Stanley Kubrick is undoubtedly one of the most influential filmmakers that Hollywood has ever had. The renowned director’s works have been praised for their innovative cinematography as well as their amazing attention to detail. Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket have been groundbreaking films that have inspired various filmmakers.
Kubrick’s last film was 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The erotic mystery film also had rising star Alan Cumming, who had made some small roles in some high-profile films. However, before starring in Eyes Wide Shut, he was getting disillusioned with the industry until Kubrick restored his love for acting.
X2‘s Alan Cumming Question His Acting Career Before Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick’s swansong film Eyes Wide Shut reunited former couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman after Days of Thunder and Far and Away. Compared to those two films, Eyes Wide Shut was a comparatively darker and more subversive film as it explored a man’s weird odyssey as he ventures into a wild secret society.
X2 star Alan Cumming played a small role in the film as a hotel clerk, sharing screen space in one pivotal screen with Cruise’s character. The fairly new actor had previously appeared in GoldenEye, Emma and Romy, and Michele’s High School Reunion, and was not feeling creatively fulfilled as an actor with these big films.
The actor contemplated whether he should be continuing his Hollywood career. However, when Kubrick came to him for Eyes Wide Shut, he felt highly rejuvenated as an actor. While he was aware of the director’s reputation of being a hard taskmaster, he stood up to the task and eventually got along with Kubrick. Cumming told The Wrap,
I had done a couple of films in Hollywood and done a few big films in Europe. I was kind of new blood on the scene, but I felt disillusioned about being an actor, actually. I just thought, Is this it? Am I really going to be happy doing these big movies? I didn’t feel very challenged.
He wasn’t a bully, but I can see how he could have felt like a bully if you’d given him a bullied energy. And what I gave him was like, ‘Don’t f–k with me, Stanley Kubrick. I’ve been waiting for six months to do this little part.’ That’s what I was saying, basically.
Fans should be thanking Kubrick for reinvigorating Cumming’s love for acting and films. If the director hadn’t approached him, the actor could have left acting as a whole as he wasn’t feeling challenged. If Cumming had left the industry, we might never have gotten the iconic opening Nightcrawler scene in 2003’s X2. Eyes Wide Shut thus became a seminal turning point in his career.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman Shot For A Staggering Year And A Half For Eyes Wide Shut
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman starred in Stanley Kubrick‘s Eyes Wide Shut. The former couple was married at the time of making the film and it had some intense scenes between them. However, the duo enjoyed making it and always wondered when the shoot would end. Kubrick’s perfectionist nature prolonged the shoot as he was very specific about what he wanted and would analyze each and every aspect of the film.
In an interview with The New York Times, Kidman revealed that he and Cruise were working with the greatest filmmaker and thought they would be there on set for 3 months. They ended up shooting a year and a half for the film. She also shut down rumors of Kubrick being a hard taskmaster but stated that he would shoot a lot of stuff. Kidman said,
We were working with the greatest filmmaker and learning about our lives and enjoying our lives on set. We would say, ‘When is it going to end?’ We went over there thinking it was going to be three months. It turned into a year, a year and a half. Stanley, he wasn’t torturous. He was arduous in that he would shoot a lot.
Kubrick passed away six days after showing the final cut of Eyes Wide Shut to Warner Bros. The film was praised for its highly subversive nature and its ambiguous thought-provoking narrative. It grossed $162 million against a $65 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). Fans can watch/rent Eyes Wide Shut on Apple TV+.
