Aaron Sorkin Was Pushed to Write a ‘Steamy’ Sexy Scene for Nicole Kidman in ‘Malice’ and Refused
Zack Sharf
Aaron Sorkin is currently making the press rounds in promotion of his directorial debut “Molly’s Game,” and he recently shared an eye-opening story with USA Today about one of his earliest gigs as the oreenwriter of “Malice.” Sorkin had just come off the success of “A Few Good Men” when he re-teamed with Columbia Pictures to write the Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman-starring thriller, which was being directed by Harold Becker (“The Boost,” “Sea of Love”).
According to Sorkin, Becker specifically requested him to write a “steamy” sex scene for Nicole Kidman. “Early on in my career, I wrote a movie that I’m not very proud of at all, it just turned into a mess,” Sorkin said, “Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman were in it. The director, very close to the start of photography, decided that we were missing a sex scene between Alec and Nicole.”
The writer added four pages to the already-finished screenplay but decided to frame the scene in his usual Sorkin way: A ton of banter between Kidman and Baldwin that leads to the characters falling into bed. Sorkin was more focused on the build up to the act than the actual sex, but Becker demanded an actual sex scene. “No, no, no, you have to write the scene,” Sorkin said Becker told him.
“I hadn’t written that much at the time, I’d only written ‘A Few Good Men,'” Sorkin explained. “And I said, ‘Boy, exactly what do you mean?’ And he said, ‘Look, it’s easy, just go back to your hotel and write what you’d like to see Nicole Kidman do.'”
Sorkin continued: “I said, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ First of all, I just did a movie with her husband [Tom Cruise]. And second of all, no, I’m not going to write down what I’d like to see Nicole do and then hand the pages out to the crew and Nicole.”
Jessica Chastain, who plays the lead in “Molly’s Game,” was next to Sorkin as he told USA Today the story, to which she replied, “It’s so disturbing.”
Sorkin decided to step away from the scene. “Without me in attendance, Harold, the director, Alec and Nicole got into a trailer and they decided what they were going to do,” Sorkin said. “It got done. It’s a terrible scene.”
“Molly’s Game” opens in theaters December 25.
