Chris Rock tells Nicole Kidman he's 'fired people' for not listening to women

Chris Rock and Nicole Kidman interviewed each other for Variety’s Actors on Actors, and it turns out that the comedian is a super-fan of the actress. He admitted that he'd watched basically everything she's ever done. That's grounds for Rock to run the 'I Love Nicole Kidman' fan club.

The actors chatted about everything from Rock’s “vocally warm” voice, Kidman’s upcoming role where she will be playing Lucille Ball and most importantly, the amount of respect Rock has for women in the entertainment industry.

The conversation about respect came up after the pair were bonding over their love for Ball and how she was a trailblazer who formed her own production company and had to fight to get her husband Desi, who was Cuban, on the show, I Love Lucy.

“Let’s not downplay the fact how hard it must’ve been to be a woman at that time going through, you know, just like, ‘I’m the boss. Not him. I’m the boss,’” Rock said of Ball making sure her husband starred on the show with her.

Kidman revealed that it’s “still tricky” for women to be heard in the industry.

“It is still. I’ve fired people because they couldn’t listen to a woman. I was like, ‘How come he’s not doing …?’ And then I realize, ‘Oh,’” Rock revealed. 

Kidman wanted to know why Rock is able to listen to a woman and others still have a hard time dealing with a woman in power.

The Fargo actor said that when he was starting out as a comedian he had Joy Behar and Susie Essman take him “under their wing.”

“I just always was around these powerful women. I mean, even in comedy, the clubs were run by women,” he explained.

Kidman said that people don’t talk much about women running the comedy clubs but she was amazed by Rock’s response. 

“Everybody talks about how stand-up is a boys’ club, but stand-up’s been run by a lot of women for a lot of years. Even right now, it’s Estee [Adoram] at the Comedy Cellar in New York. Lots of powerful women that called the shots,” Rock added.

Rock didn’t forget to credit his mother for helping him look up to powerful women. 

“Relationship’s great with her. And maybe it’s a Black thing or whatever,” Rock said of his relationship with his mother, adding, “If you’re confident in front of me, I’m just attracted to good. I’m a ‘good’ snob. If you’re good, I like you. And I’ll listen to you.”

The pair also talked about Kidman's marriage to Keith Urban and The Undoing.

"I have a really good partner, yes, in my real life. In “The Undoing,” not so good," Kidman joked, after reminiscing about her and Rock hanging out in apartments at 3 a.m when they were dating each other's friends. "It was a different lifestyle. It was very rock ’n’ roll," Rock recalled with a smile.

Now, who do we call to get these two in a buddy comedy?

BEFORE YOU GO: Nicole Kidman in talks for Lucille Ball biopic

[video_embed id='2117061']BEFORE YOU GO: Nicole Kidman in talks for Lucille Ball biopic[/video_embed]