Nicole Kidman: "She Was Irritated With Me and I Was Irritated With Her," Says Costar Aaron Eckhart

Actor reveals why tension was sometimes high during the filming of Rabbit Hole

By Marc Malkin Dec 20, 2010 11:47 PMTags
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Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman loved working together on Rabbit Hole.

However, that doesn't mean they always liked each other during the 27-day shoot…

Filming proved to be a rollercoaster of emotions for Kidman and Eckhart—they play Becca and Howie, a married couple dealing with the tragic death of their young son. Eckhart admits things got especially dicey when they shot one of the movie's most pivotal and heart wrenching scenes, an argument between the two about how to grieve.

"She was irritated with me and I was irritated with her but that's the way movie-making is," Eckhart recently told me about shooting the scene. "For one day, are we not allowed? For half a day even?...It's so surprising to me when people are surprised that movie making is sometimes tense and uncomfortable because inherently it's going to be.

"You're around tens of people or hundreds of people working on things that are imaginary and that come from the soul," he continued. "You could be dealing with subject matter like prostitution, death, drugs, blah, blah, blah. How could you expect that not to be uncomfortable?"

Eckhart agreed to do the movie after talking with Kidman and director John Cameron Mitchell, not face-to-face, but only on the phone. At the time, he was in Mexico shooting The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp. "Rum Diary went over two weeks," Eckhart remembered. "We had terrible weather. So Johnny put me on his plane and flew me to New York. The next day I was in rehearsals and the next week we were shooting."

As for a recent report that Kidman is trying to play matchmaker for Eckhart, the actor laughed, "The proof's in the pudding. Let's see her put her money where her mouth is. I haven't seen it yet."

Ball's in your court, Ms. Kidman.