The American Film Institute is indefinitely postponing the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony, dedicated to Nicole Kidman.
In a prepared statement the organization said Monday: “For nearly half a century, the AFI Life Achievement Award has convened artists and audiences in celebration of excellence in the art form. Due to the division in our community at this time, AFI has decided to postpone this year’s event with the goal to offer a celebratory environment worthy of our recipient.”
“Nicole Kidman has enchanted audiences for decades with the daring of her artistry and the glamour of a screen icon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees when the initial award was announced on November 22, 2022. “She is a force both brave in her choices and bold in each performance. AFI is honored to present her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.”
Since breaking out in Phillip Noyce’s minimalist chiller “Dead Calm” in 1989, Kidman has built a reputation both for her onscreen talent and her regular work with auteur filmmakers like Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Baz Luhrmann, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Aaron Sorkin, Lars von Trier and Stanley Kubrick. She won an Oscar for Best Actress for “The Hours” in 2003 and has been nominated five times in total. Kidman has won a BAFTA Award, two Emmys and six Golden Globes. She is widely and often regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation.
Her deluge of noteworthy roles includes “To Die For,” “The Others,” “Dogville,” “Rabbit Hole,” “Stoker,” “The Beguiled” and “The Goldfinch.” She has shown herself more than willing to indulge in more explicitly pulp fiction features, such as “Batman Forever,” “Just Go With It,” “The Golden Compass,” “Aquman,” “Bewitched” and last year’s Viking actioner “The Northman.”
Ironically, AFI’s last Life Achievement Award gala tribute — intended to honor Julie Andrews — was delayed from 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, finally taking place June 9, 2022. When this postponed ceramony, originally intended for June 10, 2023, does take place, it will be the first to honor an Australian actress.
