Chris Rock says he's fired people on his sets who 'couldn't listen to a woman'

• Rock told Nicole Kidman about his on-set policy in an "Actors on Actors" interview for Variety.
• "I've fired people because they couldn't listen to a woman," he told the actress.
• Rock credits his mother and female comics for his ability to listen to women in authority.

The topic of women with power in Hollywood came up in a recent Variety "Actors on Actors" interview between Chris Rock and Nicole Kidman, and Rock revealed an interesting policy he has on his sets.

"I've fired people because they couldn't listen to a woman," Rock told Kidman. "I was like, 'How come he's not doing ...?' And then I realize, 'Oh.'"

The two stars got on the topic after Kidman brought up her upcoming role as Lucille Ball in the Amazon movie directed by Aaron Sorkin, "Being the Ricardos." The movie also stars Javier Bardem as Ball's husband and "I Love Lucy" costar, Desi Arnaz.

"She was a trailblazer," Kidman said of Ball. "She formed her production company. Desi was Cuban, and she had to fight to get him on the show. They had just so many things in their marriage that are so relevant today, and what she was also dealing with in terms of everything that artists deal with, where you're up against big corporations. And you're like, 'No, this is art.'"

Rock then added: "Let's not downplay the fact [of] how hard it must've been to be a woman at that time going through, you know, just like, 'I'm the boss. Not him. I'm the boss.'"

Rock said he's never had trouble having women as his bosses (his breakout 1993 movie he wrote and starred in, "CB4," was directed by Tamra Davis). He told Kidman it goes back to his strong relationship with his mother growing up and female comics like Joy Behar and Susie Essman who took him under their wing when he was starting out.

"I just always was around these powerful women," Rock said. "I mean, even in comedy, the clubs were run by women."

"Everybody talks about how stand-up is a boys' club, but stand-up's been run by a lot of women for a lot of years," he told Kidman.

Rock most recently starred and was executive producer on the horror movie "Spiral."