Stanley Kubrick Humiliated Tom Cruise during ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (2024)

One of the more interesting theories surrounding the film is that it was all an elaborate, expensive way for Kubrick to toy with the psyche of Tom Cruise. The details of the shoot certainly add weight to the theory, and the below facts, if recounted about any other combination of people, would sound like the work of a power-crazed tyrant and a hapless victim. Here, we explore the ways in which Kubrick beautifully messed with Cruise

From Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton

"While Kubrick encouraged the couple to come up with their own ideas for scenes, he seemed to indulge Nicole far more than Tom, jotting down her ad-libs and accepting her choice of music, Chris Isaak's "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing," for a sex scene between them. He described Nicole as a "thoroughbred" and Tom as a "roller coaster."

There remained the suspicion that, for all the mutual admiration, there was an element of humiliation involved in Kubrick's treatment of Tom. While Frederic Raphael recognizes but does not endorse the argument, he concedes that for Kubrick "breaking people and feeding them into his machine was maybe a reflex he could not resist." When Kubrick was rewriting the script, he would often fax Tom pages in the middle of the night, ensuring that his leading man was living his life according to the director's body clock.

Or when Kubrick filmed a scene in which Tom's character was knocked to the ground by a gang of drunken college louts who accused him of being gay, was this a wink to the audience being aware of the rumors circulating about the actor? Even Raphael is not sure, noting that in the novel the chanting youths accuse the doctor of being Jewish. It was Kubrick who changed the insult.

This ambiguous relationship played out most explicitly when Kubrick filmed the sex scenes involving Nicole and her navy lover. Noticeably, the six-day shoot was the only time in the marathon production that Tom was definitely not needed on set. Not so his scriptwriter. In a knowing aside, Kubrick told Raphael that Nicole had agreed to take off her clothes and he would be filming on a closed set for the next few days. "Might be a good day to happen to drop by the studio, if you wanted to," he told him. Raphael declined, feeling that it would be "cheap" to take advantage of the situation

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by Anonymousreply 78June 21, 2019 5:40 AM

The man chosen to play the lover of Alice's dreams was Gary Goba, a twenty-nine-year-old Canadian model who had never acted before. When he auditioned, he thought it was for the job of an extra who would be wearing a naval officer's uniform. Instead, in December 1997, he found himself naked on the closed set in front of an equally naked Nicole Kidman.

Over the next few days, with barely an introduction, the two strangers performed fifty or so sexual positions, with Kubrick filming from the shadows all the while. The director wanted his naked star to explore every sex act, apart from oral sex, which he dismissed as a cinematic cliche.

"We just tried to do stuff that we had never ever seen before in movies," recalled Goba. "Sometimes she would come up with an idea or I would or Stanley would." In the scene that actually made it into the movie, Nicole is lying on her back wearing a summer dress while Goba caresses her and lifts her dress over her breasts to reveal her body. "Leave [the dress] up there and have those hands continue on down, and, like, grab her tits, kiss them if you want, hands all the way down her body and end up between her legs," said the director.

Goba, trying to be sensitive to Nicole, rested his hand on her thigh, knowing that it could make little difference to Stanley, as her other leg was shielding what his hand might actually be doing from the camera anyway. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Gary, you've got to get right in there!" Kubrick instructed.

"I couldn't believe it," says Goba. "I just couldn't believe it. I think he was having fun with it. It was a joke for him, but I think he went a little far for her because as the days went on, she would be like, 'Okay, cut!' Like this is getting too intimate, but he just let it go. It was like he was trying to have things done to piss her off—or the opposite. It was weird. He was laughing. He thought it was so funny."

by Anonymousreply 1May 13, 2018 7:56 PM

It was as if he were enjoying the relentless humiliation of another man's wife—and the unspoken emasculation of her husband—by playing out explicit scenes that would inevitably end up on the cutting room floor.

In one scenario, Nicole had a wig glued over her private parts and Kubrick ordered Goba to perform oral sex on her. "He really wanted me to go for it," recalls Goba. "I did and he was like, 'You've got to really push in there and really move your head around,' and I'd see him laughing and she would be like, 'Oh God, Stanley!' So I was really grinding away in there, with my mouth on her patch—and there was hair in my mouth, too, and I'd be pulling one out."

As Nicole's biographer James L. Dickerson caustically observed, 'The most damning evidence against Kubrick lies in the relentless manner in which he pursued the sex scenes between Nicole and Gary Goba. He asked Nicole to do things that he knew damned well would never make it onto film. It was abusive behavior cloaked in a mantle of professional necessity."

While Nicole is not so censorious, she concedes that she only allowed herself to be used in this way for Kubrick. "He didn't exploit me. I certainly wouldn't have done it for any other director and, yes, it was a little difficult to go home to my husband afterward." It seems that when she did go home, she did not say much about the day job— as per Kubrick's standing instructions.

Only after he saw the finished movie a year or so later was Tom aware of some of the intimate scenes played out between his wife and Goba. "Yeah, who the fuck was that guy?" he later said to USA Today. (The newspaper removed the expletive.)

by Anonymousreply 2May 13, 2018 7:56 PM

Vanity Fair extract of Amy Nicholson's book: Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor :

Stringing Tom along with a never-ending shoot

In 1996, Tom Cruise was in the middle of a purple patch, having released Mission Impossible and Jerry Maguire within the same calendar year. As they say in the business, strike while the iron is hot. So when Cruise signed on to Kubrick’s as-yet-untitled film project, it was under the proviso that he and Kidman would spend six months filming in London, a reasonable amount of time to commit to a film by one of the most storied directors in Hollywood. It seemed like a safe move.

He and Kidman started shooting in November 1996, with Mission Impossible II scheduled for mid-’97. Kubrick had zero regard for Cruise’s conflicting schedules, however, pushing back the end date constantly, while keeping Cruise in the dark about when the shoot would actually wrap.

More than anything, Cruise’s further career ascent was waiting. Filming finally ended in June 1998, derailing and delaying the Mission Impossible II shoot, and ultimately costing Cruise and Kidman tens of millions in lost time. At a time when both were arguably at the commercial peak of their careers, they could have cranked out nine months' worth of filming each. As a result, there is also a three-year gap in Cruise’s otherwise consistent filmography — an age in Hollywood time.

As if to really drive the point home, the 15-month slog — including an unbroken run of 400 days — landed it in Guinness World Records for the longest continual movie shoot.

by Anonymousreply 3May 13, 2018 7:59 PM

Making him walk through a door 95 times

This one cannot be anything but a man trying to break down another man through power games, repetition and lack of direction — 95 takes of a brief shot where Cruise simply walks through a door. Kubrick refused to give Cruise performance notes on the set, no doubt resulting in the baffled actor wondering what he wasn’t nailing. “Tom, stick with me, I’ll make you a star," Kubrick would say, taunting the frustrated actor.

Weeks of just walking on a treadmill

“Generally, when Tom’s facing the camera, the backgrounds are rear-projected; anything that shows him from a side view was done on the streets of London," explained cinematographer Larry Smith. As Kubrick was afraid of flying to New York City, yet wanted to set the film there, the backdrops were shot in NYC and Tom walked on a treadmill in London as the imagery was beamed behind him.

“We’d then go onto our street sets and shoot Tom walking on a treadmill," Smith continues. “After setting the treadmill to a certain speed, we’d put some lighting effects on him to simulate the glow from the various storefronts that were passing by in the plates. We spent a few weeks on those shots.”

A few weeks of Tom walking aimlessly in one spot while people shoot lights in his face — sounds like the type of torture even armed forces would outlaw.

by Anonymousreply 4May 13, 2018 8:00 PM

Refusing to show him dailies

“Making a movie is like stabbing in the dark,” Cruise said after filming wrapped. “If I get a sense of the overall picture, then I’m better for the film.”

This was a problem, considering Kubrick straight up refused to show the actor dailies of each day’s filming — a standard procedure in films and often a vital part of the process, as Cruise explained above.

As Nicholson outlines in her book, Tom Cruise: Anatomy Of An Actor, which details the secretive, painful shoot, “Cruise couldn’t watch and adjust his performance to find his character’s through line — a problem exacerbated by the amount of footage the director filmed. For most of the cast, who appeared only in one or two moments, they had only to match the timbre of their character’s big moment. But Cruise alone is in nearly every scene and had to spend the shoot playing a guessing game.

“Not knowing which of his mind-melting number of takes would wind up in the film, he still had to figure out how to shape a consistent character from scene to scene. Given Kubrick’s withholding direction and the exponential number of combinations that could be created from his raw footage, it’s understandable if the forever-prepared actor found himself adrift.”

by Anonymousreply 5May 13, 2018 8:02 PM

Using real tensions in the Kidman/Cruise marriage as inspiration

Kubrick was so determined to force Kidman and Cruise to explore the parallels between their own fractured marriage and the one they were portraying onscreen that he held intense interview sessions with the two of them, with the proviso that they would keep the conversations secret. This led to the pair delving into the tensions in their marriage.

“Tom would hear things that he didn’t want to hear,” Kidman said of the chats. “It wasn’t like therapy, because you didn’t have anyone to say, ‘And how do you feel about that?’ It was honest, and brutally honest at times.”

Kubrick then modelled their characters’ marital bedroom on their own, even asking the two stars to sleep in the room during the shoot. As if that wasn’t unsettling enough, he made sure the couple chose the room’s curtains, kept their own clothes in the room and left personal belongings on the dresser-table, as if in real life.

by Anonymousreply 6May 13, 2018 8:03 PM

Having Kidman shoot six days of sex scenes with a male model “I didn’t like playing Dr Bill," Cruise admitted within a year of the film coming out. “I didn’t like him. It was unpleasant. But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn’t done this.”

While he didn’t enjoy playing his part, he also certainly didn’t enjoy Kidman playing her role, in particular almost a week’s worth of steamy and physically varied sex scenes with a male model, during which time Kubrick banned Cruise from the set, and forbid Kidman from disclosing any details from the shoot.

In the end, the entire scene lasts less than a minute — you’ve gotta wonder how many of the various angles and takes were always destined for the cutting-room floor, merely shot as a technique to drive Cruise to jealousy and resentment.

by Anonymousreply 7May 13, 2018 8:04 PM

In one painful example, for just one minute of final footage where Alice makes love to a handsome naval officer—an imaginary affair that haunts Bill over the course of the film—Kubrick demanded that Kidman shoot six days of naked sex scenes with a male model. Not only did he ask the pair to pose in over 50 erotic positions, he banned Cruise from the set and forbade Kidman to assuage her husband’s tension by telling him what happened during the shoot.

Co-star Vinessa Shaw would eventually admit Kubrick had exhausted the once-indefatigable actor, confessing that compared to Cruise’s “gung ho” first months of shooting, by the end, “He was still into it, but not as energetic.”

Still, when gossip columnist Liz Smith wrote that the Eyes Wide Shut set was miserable, Cruise quickly fired back a letter insisting that his and Kidman’s relationship with Kubrick was “impeccable and extraordinary. […] Both Nic and I love him.” Added actor and director Todd Field, on set for six months to play the pivotal role of the piano player Nick Nightingale, “You’ve never seen two actors more completely subservient and prostrate themselves at the feet of a director.” However, Cruise’s devotion to Kubrick’s massive mystery masterpiece would prove damaging to his screen image

by Anonymousreply 8May 13, 2018 8:10 PM

I do not like Tom Cruse at all, why does anyone like him?

by Anonymousreply 9May 13, 2018 8:14 PM

I'm not alone in theorizing that EWS was designed to "out" the male lead.

by Anonymousreply 10May 13, 2018 8:20 PM

The whole film feels like an exercise in theatricality, as though Dr. Bill is not a person but a prop. This isn’t a movie about a human possessed with distrust and jealousy—it’s a movie about distrust and jealousy that simply uses a human as its conduit. With Cruise hidden in a mask and robe, the intention is to hide his individuality in the service of a larger ritualistic machine. Even in his scene with the impossibly sweet prostitute played by Vinessa Shaw, their conversation about how much cash for which physical acts doesn’t spark with lust but limps along like the characters themselves are merely performers recognizing that this is the negotiation that is supposed to take place. “Do you suppose we should talk about money?” he asks—it’s as if their whole conversation is in air quotes.

His acting reads as terrible. It’s artificial, distant, and unrelatable. However, the terribleness of his performance translates into a tricky logic puzzle. On-screen, we’re given only one take of the 95 attempts that Cruise shot. If Kubrick was a perfectionist who demanded Cruise repeat himself 95 times on the set, and in the editing room rejected 94 of those takes, then the “terrible” take Kubrick chose must be the take that Kubrick wanted. What feels flat to the audience must have felt correct to the director, so even though it’s hard to appreciate Cruise’s performance, at least one person must have thought the chosen take was perfect: Stanley Kubrick. And for Cruise, a perfectionist himself who was determined to make his master happy, we’re forced to defend the “badness” of his performance by recognizing him as an excellent soldier following orders.

by Anonymousreply 11May 13, 2018 8:23 PM

[quote]So I was really grinding away in there, with my mouth on her patch—and there was hair in my mouth, too, and I'd be pulling one out."

DL quote of the week

by Anonymousreply 12May 13, 2018 8:23 PM

All this sturm und drang over a piece of celluloid merde.

by Anonymousreply 13May 13, 2018 8:23 PM

Yet critics under the sway of thinking that the great Kubrick could do no wrong and Cruise, the popcorn hero, could do little right, blamed the actor for the director’s choices and groaned that “Our forever boyish star just can’t deliver.” The irony, however, is that in 45 years of filmmaking, Kubrick had never asked his actors to deliver.

As much as Cruise wanted Eyes Wide Shut to prove, yet again, that he could act, Kubrick clearly had scant interest in giving him the opportunity.

Cruise made himself vulnerable before Kubrick and his devotees, but instead of being rewarded for his emotional and financial sacrifice, audiences dismissed his performance as callow. He couldn’t even ask his by-then dead-and-buried director for support. Eyes Wide Shut’s fallout wasn’t flattering: he was blamed for the film’s failure, and the tabloids took a savage interest in his marriage, which would last only two more years.

Yet Cruise continues to defend his two years of hard work. “I didn’t like playing Dr. Bill. I didn’t like him. It was unpleasant,” admitted Cruise a year later in the only public criticism he’s ever given. “But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn’t done this.”

by Anonymousreply 14May 13, 2018 8:25 PM

I hope some of this is true.

by Anonymousreply 15May 13, 2018 8:29 PM

It’s hard to love Cruise’s character, Dr. Bill Harford. He’s closed off and slippery, a cipher whose choices don’t make consistent sense. What personal history screenwriter Frederic Raphael had included in the original drafts—Harford’s strained relationship with his father, his guilt over his prurient interest in female anatomy—Kubrick had purged from the script, leaving Cruise to play a shallow voyager who only serves to lead the audience on an odyssey of sexual temptation.

Also on the page but deleted from the final film is Bill’s explanatory voice-over that invited the audience to understand his feelings. Worse, Kubrick deliberately shunned including the Tom Cruise charisma fans expected in his performance, raising the question of why he cast Cruise at all. Why ask the biggest star in the world to carry your film and then hide his face under a mask for 20 minutes?

Yet critics under the sway of thinking that the great Kubrick could do no wrong and Cruise, the popcorn hero, could do little right, blamed the actor for the director’s choices and groaned that “Our forever boyish star just can’t deliver.” The irony, however, is that in 45 years of filmmaking, Kubrick had never asked his actors to deliver.

As much as Cruise wanted Eyes Wide Shut to prove, yet again, that he could act, Kubrick clearly had scant interest in giving him the opportunity.

Cruise made himself vulnerable before Kubrick and his devotees, but instead of being rewarded for his emotional and financial sacrifice, audiences dismissed his performance as callow. He couldn’t even ask his by-then dead-and-buried director for support. Eyes Wide Shut’s fallout wasn’t flattering: he was blamed for the film’s failure, and the tabloids took a savage interest in his marriage, which would last only two more years.

Yet Cruise continues to defend his two years of hard work. “I didn’t like playing Dr. Bill. I didn’t like him. It was unpleasant,” admitted Cruise a year later in the only public criticism he’s ever given. “But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn’t done this.”

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by Anonymousreply 16May 13, 2018 8:32 PM

Kubrick screwed over many of his actors not just Tom.

A Clockwork Orange should have made Malcolm McDowell a bigger star. Malcolm and the film were critically acclaimed, yet he never worked with Kubrick again. Sounds like Kubrick was the person with the issues, not the actors and actresses he worked with.

I can imagine how poorly Kubrick treated Ryan O'Neal, Murray Melvin and Marissa Berenson on the set of Barry Lyndon. I recall Murray mentioning something about Kubrick, "it was 57 takes plus another 20." Yes, Kubrick enjoyed torturing all his performers.

by Anonymousreply 17May 13, 2018 9:04 PM

Does anyone actually like the film? When I saw it, half the theater was laughing out loud. Not in a good way.

by Anonymousreply 18May 13, 2018 9:11 PM

I liked the soundtrack

by Anonymousreply 19May 13, 2018 9:14 PM

I love this movie so much. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

by Anonymousreply 20May 13, 2018 9:17 PM

Why R20? I found it risible. Seriously, what am I missing?

by Anonymousreply 21May 13, 2018 9:23 PM

I like it as well. In the vein of Black Swan (which I hated), as long as you understand EWS as a fable or an allegory, what's not to love?

by Anonymousreply 22May 13, 2018 9:23 PM

Allegory of what?

by Anonymousreply 23May 13, 2018 9:23 PM

Honey, put your thinking cap (and your condom) on.

by Anonymousreply 24May 13, 2018 9:25 PM

Kubrick sounds like a lunatic. I find his work impenetrable and very boring. I have never understood his appeal. Full Metal Jacket was ok, but I've no desire to watch its. second time.

by Anonymousreply 25May 13, 2018 9:25 PM

I own this DVD, the unedited version (1.85:1). After reading the posts about the film's backstories, and though I haven't viewed it in years, I now see it's a treasure.

Dayum!

by Anonymousreply 26May 13, 2018 9:26 PM

R24, consider me dim. Splain it to me, please.

by Anonymousreply 27May 13, 2018 9:27 PM

tldnr

by Anonymousreply 28May 13, 2018 9:29 PM

I hated Kubrick’s The Shining. The book was excellent and I can understand how Stephen King was not happy with how the movie turned out. I found it hilarious in spots, and not in a good way- especially in some of Shelly Duvall’s scenes. She was horribly miscast and horribly directed. And we know how the genius Kubrick treated her during the shoot.

by Anonymousreply 29May 13, 2018 9:49 PM

No we don't, R29, but never mind. Nobody had to stay and put up with Kubrik's shit, if they chose to do so it was because they wanted to get something from him.

by Anonymousreply 30May 13, 2018 9:58 PM

Wasn't it during the filming of this movie that Tom supposedly had the encounter with the porn actor? The porn actor someone procured to meet up with Tom and have a bout with him?

by Anonymousreply 31May 13, 2018 10:03 PM

I've never liked Kubrick's films. He's a nasty human being with a nasty view of the world. His work is cold and technical.

by Anonymousreply 32May 13, 2018 10:12 PM

Stephen King hated The Shining because Kubrick upstaged him.

by Anonymousreply 33May 13, 2018 10:14 PM

There are some great scenes in Kubrick's The Shining.

by Anonymousreply 34May 13, 2018 10:15 PM

The whole movie was over the top and ridiculous. I blame this completely on the director. I much preferred Stephen King's slow built up to horror in the written version. Kubrick is a hack and a half. Of course you remember the scenes, RED RUM, but do you remember the plot in the middle of all that hysteria? For those unfamiliar with the actual written version it must have been great schlock. The rest of us saw it for the showboating crap it was.

by Anonymousreply 35May 13, 2018 10:18 PM

Wow, I thought I was the only one (literally) who hated the film version of The Shining. I laughed all the way through out. Never found it the least bit scary. Way too obvious, too manipulative. Kubrick fancied himself a brilliant auteur but was, indeed, a hack. The emperor had no clothes.

by Anonymousreply 36May 13, 2018 10:23 PM

People who say Kubrick was a hack are people who know nothing about film and/or Scienos.

by Anonymousreply 37May 13, 2018 10:26 PM

Gary Goba

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by Anonymousreply 38May 13, 2018 10:27 PM

Sorry, R37, but you don't have to be a snotty ass film major at NYU to know that Kubrick was a sick bastard with a cold heart. It comes through in all of his films. How he humiliated people he worked with, on a daily basis, is not unknown to people who admire his technical abilities. 2001 is gorgeous to look at, but it took me three viewings to finally get through the whole thing.

Eyes Wide Shut was crap.

If all films were made to please R37, we'd be watching them in dusty museums.

by Anonymousreply 39May 13, 2018 10:34 PM

He put Shelley Duvall through hell when filming The Shining. The stairway sequence when she was backing up on it took like 898 takes to film. Fucking ridiculous. There’s a documentary where he’s bitching to her she’s not running fast enough or something but she bitches right back. Good for her. Brilliant director but he could be a sadistic bastard.

by Anonymousreply 40May 13, 2018 10:42 PM

Great scenes, okay, r34. I’ll give you the blood- filled elevator and Here’s Johnny for examples. But Kubrick seemed to try and prove that it him as the great auteur above all else- the story , the characters, the actors themselves.

by Anonymousreply 41May 13, 2018 10:49 PM

R37, what does Kubrick have to do with Scienos?

Kubrick was Jewish...I don't think he was ever part of the Clams.

by Anonymousreply 42May 13, 2018 11:00 PM

Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam Stan spam stan spam

by Anonymousreply 43May 13, 2018 11:00 PM

SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN SPAM SPAM STAN STAN

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by Anonymousreply 44May 13, 2018 11:01 PM

[quote]I’ll give you the blood- filled elevator...

Uhm, the blood-filled elevator was only in the PREVIEW that played for a full YEAR before the film was released! It is not in the film. It played for so long before "The Shining" actually opened that people would loudly BOO when it came up on the screen. Yes, I remember it well...

by Anonymousreply 45May 13, 2018 11:04 PM

Tom and Nic were the Clams, not Stanley. The Clams hate Stanley for fucking with their god Tommy.

by Anonymousreply 46May 13, 2018 11:46 PM

Lolita is a film I never get tired of watching.

by Anonymousreply 47May 7, 2019 6:41 AM

r47 excuse the soiled sock

by Anonymousreply 48May 7, 2019 6:46 AM

Face it. Stanley Kubrick's "Eye Wide Shut" doesn't hold a candle to Stanley Kramer's "The 5000 Fingers of Dr T".

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by Anonymousreply 49May 7, 2019 7:48 AM

Ugly guy revenge

by Anonymousreply 50May 7, 2019 9:48 AM

R47, R48, Mmmmm, I'm lonely!

by Anonymousreply 51May 7, 2019 8:42 PM

R10 Why didn't he out Nicole Flopman too?

by Anonymousreply 52May 7, 2019 8:50 PM

R17

The one who had a reason to kill Kubrick over "Clockwork Orange" was Adrienne Corri.

You've seen the film?

He made her act out the rape scene over and over and over until she finally refused another take.

Here's a quote from the IMBD:

Snapped at Stanley Kubrick, who is famous for doing a great deal of takes for every scene, while doing the rape scene with Malcolm McDowell and his "droogs" in A Clockwork Orange (1971). The scene required for her to be completely nude, and Stanley's continuous calls for another take made her boil over in the end. She resented Kubrick for years after the incident.

by Anonymousreply 53May 7, 2019 11:19 PM

R47 Probably because Sue Lyon and James Mason were Oscar worthy.

by Anonymousreply 54May 7, 2019 11:47 PM

The piano player was Tom’sboyfruend requiredby Tom to be there during most of the long shoot.

by Anonymousreply 55May 8, 2019 12:04 AM

Kubrick's daughter Vivian is a scientologist. Many people think they wanted Tom to do EWS because they wanted to lure Kubrick into becoming a clam. Didn't work for him but they got his daughter.

"Vivian Kubrick, 56, is one of two children born to the directing genius and Christiane Harlan, a young German actress he met on the set of 1957's Paths of Glory. While Kubrick had been married twice before, he and Harlan never tied the knot — though they stayed together 40 years until his death in 1999. The couple's first child together, Anya, was one year older than Vivian. When Anya died in 2009 of cancer, Vivian did not attend the funeral — this despite the fact that the pair were all but inseparable growing up.

By then, however, Vivian had been deeply enmeshed in Scientology for well over a decade, according to family members who have spoken with the media. A talented musician and orchestrator, Vivian had composed the music to her father's Full Metal Jacket in 1987. Kubrick, who was grooming her to follow in his filmmaking footsteps, had wanted his daughter to compose the score to 1999's Eyes Wide Shut, too — but by then Vivian had begun the process of disconnection from her family.

"At the last moment she said she wouldn’t,” Kubrick’s widow Christiane told The Guardian in 2009, as noted by Scientology watchdog site The Underground Bunker. “They had a huge fight. He was very unhappy. He wrote her a 40-page letter trying to win her back. He begged her endlessly to come home from California. I’m glad he didn’t live to see what happened.” Kubrick died in March 1999, just months before the Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman film opened.

In 2010, Vivian's half-sister Katharina Kubrick told the Daily Beast that Vivian had cut off all communication to the family. Katharina went on to recount the time Vivian showed up to her father's 1999 funeral accompanied by a Scientology handler. "The person sat on a bed, saying nothing, while Vivian complained of back pain that she said had been caused 10,000 years ago,” according to the report.

When she failed to show up in 2009 to Anya's funeral, the family had all but lost hope. "She has completely changed as a person," Katharina said. "And it’s just very sad. We’re not allowed to contact her. Something happened to her. She has been changed forever."

To the family's shock, after years of no contact with Vivian, someone spotted her in a video of a 2013 anti-government rally held in Dallas, her hometown, led by the conspiracy-obsessed conservative radio host Alex Jones.

According to Hollywood Interrupted's Mark Ebner, Vivian was policing the GoFundMe page vigilantly since its Friday launch, "blocking anyone who simply asks if the money could possibly go to legitimate [psychiatric] health care" — practices which the organization has openly and aggressively derided as barbaric and corrupt since its founding in 1954. In Los Angeles, the church runs Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, a permanent museum devoted to the topic located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

Ebner also points out that the GoFundMe page was listed as emanating from Clearwater, Fla., headquarters of the Church of Scientology.

"That raised a red flag," Ebner tells THR. "I don't think Vivian even knew Shelley. It seems rather opportunistic to raise money for this very sick, if not psychotic woman, out of the spiritual mecca, Clearwater, for a woman she doesn't know. I knew there was no chance there would be any money earmarked for mental health. It's doctrine. The motives are disingenuous at best."

THR made several attempts to question Vivian about her Scientology connections following its initial interview with her. She has not responded to any of them, nor has the Church of Scientology nor GoFundMe responded to a request to comment for this story."

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by Anonymousreply 56May 8, 2019 2:04 AM

R56 Wow

by Anonymousreply 57May 8, 2019 2:13 AM

[quote] Vivian Kubrick, 56, is one of two children born to the directing genius and Christiane Harlan, a young German actress he met on the set of 1957's Paths of Glory.

I didn't know that. She played the humiliated German woman forced to sing for the French soldiers at the end of the film. The only female in the whole movie.

Offsite Link

by Anonymousreply 58May 8, 2019 2:15 AM

R53 Didn't know that, thanks for posting. I saw Clockwork Orange when I was 19 and was very shocked at the treatment of women in the film (the rape scene, and another violent scene inolving a stage, at the beginning). While a movie is "pretend" (sure), it didn't seem very pretend to me, and I figured the person directing this had to be sick. Brilliant movie for sure, but disgusting methods also.

by Anonymousreply 59May 8, 2019 2:28 AM

Yeah, the rape scene in ACO was really disturbing to my young mind. I remember wanting to jack off to it, but couldn't. Maybe it was her real feeling of being violated that made it seem so real.

I was 15

by Anonymousreply 60May 8, 2019 2:44 AM

[quote] Maybe it was her real feeling of being violated that made it seem so real.

In an interview she commented she told McDowell just before they began filming that day that he was about to see proof she was a natural redhead.

by Anonymousreply 61May 8, 2019 3:20 AM

R61 😧

by Anonymousreply 62May 8, 2019 3:39 AM

Love Dr. Strangelove and Lolita, otherwise I usually can't stand Kubrick movies. I rolled my eyes through most of A Clockwork Orange because it seemed like it was trying too hard to be shocking and weird. It was like a bunch of pretentious, artsy shit (she gets bludgeoned with a giant penis sculpture! Classical music! WACKY!) thrown together to make fanboys think it was deeper than it really was. The Ludovico Technique and all the other psychological stuff was interesting, but a lot of the scenes felt repetitive and went on too long.

I loved parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Then it got to the end where it's like 20 minutes of flashing colors and facial expressions and pissed me off.

Of course, you can't say this without having someone jump down your throat and tell you the only reason you didn't like the movies was because you're too stupid.

by Anonymousreply 63May 8, 2019 4:07 AM

I agree about the final part of 2001. On the other hand I'm a big fan of Heywood Floyd and his sparring with the Russians.

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by Anonymousreply 64May 8, 2019 4:16 AM

Gary Goba is 6’1”, that’s what really hurt Tammy.

by Anonymousreply 65May 8, 2019 4:20 AM

Gary Goba is hot af. How do I get him in me?

by Anonymousreply 66May 8, 2019 4:35 AM

Stanley Kubrick may have been a genius but he was also sadistic shit. I saw a documentary about the man who was his personal assistant for over 30 years on Netflix a few nights ago and he treated that man like shit. He got away with it because the assistant felt honored to be working with a genius.

by Anonymousreply 67May 8, 2019 1:53 PM

Kubricks daughter was a Scientologist and I believe they were not in contact and possibly because of the effect of her being a Scieno. Maybe Kubrick enjoyed fucking with a Scieno. Kubrick was certainly a mysterious and enigmatic man. I really enjoyed that documentary that was all about all the different theories about the meaning of The Shining. It was as much about The Shining as it was also about conspiracy theory and critical analysis. I would have to look it up the title, it was Room something other. I don't have time to look now. Have a good day all.

by Anonymousreply 68May 8, 2019 2:02 PM

Don’t like or particularly rate either of them ( yeah I have watched the alleged Kubrick classics, thanks). The film was rubbish and Cruise should have told him to fuck off.

by Anonymousreply 69May 8, 2019 2:08 PM

I think the film is mesmerizing - extremely hypnotic. Thought this since the day I saw it in an old, beautifully and classically decorated opera-house-turned-movie-theater when it was released in '99. Bought the DVD and have been watching it periodically ever since - it makes me zone out EVERY time. Not even exaggerating when I called it "hypnotic"...

A deep, dark, alluring dream.

by Anonymousreply 70June 16, 2019 2:13 PM

R9 Because he was a great actor and was also hella sexy in the 90s. Sadly, he's short, but everyone looks at least 6'0" on screen, so....

by Anonymousreply 71June 16, 2019 2:15 PM

I was 20 When I saw A ClockWork Orange and I hadn’t seen many disturbing films in my youth. When the rape scene took place I was horrified and walked out. It stayed with me for awhile, too.

Kubrick certainly was a sadist.

by Anonymousreply 72June 21, 2019 4:22 AM

Kidman is really good in that film, within the limitations of the role. I remember one review (in New York magazine?) noted she outacts Cruise in every scene they share.

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by Anonymousreply 73June 21, 2019 4:48 AM

[quoteUhm, the blood-filled elevator was only in the PREVIEW that played for a full YEAR before the film was released! It is not in the film.

Uhm, I'm not even a fan of the film and I know that's b.s. The first time, Danny sees a vision of it in the mirror, when he was talking to Tony, towards the beginning of the film.

The second time, Wendy actually sees it while she's running around the hotel, towards the end of the film.

by Anonymousreply 74June 21, 2019 5:01 AM

OP, you've brightened my day!

by Anonymousreply 75June 21, 2019 5:04 AM

Fucked up the quote thing. Damn! ^

by Anonymousreply 76June 21, 2019 5:06 AM

Kubrick knew tommyboy was bi and had fun with it....Stanley was a hoot.

by Anonymousreply 77June 21, 2019 5:31 AM

^bi ????

by Anonymousreply 78June 21, 2019 5:40 AM
Stanley Kubrick Humiliated Tom Cruise during ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (2024)

FAQs

What did Nicole Kidman say about Eyes Wide Shut? ›

On the infamously long production. Kidman and Cruise shot "Eyes Wide Shut" for nearly two years, but the Australian actress said she doesn't have any complaints. "I would have stayed a third year," she said. "Does that mean I'm crazy?"

What was the whole point of Eyes Wide Shut? ›

The meaning of "Eyes Wide Shut" can be interpreted in several ways: 1. **Exploration of Desire and Fidelity**: The film delves into the subconscious desires and fantasies that exist within a marriage. Alice's confession forces Bill to confront his own suppressed desires and insecurities.

Who was the masked woman in Eyes Wide Shut? ›

In Eyes Wide Shut, Abigail Good plays a "Mysterious Woman". But That's not the half of it. A FEW WEEKS ago The Independent ran an interview with Julienne Davis, the little-known actress who plays the part of Mandy, the druggie prostitute, in Eyes Wide Shut.

Why was Eyes Wide Shut so controversial? ›

The film was met with censorship and controversy due to its graphic sexual content, resulting in last-minute cuts. Despite the controversy, Eyes Wide Shut is considered one of Kubrick's greatest achievements and has been praised over time.

How does Tom Cruise feel about Eyes Wide Shut? ›

Initially, critics and audiences weren't quite sure what to make of it, with Kubrick's luxurious examination of love, lust, and the human psyche proving to be surprisingly polarising. In Cruise's mind, though, he was convinced that Eyes Wide Shut was facing an uphill battle before it had even been released.

What was whispered to Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut? ›

What did Leelee Sobieski whisper into Tom Cruise's ear at the costume shop? She says: "You should have a cloak lined with ermine." Ermine is a type of Mustela (weasel family) that's grown for its fur. Did Stanley Kubrick have final cut before he passed away?

Who was in the morgue in Eyes Wide Shut? ›

Julienne Davis was that body. FAIR DOS, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman have the monopoly on Eyes Wide Shut stories. But other members of the cast have tales to tell; Julienne Davis, for example, the young Californian actress, model and musician who plays the junkie prostitute Mandy in the film.

Who was under the red cloak in Eyes Wide Shut? ›

Red Cloak is the main antagonist in the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut by the late Stanley Kubrick. He is the leader of the elitist cult Dr. William Harford infiltrates. He was portrayed by the late Leon Vitali.

What's so special about Eyes Wide Shut? ›

Stanley Kubrick's “Eyes Wide Shut” is like an erotic daydream about chances missed and opportunities avoided. For its hero, who spends two nights wandering in the sexual underworld, it's all foreplay. He never actually has sex, but he dances close, and holds his hand in the flame. Why does he do this?

What is the symbolism behind Eyes Wide Shut? ›

There is a ton of symbolism in Eyes Wide Shut; too much to cover at once. The most overt is the use of masks. The masks symbolize anonymity and, oddly, the realization and succumbing to desire. The anonymity is self-evident.

What is the message of the movie Eyes Wide Shut? ›

The true meaning of Eyes Wide Shut explores the fragility of masculinity, the decay of marriage and anonymity in a patriarchal society, and the necessity of masks and secrets in relationships.

How inappropriate is Eyes Wide Shut? ›

Parents need to know that this is a very adult film, with rampant female nudity, scenes that border on soft-core pornography, and a very mature treatment of the standard themes of jealousy and infidelity. All women are naked at some point, and (except for Alice) are junkies, prostitutes, or both.

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