Nicole Kidman Receives 49th AFI Life Achievement Award, Special to Air in June

In a room full of stars, the American Film Institute (AFI) presented the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award to Nicole Kidman on Saturday, April 27, at a Gala Tribute in Hollywood, but no star shined brighter than Kidman herself, drenched in a gold sequined custom Balenciaga gown.

Lee Daniels, Ava DuVernay, Zac Efron, Cynthia Erivo, Morgan Freeman, Barry Jenkins, David E. Kelley, Joey King, Mimi Leder, Mike Myers, Edward James Olmos, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jane Seymour, Meryl Streep, Brian Tee, Miles Teller, Lulu Wang, Naomi Watts and more filled the Dolby Theatre to celebrate Kidman’s award-winning career and her indelible impact on the moving arts. The event began with welcome remarks from Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO and featured tributes honoring Kidman, including speeches from Zoe Saldaña, Aaron Sorkin, Keith Urban, Reese Witherspoon, among others and taped messages from Hugh Jackman, Jane Campion, Jimmy Fallon, Cate Blanchett, George Miller, Baz Luhrmann and Russell Crowe.

The evening included friend and star Morgan Freeman in a parody of Kidman’s now iconic ‘We come to this place for magic’ AMC ads that pushed moviegoers to theaters and inspired viral memes for months. In presenting the award, Meryl Streep, recipient of the 32nd AFI Life Achievement Award, praised Kidman’s formidable talent and stunning range of the Oscar winner’s work, remarking that Kidman is an actor who perfectly balances “appetite, tenacity, and recklessness… you have that, baby.”

Kidman accepted the award to a standing ovation. In her acceptance speech, she said, “It is a privilege to make films. And glorious to have made films and television with these storytellers who allowed me to run wild and be free and play all of these unconventional women. Thank you for making me better at my craft and giving me a place, however temporary, in this world. Thank you for inviting me into your movie families. Thank you for my childhood dream that became a reality.”

The star also honored the late filmmakers who made significant impacts on her career including Jean Marc Vallee, Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella, Stanley Kubrick, Joel Schumacher, Tony Scott and Nora Ephron. “There are a few who have left us and they need to be mentioned, too, because one day you look around, they’re there, and then they’re not there. May they live on in beauty and spirit, and in all of our imaginations forever.”

The tribute special, The 49th AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Nicole Kidman, will premiere on TNT on June 17 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT and on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on June 27 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. This marks the ninth year the Emmy-winning AFI Life Achievement Award special will air on TNT.

The event also included the presentation of the 2024 Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal to AFI Alumnus and three-time Academy Award nominee Matthew Libatique, ASC, LPS (AFI Class of 1992). The Schaffner Alumni Medal recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of AFI Alumni who embody the qualities of filmmaker Franklin J. Schaffner. Libatique’s latest work can be seen in the Academy Award-nominated Maestro (2023), directed by Bradley Cooper, and in A24’s Academy Award-winning film The Whale (2022), where he reteamed with director Darren Aronofsky (AFI Class of 1992), his longtime collaborator who he met on their third day while attending the AFI Conservatory. Libatique said, “Starting in this incubator called AFI, we’ve gone on to have a career-long collaboration that I feel privileged and grateful to be a part of.”

The event concluded with attendees receiving an exclusive commemorative tribute book about Kidman’s career. Guests were also introduced to the new online tribute site chronicling Kidman’s life and career at AFI.com/NicoleKidman and raised over $2 million, with all proceeds from the AFI Life Achievement Award support the American Film Institute as a nonprofit organization.