Babygirl director reveals how Nicole Kidman secured the rights for classic INXS song to be used in erotic thriller

Nicole Kidman has a deep love for Australian rock music.

The Australian actress, 57, used her star power to secure the rights to use a classic song from iconic Australian band INXS for use in her latest film, Babygirl.

Director Halina Reijn shared on the ReelBlend podcast that Nicole was “instrumental” in ensuring that ’80s power ballad Never Tear Us Apart was included in the erotic thriller.

She also explained that after she and editor Matthew Hannam played the song through a montage scene during editing, they realized it was a perfect fit for their film.

“I almost cried,” Halina said. “My editor and I were yelling at each other.

The next day, Halina approached the film’s distributor, A24, about using the INXS hit in the film, but was told ‘no’.

“I called A24 and said, ‘We have to get the rights to this song. There’s no way… you’re not going to tell me we don’t have the money,'” she said.

‘They said, ‘We’ll try to get it.’ We tried and it was a hard no.”

Halina expressed her disappointment, saying that she couldn’t sleep for a week because she couldn’t find a song suitable for the edit.

Then Nicole Kidman came into the picture.

‘I called Nicole because we had become close, and I said, ‘I’m so depressed.’ She replied, “Give me a few days,” Halina recalled.

‘And she did it! She got the rights. She reached the real people and did it for us. Amazing.’

Never Tear Us Apart, released as a single in 1988, features lyrics inspired by frontman Michael Hutchence’s then girlfriend, Australian film and television producer Michele Bennett.

The song is part of the band’s iconic 1987 album Kick. It reached number seven on the US Billboard chart and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.

Halina Reijn shared on the ReelBlend podcast that Nicole was “instrumental” in ensuring that ’80s power ballad Never Tear Us Apart was included in the erotic thriller

She also explained that after she and editor Matthew Hannam played the song through a montage scene during editing, they realized it was a perfect fit for their film.

In Australia it peaked at 14 and was nominated for four ARIAs, winning two.

Babygirl, meanwhile, sees Nicole take on the role of Romy, a businessman balancing her career with trying to find fulfillment in her marriage to a theater director, played by Antonio Banderas.

Cracks appear in their marriage when new intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) makes it clear he is attracted to Romy and they begin to explore a “forbidden sexual dynamic.”

Nicole’s turn in the gritty thriller has received high praise from critics, as well as a Golden Globe nomination.

Halina recently defended the 29-year age difference between Nicole and her 28-year-old co-star.

Discussing the topic of age gaps in newer films with W magazineHalina said, “When we see a movie where the male actor is the same age as the female actor, we find it strange.”

‘Which is insane. It should be completely normalized for age differences to change and for women to have different relationships.”

Halina continued, “We are no longer trapped in a box. We internalize the male gaze, we internalize patriarchy, and we need to free ourselves from it. It’s really hard.’

Never Tear Us Apart, released as a single in 1988, features lyrics inspired by Australian film and television producer Michele Bennett, then girlfriend of frontman Michael Hutchence (pictured).

The song is taken from the band’s seminal 1987 album Kick and reached number seven in the US Billboard chart and number 24 in the UK Singles Chart. In the photo: INXS in 1985

She further reflected on how she ended up casting Kidman in Babygirl, revealing that the actress reached out to her after seeing her 2019 film Instinct.

Halina explained that Nicole eventually read “a very early draft of Babygirl and immediately said, ‘I want to play that character.’ She also said she wanted to surrender to it and not change anything.”

‘That was important to me, because I knew I was writing something controversial and, at least for me, surrounded by shame. I needed someone who was as brave as the script tries to be.”

She admitted that when Kidman “was on board, I woke up in a complete panic. We had one of the best actors in the world.”

“It’s impossible to find a young man who is not only as good as her, but can dominate her.” But then I saw Harris in Triangle Of Sadness.

‘He is so vulnerable, yet so masculine and macho. He’s kind of an ideal man because he has all these layers.”

In August, Babygirl premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival – and Kidman won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.