Nicole Kidman called Martin Scorsese when she learned she was getting American Film Institute Life Achievement Award

Nicole Kidman called Martin Scorsese after she was told she was getting the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award.

‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ actress, 56, will receive the honour in April, which has previously been bestowed on movie icons including Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Martin.

Nicole is the first Australian to be recognised by the awards, and told Vogue Australia about being stunned by the news she was going to be its latest recipient: “It’s made me look back and go, wow, I have worked with the greatest directors in the world! How did that happen?”

She added about ‘Goodfellas’ director Martin: “I’d still love to work with Marty. “I called him, and I was like, ‘Marty!’ “And he’s still going strong at 81!”

Despite her desire to work with the ‘Taxi Driver’ filmmaker, Nicole has recently focused on collaborating with women directors.

The string of collaborations came after a conversation at the Cannes Film Festival she had in 2017 with Meryl Streep, 74, leading to Nicole pledging to work with a female director every 18 months.

She now counts Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion, Andrea Arnold, Karyn Kusama and Kim Gehrig as recent collaborators on what she calls her “adventures” on screen.

Nicole added: “I’ve been on these quite intense journeys with these women recently, which has been fantastic.

“And I feel very safe with them. I have a very close relationship with my sister and my daughters and my nieces and my mother and my aunts.

“I’m very, very comfortable with sharing everything with them and hearing the way they see things and their perspective… it’s a very, very powerful place of protection for me with women.”