It was a perfect PR ploy of America’s Sweethearts-size proportions.
How do you best promote a movie you worked on with your spouse, to whom you are about to be officially divorced?
Take it from Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
On the eve of the dissolution of their 10-year marriage, Hollywood’s former Golden Couple shared the same oxygen Tuesday night at the premiere for The Others, a supernatural thriller starring Kidman and produced by Cruise. The two were officially divorced hours later at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Kidman arrived first, stunning in a black strapless dress and silver choker, but sans the “high heels” the 5-foot-10-inch actress joked she was now able to wear last week on The Late Show.
Signing autographs for fans, the publicity-drained Kidman smiled with the film’s Spanish director, Alejandro Amenábar, and whizzed her way down the line of reporters.
“It’s fun to see something that’s quite scary,” she said of the film, which is receiving early raves. “That’s why I wanted to do the film. I read the script and it scared me.”
Half an hour later, as Kidman neared the end of the press line, Cruise pulled up outside the Directors Guild of America headquarters and followed her lead of signing autographs and waving to fans.
Clad in just a white button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves and black pants, Cruise–who dared not arrive with new girlfriend Penelope Cruz, but with his producing partner
Paula Wagner–threw his famous smile to the masses.
By the time Cruise was inside, Kidman had long disappeared into the theater, but he missed the screening to stand outside and answer reporters’ questions. (He was expected to sneak out immediately after.)
“It’s a challenge,” Cruise said of his life in the spotlight. “[But] I’ve got kids. Just like everybody else, you go through life, you work hard. You have the ups and downs, and you enjoy it, and it’s a challenge. So I think that keeps your feet pretty firmly planted.”
As for working with his now ex-wife, he said matter-of-factly, “Obviously, I love Nicole Kidman‘s work. I’ve done three movies with her and produced this picture for her.”
And just like that, the woman he once affectionately called Nic has now become just another professional in the business.
