Nicole Kidman is known for giving everything to a part, and that dedication reportedly didn’t stop even when she was dealing with an illness serious enough to send her to hospital.
The actor threw herself into playing ageing wrestler Lace in Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and, according to her co-star Nick Offerman, turned up to shoot a major scene despite battling a severe bout of influenza.
Offerman, who plays Jinx — a wrestler and the father of Margo — said Kidman’s determination became clear on a day centred around a big Fan Expo sequence, where the characters cross paths.
The shoot was a large, one-day production featuring a full wrestling ring setup and hundreds of extras, meaning there was little flexibility if anything went wrong.
“We’re there in the morning, we’re getting warmed up — some of us are going to be performing some actual wrestling, and so we have our doubles, we have people we’re working with,” Offerman told PEOPLE. “And the word comes in that Nicole has the flu, and we might not get Nicole today. And we’re like, ‘Oh no, that’s such a bummer, because we only have the one day that we’ve built this whole circus for.’”
He said the uncertainty around her availability surfaced early in the morning, but before long Kidman arrived anyway — noticeably unwell and clearly pushing through to avoid derailing the day.
“She just had the flu really so bad,” Offerman recalled, adding that “she showed up and made sure that we got every shot of her, total superhero style, did everything we needed to so that we did not lose one scrap of what we needed for her character.”
While the effort ensured the production captured what it needed, Offerman indicated it came at a price: Kidman later required hospital treatment and an IV after overexerting herself.
After taking time to rest, she recovered, but Offerman said the experience only deepened his respect for how seriously she takes her work.
“I just said to her, I already admired you so much, but this is how you get to be Nicole Kidman, is you show up so that your show doesn’t lose a minute of your value,” he said. “It was so generous. It was astonishing.”
New episodes of Margo’s Got Money Troubles drop Wednesdays on Apple TV+.