As Nicole Kidman marks the 25th anniversary of “Eyes Wide Shut,” she reflects on making the film with her co-star and then-husband, Tom Cruise. The Academy Award winner recalled working with writer/director Stanley Kubrick and spending weeks rehearsing one memorable scene where the pair have an intimate talk over a joint in their bedroom.
“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],” Kidman told the Los Angeles Times. “Six, eight weeks passed, and we’re wondering, ‘Are we ever going to start?’ And we just wouldn’t start. We were getting comfortable with each other, comfortable enough to throw out ideas. For that scene, we improvised the beginning of it through the rehearsals.”
Kidman and Cruise were married from 1990 to 2001, and they filmed Kubrick’s final feature from 1996 to 1998 after an extensive rehearsal period. Kidman believes the director found inspiration in their marriage while working on the scene. “I suppose he was mining it,” said Kidman. “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. I do remember him saying, ‘Triangles are hard. You have to tread carefully when it’s a triangle.’ Because one person could feel ganged up on. But he was aware of that and knew how to manage us.”
Kidman clarified that she never felt ganged up on, adding, “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.”
In a 2017 interview with Deadline, Kidman expressed gratitude for having a “slightly zen approach to things” during the lengthy shoot. “Because I was married and I had my kids there. It wasn’t like I was rushing to get finished, to get somewhere else. I was there, with Stanley, and I didn’t care. Whatever,” she said.
Kubrick died of a heart attack at age 70 on March 7, 1999, just days after screening a final cut of “Eyes Wide Shut” for his family and the stars of the film.
