Nicole Kidman On ‘Practical Magic 2,’ Why She Works Harder Than Ever, and Why She’ll Never Stop

When I first talked to Nicole Kidman in London in late August, we met in a curtained alcove of a blandly grand hotel restaurant in Mayfair. Decanted from a transatlantic flight—she had gone home to Nashville to settle her two teenage daughters, Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14, into a new school year before returning here to finish filming Practical Magic 2 with Sandra Bullock—she shimmered in a white silk jacquard sundress and gold ballerina slippers. Her strawberry blond hair was drawn back into an elegant ponytail, and on one finger flashed an emerald-cut diamond: spectacular, spectacular, as big as the Ritz.

Kidman was eloquent and warm, leavening her more introspective thoughts with a twinkly laugh. By way of introduction, I mentioned that I often wrote about people in war,