The suit worn by Nicole Kidman in her iconic AMC Theatres ad has gone up for auction at Sothebys. Now, fans can pretend that heartbreak feels good in a place like this.
As movie-goers are well aware, the Australian actor starred in a now-viral pre-film advertisement for US theatre chain AMC Theatres back in 2021. The ad quickly spawned several memes, Saturday Night Live parodies, and even inspired many Halloween costumes. Because of its viral popularity, it comes as no surprise that the bedazzled pinstriped suit Kidman wore during the commercial is being auctioned off for a jaw-dropping sum.
The Grey Wool and Cashmere Crystal Pinstripe Jumpsuit, which was featured in the Michael Kors fall/winter 2021 collection, is estimated to be worth between $5,000 and $10,000. The grey, double-breasted jumpsuit is being sold as part of Sothebys’ “Visions of America” series, a celebration of American craftsmanship and culture filled with auctions, events, and experiences.
The Sothebys collection will be on display throughout three floors of gallery space at its New York headquarters, featuring an array of fine art, furniture, fashion, decorative arts, folk art, historic maps, books, whiskey, and manuscripts.
Fashion designer Thom Browne serves as the curatorial partner for “Visions of America”, where exhibitions will be open to the public from 12 January to 19 January, with auctions running from 19 January until 29 January. Bidding for Kidman’s viral pinstripe suit will end on 23 January at 12.12 pm ET.
The AMC Theatres ad was originally shown in September 2021 to encourage people back into theatres as the Covid-19 pandemic receded. In the pre-film ad, the Oscar winner is seen wistfully entering an empty AMC theatre and sitting alone in an auditorium, as Jurassic World plays on the screen.
“We come to this place for magic,” Kidman’s narration begins. “We come to AMC Theatres to laugh, to cry, to care, because we need that - all of us. That indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim and we go somewhere we’ve never been before - not just entertained but somehow reborn, together.”
“Dazzling images on a huge silver screen, sound that I can feel. Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this,” she says.
Since then, the Big Little Lies star has been made quite aware of the ad’s cult following. During last year’s Academy Awards ceremony, she laughed off host Jimmy Kimmel’s nod to the AMC commercial in his opening monologue. “I am happy to see that Nicole Kidman has finally been released from that abandoned AMC,” said Kimmel. “Where she has been held captive for almost two full years now. It’s good to have you back Nicole.”
“And thank you for encouraging people who were already at the movie theatre to go to the movie theatre,” he added, as Kidman and her husband Keith Urban laughed along to the skit.
Meanwhile, SNL comedian Chloe Fineman starred in a “perfect” parody of the AMC commercial in October 2022. In the sketch, the cult-like crowd repeated the phrase “heartbreak feels good in a place like this”, much like in the original advertisement. But as the movie-goers say the phrase, Fineman’s Kidman grows in power with her eyes glowing and her body levitating out of her seat.
“What the f*** just happened?” jokes SNL alum Kenan Thomson in the skit.
