Nicole Kidman checked in with Naomi Watts before doing a series with her ex Liev Schreiber

Nicole Kidman checked in with Naomi Watts before doing a series with her ex Liev Schreiber

Nicole Kidman spoke to Naomi Watts before accepting her latest role: as Liev Schreiber’s wife in the film.

While promoting the Netflix miniseries The perfect coupleKidman, 57, and Schreiber, 56, said Entertainment tonight about their reactions when they teamed up to take on the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Winbury.

Kidman joked that she had to “beg” Schreiber to “marry” her. Ray Donovan The actor, meanwhile, said: “I heard a story that you asked Naomi first if it was OK.” Kidman confirmed that she did, to which Schreiber replied: “Isn’t that great? They’re that close.”

Watts, 55, meanwhile confirmed that the Big little lies star contacted her about The perfect couple role.

“We always check in, we’re best friends,” Watts said Entertainment weekly during the Toronto International Film Festival to promote The Friend. “That was very kind of her.”

Liev Schreiber and Nicole Kidman at the premiere of ‘The Perfect Couple’ in Los Angeles on September 4, 2024.

Charley Gallay/Getty


Watts and Schreiber were together from 2005 to 2016. Since then, they have maintained a friendly relationship and have reunited several times for the sake of their two children, Sasha and Kai.

Kidman and Watts’ friendship goes back more than 30 years. When presenting Kidman with the AFI Life Achievement Award in April, Watts said the pair met in the 1980s while auditioning for a swimsuit commercial.

As they waited to hear who got the part, they talked. “We talked about everything, what movies we liked, what friends we had in common, our parents, schools, parties, boyfriends, teenage stuff,” Watts recalls.

When they were told they were free to go after not getting the part, Kidman offered to pay for a cab ride home for Watts, who had missed the bus. She called Kidman “the most generous person.”

“She opened her home to me. She made me feel like I was part of her family. She was like the sister I never had,” Watts added.

The friends appeared together in the film Flirting in 1991, and have remained close ever since. Watts wished “queen” Kidman a happy birthday on June 20. Meanwhile, Kidman attended Watts’ “fun, beautiful” and “deeply memorable” wedding to Billy Crudup in June.

Nicole Kidman (left) and Naomi Watts in April 2024.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty


The official summary for The perfect couple reads: “Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famed novelist Greer Garrison Winbury (Kidman), has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the biggest wedding of the season — until a body turns up on the beach.

“As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that seems plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels,” the synopsis continues. “Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.”

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All six episodes of The perfect couple are available to stream on Netflix.