On July 16, 2024, Stanley Kubrick ’s Eyes Wide Shut, one of the most talked-about and controversial movies of all time, turned 25. Thanks to Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise ’s high-profile marriage, the 1999 film was shrouded in gossip from the moment it began filming in 1997 – including rumours that the filming process was abusive and toxic. Famously tough on actors (he gave Shelley Duvall a nervous breakdown during The Shining’s filming), Kubrick demanded unwavering devotion and cult-like secrecy from Kidman and Cruise, who played a married couple in the film.
In fact, the shoot took a staggering 15 months, setting the Guinness World Record for the longest continual film shoot. Throughout this time period, Kubrick insisted his stars immerse themselves in their characters, intentionally blurring the line between reality and fiction as he psychologically wore them down by asking them to shoot upwards of 50 takes of each scene. Kubrick insisted this repetition broke down the facade of performance by exhausting the actors so that they would recite their lines in new and unexpected ways, creating characters they would otherwise be unable to access.
The couple also slept in their characters’ bedroom throughout filming because Kubrick wanted to merge the world of the movie and the couple’s real marriage. Cruise, a famously dedicated actor who insists on perfection, was an ideal target for this kind of obsessive devotion to craft. So much so that, according to Vanity Fair .