Tom Cruise has revealed that he suggested his then-wife, Nicole Kidman, for the role of Alice Harford in Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut. In a rare interview with Sight and Sound (via Us Weekly), Cruise shared that during his meeting with Kubrick to discuss the film, he recommended Kidman play opposite him as the free-spirited Alice, while he portrayed the repressed Bill Harford.
Cruise recalled, “I flew out to his house, read the script the day before, and spent the day talking about it. I knew all of Kubrick’s films. While we were getting to know each other, I suggested Nicole because, obviously, she’s a great actress.”
Cruise also emphasized his commitment to the film, telling Kubrick, “Whatever it’s going to take, we’re going to do this.” Although Cruise’s suggestion played a role, Kubrick had already considered casting a real-life couple, initially thinking of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger for the roles.
Eyes Wide Shut follows Cruise’s character, Bill Harford, a New York doctor who delves into Manhattan’s secretive underground after learning of his wife’s dissatisfaction with their marriage.
While many drew comparisons between the on-screen marriage of Bill and Alice and Cruise and Kidman’s real-life relationship, Kidman told The New York Times in 2020 that their marriage was very different from their characters’ struggles. “That fits the narrative people came up with, but I didn’t see it like that. We were happily married,” she said.
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