Nicole Kidman went viral after Oscar cameras caught her reacting to host Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue while hosting the 95th Academy Awards.
The Australian actress sat front and center amidst dozens of other big names, though she only attended as a spectator and presenter. In his opening monologue, Kimmel picked on Kidman particularly; later on in the show, when Kimmel started making his way through the crowd, Kidman looked visibly relieved when the host skipped over her.
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The clip that went viral is a brief seven-second video showing Kidman giving off a certain “energy,” which viewers found funny and relatable.
“The next question is for…” host Kimmel says as he’s entering the audience for laughs. The camera pans across the audience catches Kidman intently staring at the stage, expecting the worst.
“The next question is for, oh Jessica Chastain,” Kimmel said. Kidman shows an immediate sense of relief and begins whispering to the guest next to her. The reaction made social media viewers giggle with delight.
“Nicole is all ‘thank f****** god’ lol,” wrote @littlelostsunny alongside the video on Twitter. What followed was a deluge of internet fan reactions, with everyone adding their own little twist to the moment.
Nicole Kidman will star in a new Paramount+ series this year
“Me when the teacher asks a question and is looking at my direction but calls the one behind me,” wrote @shaniakenna. “Me when a stand up comedian starts interacting with the audience,” @PaulCullenDub said. Meanwhile @tyriontheking added, “all of us in an impromptu question session by a teacher!”
“She’s so over him,” one user wrote, while another added: “She’s fed up with Jimmy Kimmel.” Many Kidman fans praised her for being “so real” and “the realest” for reacting like a normal human being would likely react (rather than a trained actress who knows she’s on camera).
Kimmel had originally cracked jokes about Kidman’s AMC theater commercials, which air before movies start.
“I am happy to see that Nicole Kidman has been released from that abandoned AMC,” Kimmel said, gesturing to Kidman and husband Keith Urban. “And thank you for encouraging people who were already at the movie theater, to go to the movie theater,” Kimmel added as the audience laughed.
Alongside Idris Elba, Kidman announced the nominees for best director. She and Elba then presented the award to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert who won as co-directors for their movie Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Nicole Kidman fans can expect her to star in several projects this year, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the Netflix movie A Family Affair, and the Taylor Sheridan spy thriller Lioness.