be streamed on Prime Video.
