Nicole Kidman played Alice Harford opposite her then-husband Tom Cruise (playing Bob Harford) in Stanley Kubrick’s final film, ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’
The actress recalled how the director used the tension in their marriage to shape the distrust between their characters in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. She also revealed Kubrick’s approach to their dynamic and his ‘triangle’ rule:
“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.”
Kubrick’s Other Rules On Set
Kidman mentioned Kubrick’s other rules as well. She noted that the director wanted her and Cruise to be her equals on set during the 400-day filming and long rehearsal periods.
Kubrick also forbade the actors from giving an immediate ‘no’ to his requests:
“He didn’t want sycophants. … And everyone has to wait at least 10 seconds before they say no to an idea. I heard that, and I’m in my 20s, and I’m like, ‘OK. It’s on.’ It was experimental, like making student films in Australia.”
‘Eyes Wide Shut’s Filming And Release
The principal photography for the adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘Traumnovelle’ started in 1996 and took about two and a half years before Kubrick presented a cut to Kidman, Cruise, and some Warner Bros. executives.
The long filming process kept Nicole Kidman off the market in her early career at the time, but the actress said:
“I would have stayed a third year. Does that mean I’m crazy?”
Kubrick died six days after screening ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ to the lead actors in 1999. The film premiered in the US later that year.
