Courtesy of Warner Bros./Everett Collection
As Nicole Kidman Celebrating its 25th anniversary Eyes Wide ShutShe reflected on making the film with her co-star and then-husband. Tom Cruise.
of Academy awards The winner reflected on working with the writer/director. Stanley Kubrick “We just talk a lot,” he said, and for weeks they rehearsed a memorable scene in which the two share an intimate bedroom conversation over a joint.
“When Tom and I first started filming with Stanley, it was at his house and we never even went to the set at Pinewood. [Studios]” she said. Los Angeles Times“Six or eight weeks went by and we were like, ‘When are we going to start filming?’ And we never did. We were getting comfortable with each other and throwing ideas around. We improvised the opening scene through rehearsals.”
Kidman was married to Cruise from 1990 to 2001, during which time they shot Kubrick’s final feature film between 1996 and 1998, after a lengthy rehearsal period. Kidman speculates that the director may have drawn inspiration from their marriage while filming the scene.
“I think he dug it,” Kidman says. “There were ideas that he was interested in. He asked lots of questions. But he was very attached to the story that he was telling. I remember him saying, ‘Triangles are hard. You have to tread carefully in triangles,’ because one person can feel ganged up on. But he was aware of that and he knew how to manage us.”
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut(Warner Bros.)
The Australian-American actress clarified that she never felt ganged up on, “But being a woman also had something to do with it. And Stanley liked women. It was a different relationship to Tom. They worked much more closely together on his character.”
Kidman reflected on the film in a 2017 interview with Deadline, saying:A slightly more Zen approach to things” During the long hours of filming, she said, “I was married and my kids were there. It wasn’t like I was rushing to finish it or go somewhere else. I was there, I was with Stanley, and I didn’t care. Whatever.”
Kubrick died of a heart attack on March 7, 1999, at the age of 70, just days after the screening of the final version. Eyes Wide Shut For his family and the stars of the film.
