Apart from the screening of The Paperboy, Kidman was at the New York Film Festival to be honoured for her work at a gala event, held at the Lincoln Centre.
With husband Keith Urban by her side, Kidman wore two outfits on Wednesday night, a snug and elegant grey Dior creation and then changed into a red L'Wren dress.
In the new Lee Daniels film, Kidman gives a riveting performance as a woman (Charlotte Bess) obsessed with a vicious prisoner (Hillary Van Wetter), played brilliantly by John Cusack. In the film the scantily-clad Charlotte engages in some confronting sex scenes and even urinates on a character (Jack Jansen) played by the fresh-faced Zac Ephron.
"Basically my whole thing is, just go with it," Kidman told a packed house during a Q&A session, following a screening of The Paperboy.
"I'm 45 years old and I've worked with many different directors and in many different places experienced so many things and I just want to push myself.
"I want to be in places I haven't been before and I want to be uncomfortable in those places sometimes, but I want to go home at night and feel challenged. Sometimes it's going to work, sometimes it isn't but I don't want to get into a place at this stage of my life where I'm scared (to try)."
The Paperboy is based on the novel of the same name by Pete Dexter.
