Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media, Inc.
“She did it because she loves movies; we love movies,” shared the country star in a recent interview.
Keith Urban didn’t anticipate the immense success of Nicole Kidman’s AMC Theatres ad.
Speaking on Criss Angel’s Talking Junkies podcast on Friday, the country star, aged 56, discussed his wife’s 2021 ad for the company and the reasons behind her participation.
“She did it because she loves movies, we love movies. And it was hard times for the theaters,” Urban explained, referring to the decline in ticket sales during the pandemic. “So AMC asked her if she’d do an AMC commercial, and it was a no-brainer for her to be a part of that.”
“Never in a million years [was she] expecting that to be this cultural thing,” he added.
Nicole Kidman’s viral AMC ad has garnered affection from fans for the past two years and was previously described by AMC CEO Adam Aron as “iconic and revered” during a 2022 earnings call.
In the ad, the 56-year-old movie star is seen entering an AMC theater after a rainstorm, declaring, “We come to this place for magic.”
“We come to AMC Theatres to laugh, to cry, to care, because we need that, all of us,” she continues in the ad. “That indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim and we go somewhere we’ve never been before — not just entertained but somehow reborn, together.”
Regarding the ad’s viral success, Kidman expressed in a 2022 interview with GQ that she “can’t tell you why it worked or why it’s gone viral.”
“But what I can tell you is that the reaction is a direct result of the number of people going back to theaters to enjoy the movies. And that is exciting,” she said.
As Urban highlighted during his appearance on Talking Junkies, Kidman played a pivotal role in inspiring his return to performing at the beginning of the pandemic. She specifically suggested the idea of hosting shows at a Nashville drive-in in 2020.
“We’re sitting there one morning, and I was like, ‘I can’t wait to play, where can we play?’ And she goes, ‘What about a drive-in?'” Urban recalled.
“I’m like, ‘What do you mean,’ and she goes, ‘We could set the stage up at the base of the screen, and then everybody’s in their cars, and you can just play a show.’ I’m like, ‘This is amazing.'”
In another segment of the podcast, Urban was asked about being married to a famous woman, and he explained, “The truth is I’m married to an extremely down-to-earth, chill, laid-back, regular girl that happens to be famous.”
Kidman and Urban, married since 2006, are parents to two daughters, Sunday Rose (13) and Faith Margaret (12). Kidman also has two children from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise, Isabella Jane (30) and Connor (28).