Freeman celebrated Kidman’s career at the American Film Institute last night.
Nicole Kidman’s AMC Theatres ad has become a staple of American moviegoing for years — and now, Morgan Freeman is appearing in a similar ad that homages the Kidman ad. In it, the acclaimed actor sits down to watch numerous films that feature Kidman onscreen as he basks in the glory of cinema…well, specifically the glory of Kidman, who was being honored by the American Film Institute at the ceremony where Freeman’s ad was played. During the AFI Life Achievement celebration, Freeman called out Moulin Rouge as his favorite Kidman role, singing a few bars from Elton John’s “Your Song.”
Both pieces of that presentation clearly have attracted attention online, and killed in the room, where Kidman was being celebrated by fellow film luminaries. Freeman was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award himself in 2011. Other recent winners include Steve Martin, Julie Andrews, George Clooney, and Mel Brooks.
You can see it below.
Morgan Freeman stars in a parody of Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad. pic.twitter.com/uF8ULntia9
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 28, 2024
“She takes us somewhere we’ve never been before. Not just entertained, but somehow reborn,” Freeman says in the video, echoing sentiments from Kidman’s ads. “Somehow, she makes heartbreak feel good in a place like this.”
“It was just the desire to keep cinemas alive,” Kidman said of her decision to make the ad (via Deadline). “I’ve had the best experiences in cinema. I’d pretend I was going to school; I’d forge a note, and I’d go and sit in a movie theater. That’s a safe haven for me, so the idea of those not existing—that’s just not part of the equation in my lifetime.”
The Academy Award winner said she didn’t mind the parodies and mockery that came with the viral campaign.
“If that’s what it takes, I’ll do whatever it takes,” Kidman said. “We have to have some more ideas for the next one.”
Kidman recently appeared in Expats and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. She has a number of projects planned in 2024 and 2025, including the TV series The Perfect Couple and the movie Babygirl.
