Nicole Kidman is revisiting one of her most iconic performances 25 years later. The Australian actress opened up about “Eyes Wide Shut,” the last movie directed by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, starring herself and Tom Cruise. The film was shot when the two were married and had them playing a couple facing a marital crisis, prompting many readings from critics and the audience. In a new interview, Kidman opened up about the film’s legacy and working alongside her then-husband.
Kidman spoke to The Los Angeles Times to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the film, sharing her positive experience on set. Even though the film was meant to shoot for six months and had her and Cruise off the industry for two years, Kidman greatly enjoyed working with Kubrick. “I would have stayed a third year,” Kidman said “Does that mean I’m crazy?”
She spoke about how the process of making the movie kept extending and extending, something that puzzled her and Cruise. “When Tom and I first started with Stanley, it was at his home, and we didn’t even go over to the sets at Pinewood [Studios]. Six, eight weeks passed, and we’re wondering, ‘Are we ever going to start?’ And we just wouldn’t start.”
Kidman and Cruise’s marriage likely shaped the dynamic between their characters
Kidman reveals that it’s likely that Kubrick was trying to get a read on her and Cruise’s relationship, something that would then inform the dynamic of the couple they played onscreen, Bill and Alice. “I suppose he was mining it. There were ideas he was interested in. He’d ask a lot of questions. But he had a strong sense of the story he was telling.”
Kubrick was a perfectionist, often asking more and more of his actors. This wasn’t something that disturbed Kidman, who said she never felt like he ganged up on her. “But there’s something about being a woman in that equation, too. And Stanley liked women. He had a different relationship with Tom. They worked more closely together on his character.”