Viewers have encountered plenty of shockers along the way in HBO’s “Big Little Lies”, in which Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley star as a trio of women who become caught up in a mysterious murder.
Yet perhaps the most shocking aspect of the show is the twisted relationship between Kidman’s character and her violent, abusive husband, played by Alexander Skarsgard (“True Blood”), and the pair spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the toll taken on them when filming the couple’s graphic, violence-fuelled sex scenes.
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“There were days and days of doing a lot of aggressive, really violent scenes. And I would go home and have a shower or have a bath and I would weep,” Kidman tells EW. “And then one day, I just got a rock and I threw it through a glass door! I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what is happening to me?’ I must have had a lot of pent-up [stress] because I was trying to hold it all in.”
Skarsgard points out that those scenes were not easy to shoot, with director Jean-Marc Valee insisting the actors film the complete scene from beginning to end each time.
“Those days were horrible,” says Skarsgard. “But having a partner like Nicole was extraordinary. We had an opportunity to get to know each other and build trust. And we’d check in with each other and make sure everything was OK. And then we’d check in again at the end of the day because it’s tough to do that for eight to 10 hours and then jump in your car and go home to your family. It’s intense.”
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However, filming the dysfunctional couple’s scenes was not without its lighter moments, such as the scene in episode six when Skarsgard’s character presents his aroused, well, you know, to his wife, who is not in the mood. As he tries to force himself on her, she winds up making her point that no means no via a well-aimed smack with a tennis racket that necessitates a visit to the ER.
The scene instantly went viral thanks to a barrage of Internet memes, which Kidman found to be hilarious when she found out about them. “No Way!” she tells EW. “Well, it was a strange scene. My aim had to be so accurate.”
In fact, she recalls the precision involved when shooting that particular scene. “Alex would say, ‘Are you sure you know exactly what your mark is that you’re hitting”‘” she says, laughing. “I would say, ‘Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. But I was thinking, ‘Oops.’ I do play tennis so I knew that I’d be OK. Plus, I had a big target.”
The season finale of “Big Little Lies” airs Sunday, Apr. 2.
