The shape-shifting Nicole Kidman has transformed on screen a number of times — remember that prosthetic nose in The Hours? But it’s not just her physical appearance that gets a makeover for her roles — especially when she goes method, as she did when filming the upcoming Destroyer, in theaters Dec. 25. 

The 51-year-old actress and fellow leading ladies Glenn Close, Lady Gaga, Kathryn Hahn, Regina King, and Rachel Weisz recently sat down for a candid discussion about their careers  for The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Actress Roundtable. During the talk, the Oscar-winner opened up about preparing for one of her darkest roles yet, playing an LAPD cop who goes undercover in a gang, revealing that she stayed in character throughout filming.

BACKGRID

Click Here: Crystal Palace Shop

RELATED: Nicole Kidman Looks Completely Unrecognizable as an LAPD Detective In this New Trailer

“I entered so deeply into her,” she said. “I don’t always do this with a character, but this I had to because I didn’t want to feel like I was ever shifting into a performance: I stayed in character the whole time.”

However, her dedication to the role wasn’t without its challenges. While the actress shared that her kids kept her from letting her character completely consume her life, it seems like playing a cop may have taken a little bit of a toll on her relationship with husband Keith Urban.

“You didn’t have to call me Erin, but it just kind of enters the psyche,” she said. “My husband was like, ‘I cannot wait for this thing to end.’”

And while her kids help her snap out of her work when she needs to, she also shared that they “do feel” when she’s distracted and that finding a balance is “the hardest thing.”

Christopher Polk/Getty

“I did [a theater role] in London recently, and it was hard,” she recalled. “You miss bedtime. I can’t miss bedtime. That makes me cry.” Perhaps that’s why the actress let her kids have more of an influence on her next role as Queen Atlanna, alongside Jason Momoa in the highly-anticipated Aquaman.

“I did Aquaman, and I did it for them, actually, because when you do something like Destroyer you say, ‘They’re never going to be seeing this … But you do Aquaman, and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I ate a gelatin goldfish in a scene, and they thought that was my best work,” she added, with a laugh.

Maybe she should have her kids help her choose her films more often?