Antonio Banderas did everything he could to make Nicole Kidman “feel safe” filming the “complicated scenes” in their erotic thriller Babygirl.

The 64-year-old Spanish actor plays Kidman’s character Romy Mathis’ husband Jacob in the X-rated film, which sees her have a sordid affair with a young intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), at the robotics firm she owns.

The Puss in Boots star gushed that he and Kidman, 57, have a “beautiful relationship” after working together on the intense movie.

He told PEOPLE: “I am a huge fan of her. She’s one of my favourite actors of all time, actually. I admire and respect her and now I think we have a beautiful relationship because sharing this movie was very special.”

He added: “It was a very complicated movie, difficult.

“It required a lot from everybody, from the director, from all the actors, and we were conscious of that. And so you have to put yourself on the right path.”

Banderas added that despite it being a challenging film to make, the Australian star was a breeze to work with.

“She was totally committed to what she was doing. Kind, generous, professional.

“She made me feel safe. And I think I just tried the same to make her feel safe, especially those scenes that are complicated.”

Kidman, who landed a Golden Globes nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her portrayal of Romy, praised director Halina Reijn for making her feel protected on set.

She told PEOPLE: “There’s a sort of a jump off the cliff thing where you go, okay, I’m just going to abandon everything and explore this with the people that I trust in a genre that is already set, but hopefully we can explore new territory and especially with the female at the helm.

“You have your director at the helm going, ‘I will protect you. Nothing that’s going to be in the film will be anything that you are not comfortable with. You are going to be okay.'”

* Babygirl was released in Australian cinemas on January 30.