Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon on 'Big Little Lies' Season 3 ...

Kidman: That was Lulu [Wang] and me, the two of us going, “Wow, did you see Ji-young [Yoo] and her audition?” And then Lulu goes, “Yeah, but I want her to do it again, because it’s too glamorous.” And then I remember we both were in love with Brian [Tee], so we were like, “We’ve got to get him. Please, Brian Tee,” and he just came and delivered for us. And Sarayu [Blue]—we knew she could be funny, but she’s also drama. She’s got it. That’s you, though. You’re the same. You can learn slabs of dialogue, literally, on the spot. I’m learning it weeks before, and Reese will go—and then she’ll riff!

Witherspoon: Well, because I don’t really learn it, I just wing it.

Kidman: It’s, like, insane. How? [Pause] She doesn’t want to talk.

Witherspoon: I don’t want to talk about it because I also don’t understand. I have zero process. I didn’t study. That’s the other thing. You didn’t go to acting school, did you?

Kidman: No, I did. When I was 14, I went to the local theater school.

Witherspoon: But you didn’t go to Juilliard or RADA.

Kidman: The directors who I worked with, George Miller being one of them, asked me not to go to NIDA, because I wanted to go to NIDA. They’re like, “You’re in the industry working and you will be gone then for three years. Please, don’t do that, stay with us and we promise you…” And they gave me the guidance that I needed, because other actors go. I would train with different people that were teaching at NIDA, or I would go and do a workshop in Shakespeare. But I was also, every weekend, in drama school. Did you do that?

Witherspoon: I just didn’t go to acting school. I did little local things in Nashville, and then I got a big part when I was 14, and I never studied again, because I was like, “I’m on a roll here and I’m going to undo anything that is natural.”

Kidman: Our paths consistently cross, and that’s one of the things I love about us. We started working together and we went, “Okay, from this point on, it’s a lifetime.” We’ll be playing bridge and I’ll be older than you, but we’ll be sitting there. I’ll be like, “Can you get me the cover?”

Witherspoon: We always joke that we’re going to be old ladies on a porch singing that song. What song?

Kidman: Oh, don’t! “Dreams.” We still don’t know all the words, do we?

Witherspoon: We still don’t know the words.

Kidman: Jean-Marc Vallée would want us to sing all the time.

Witherspoon: We were on vacation once and they started playing the music and we got up and sang. We couldn’t remember it. I’m like, “Come on.” We couldn’t remember any of the words. Stevie Nicks would be horrified.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Listen to Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast now.