Nicole Kidman was only 20 years old when she was cast in the role of Rae Ingram in Phillip Noyce's psychological thriller Dead Calm (Australia, 1989).

When she and her husband rescue a young man from a sinking ship, a tense stand-off develops and Rae is forced to outwit a homicidal maniac.

Many critics have compared Kidman's performance to Sigourney Weaver's in Alien (Ridley Scott, USA, 1979).

This portrait captures Rae's transformation into a defiant and tenacious heroine. Kidman considered it 'a challenge to play a very fragile woman … on the edge of a nervous breakdown'.