'Scarpetta' stars Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis ponder life and death

Nicole Kidman doesn’t tremble or get squeamish putting on the white lab coat of Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner at the heart of Patricia Cornwell's series of crime thriller novels, now adapted for a Prime Video show by Amazon MGM Studios and Blumhouse Television.

Kidman’s late parents, clinical psychologist Antony Kidman and nursing instructor Janelle Kidman, would “sit me down” to watch medical films, the Oscar winner, 58, tells USA TODAY. “That's how I learned so much about life, is they would go, ‘Watch this medical film.’ We'd be like − my sister (younger sister Antonia Kidman) and I'd be like, ‘You’re kidding!’ So I don't have a fear of blood or anything. So when I learned to do the autopsies, say, I was just like, ‘OK, teach me.’”

A forensic medical examiner on the set taught Kidman “how you hold the scalpel and how you stick your fingers in there,” series creator Elizabeth Sarnoff says. Sarnoff had the job of dissecting Cornwell’s 29 works, which began rolling out in 1990, for the small screen.

Season 1 of “Scarpetta” (all eight episodes are out March 11) adapts “Postmortem” and “Autopsy,” splitting screen time between present day and flashbacks as Kay (Kidman/Rosy McEwen) and her brother-in-law, former detective Pete Marino (Bobby Cannavale/Jake Cannavale), investigate a murder reminiscent of a pivotal case from nearly 30 years ago.

In her personal life, Scarpetta struggles to navigate a rocky relationship with her sister Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis/Amanda Righetti) and sustain her marriage to FBI profiler Benton Wesley (Simon Baker/Hunter Parrish). Ariana DeBose also stars as Dorothy’s daughter, Lucy. (For those keeping score, that's three Oscar-winning actresses: Kidman, Curtis and DeBose.)

Sarnoff, a fan of the books, which have sold more than 100 million copies, explains that she couldn’t give too much thought to “Patricia's fans or the book fans or trying to please them, because then I feel like the devil is a little bit whispering in your ear. ... So I really just thought about: What's the best story we can tell? What is the best story to illuminate the inner lives of these characters, and how can we do it so that it's both a mystery that's exciting but also an emotional drama that you find yourself getting sucked into?”

The tragic murder of Kay and Dorothy’s dad when they were young deeply affects their lives.

“What that does and how that shapes people and what path that sends them down is very evident here,” Curtis, 67, tells USA TODAY, sitting beside Kidman. “Obviously Dorothy is acting out from that death and that experience.”

“And Scarpetta wants control over death,” Kidman says. “And that’s something that I discovered from the medical examiner, also obviously from the novels, (about) why do you choose to become a medical examiner. That is a particular choice. And the motivation of that, deep inside, which seems to be similar (for) a lot of medical examiners, is the idea of accuracy and control over death, knowing why or how.

“I almost relate to that. I lost my father [in 2014] and my main thing was finding out why. I lost him very suddenly to a heart attack, but I wanted to know why, and it became an obsession. So I get why Kay chooses to do the job, because it gives her a sense of control over something that is completely uncontrollable.”

“From, Dorothy's standpoint, control?” Curtis says. “What can we control in this world? Nothing. So let's ... go live!”

Offscreen, the fragility of life inspires the actresses to meet every moment.

“That's a Stoic principle,” Kidman says, “where you consider death every day to enjoy life. I was raised by a Stoic.”

“I am a carpe diem kind of person,” Curtis says. “I seize every day. First of all, the world has had a lot of loss. We both personally have had losses. We both lost a mutual friend who was a business associate of both of ours … in a freak accident. And recently in Los Angeles, the murders of my dear, dear friends and the loss of now a few people in the last couple weeks, there's been a big dose of loss in my personal life, in our personal lives," the star says, likely referencing the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, Catherine O'Hara, Robert Carradine and others.

"And we're at war. We're at war right now and so that war is loss. And so I certainly am the type of person who I wake up every day with a fresh start, a carpe diem. I'm a sober person, so I wake up with the promise of a new day, the promise of what it might bring.”

“And I’ve always woken up in a good mood,” Kidman says. “I never wake up in a bad mood. So if that is carpe diem, just intrinsically –”

“It is,” Curtis assures her.

“Nicole and Jamie are wide awake,” Kidman says.

“And interested,” Curtis adds.

“And curious,” Kidman continues, “and grateful to be here.”