Like many of his films, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut has proven to be ahead of its time. The highly-anticipated film starring real-life married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman came with huge expectations, yet left many moviegoers scratching their heads when it eventually came out in July of 1999.
Over the past 20 years however, the film has been revisited and largely recognized as Kubrick's final masterpiece. Kubrick himself went on record before passing away that he felt the film was the strongest work in his legendary career. But that doesn't change what an arduous production the film turned out to be. For more, here are 10 things you never knew about Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut!
The Movie Won A Guinness World Record
Because of Kubrick's infamous perfectionism and fastidious attention to detail, Eyes Wide Shut took a staggering 400 days to complete filming. That was good enough to land a spot in the Guinness Book of World Record as "The Longest Constant Movie Shoot."
The 14-month film shoot forced delays on Cruise and Kidman's subsequent film projects, which included Mission: Impossible 2 and Practical Magic. Additionally, the film took another year to edit.
The Actors Signed Open-Ended Contracts
Another primary reason the filming of Eyes Wide Shut lasted so long is due to Cruise and Kidman signing open-ended contracts prior to production. The clause stipulated that the two actors remain at Kubrick's beck and call until he no longer needed them.
As such, Cruise and Kidman took actor Vincent D'Onofrio's advice, who told them to rent a house or apartment in the UK because of Kubrick's snail-pace. D'Onofrio worked with Kubrick in his previous film, Full Metal Jacket.
Kubrick Forbade Cruise & Kidman From Interacting Off Set
The narrative thrust of the movie concerns Bill (Cruise) and Alice's (Kidman) struggle to remain faithful to one another. To help get the real-life married couple to portray onscreen distrust, Kubrick resorted to a few sneaky tricks.
To exacerbate the tension and foment jealousy need for the character, Kubrick disallowed Cruise and Kidman from sharing notes on set. During one scene, Kubrick had Kidman strike erotic poses with a male model for six days of filming while barring Cruise from the set. The final cut of the film includes roughly one-minute of the footage shot.
The Mansion Orgy Inspired Conspiracy Theories
The infamous orgy sequence in Eyes Wide Shut, which was omitted from all promotional materials for the film, was shot in Mentmore Towers in the UK. The property is owned by the powerful and highly influential Rothschild family.
Because of this linkage, many have posited the orgy scene to be an expose on the sordid sex-rituals of the power elite. Of course, the only edit of the film unauthorized by Kubrick takes place during the orgy. To avoid an NC-17 rating, Warner Bros. posthumously superimposed digital figures in the orgy scene to obscure salacious activity.
The Masks Were Personally Chosen By Kubrick
One of the crucial plot points of the film concerns the Venitian mask Bill obtains at Rainbow Fashions. In one of many references to Kubrick's past films, the mask is taken from a direct mold of Ryan O'Neal's face from the 1975 film Barry Lyndon!
Furthermore, every mask that appears onscreen during the orgy sequence was personally chosen by Kubrick, down to which specific actor would wear them, which position they were arranged in, and how long they'd appear onscreen. The masks were pattern after those worn in Carnival balls.
Harvey Keitel & Jennifer Jason Leigh Were Recasted
The casting of Eyes Wide Shut is one of the most fascinating aspects of the production. Not only were Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp considered for the role of Bill Harford (Harford being a combination of Harrison and Ford), but several actors were recast during production as well.
Most famously, Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh were cast as Victor Zeigler (Sydney Pollack) Marion Nathanson (Marie Richardson), respectively. Both were forced to bow out when the elongated production interfered with the schedules for subsequent projects.
Two Actresses Portrayed Mandy
Along the same lines, much has been made about the mysterious woman who saves Bill during the orgy sequence. According to Victor Ziegler, the woman is none other than Mandy, the model who overdosed in his bathroom to start the film.
However, two different actresses were used. Julienne Davis is credit for playing Mandy, while Abigail Goode is listed as the Mysterious Woman. This bit of sly misdirection would indicate that Victor was lying to Bill all along about what happened to the Mystery Woman after he left the mansion. Stranger yet, in 2019, it was revealed that none other than Cate Blanchett dubbed the American voice for Goode during the mansion scene.
The Movie Was Filmed In England
Although the film is set in New York City, the entire film was shot on a sound-stage in England. This was the standard operating procedure for Kubrick, whose fear of flying prevented him from leaving his adopted homeland.
Additionally, the interior of Bill and Alice's New York home is an exact replica of the apartment Kubrick and his wife Vivianne lived in during the late '60s. Adding to the verisimilitude is the collection of paintings inside the house that was created by Vivianne Kubrick.
There Are References To Other Kubrick Movies
Kubrick visually references his entire filmography in Eyes Wide Shut in the most subtle ways imaginable. There's even a stack of DVDs on a shelf in Bill's apartment that includes Full Metal Jacket.
Other references include a restaurant addressed at 237 (The Shining), an ominous red telephone (Dr. Strangelove), Bill's Venitian mask (Barry Lyndon), Paul Mazusky appearing in a movie Alice watches (Fear and Desire), and the entire hospital scene calls to mind the iconography of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Kubrick's Untimely Death Affected The Final Cut
Kubrick passed away of a sudden heart attack four days after submitting his final cut of Eyes Wide Shut to Warner Bros. Conspiracy theorists claim Kubrick was murdered for exposing the sex-rituals of the power elite during the movie's infamous orgy scene, while others claim Kubrick was severely fatigued following the massive production.
Because of his death, many have assumed Kubrick did not finish the film he intended to. Others claim the film was finished save for some incomplete sound and music cues. The film's co-writer Frederic Raphael has publicly claimed that Sydney Pollack completed the finished cut in the wake of Kubrick's untimely demise.