Nicole Kidman once worked on an erotic thriller in which she had to insert a clause into her contract for her sex scenes with, at the time, her husband Tom Cruise.
The film, which you can watch on Netflix, has a bonkers production, with Cruise and Kidman signing contracts with no end date.
The pair basically agreed to work until the movie is done, with production breaking a Guinness World Record for the longest constant movie shoot.
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It lasted for over 15 months, with Director Stanley Kubrick famed for his perfectionism dragging out the shoot, taking so long that Cruise and Kidman’s children developed British accents, where it was being shot.
What is the film?
The film, called Eyes Wide Shut, is an erotic thriller featuring both Cruise and Kidman as husband and wife.
The pair play Alice and Bill and, after Alice reveals she considered having an affair, Bill goes on an adventure that culminates in him infiltrating a masked orgy.
Eyes Wide Shut was Stanley Kubrick’s last film, as he died just six days after screening the final cut to Warner Brothers.
After his death, Warner Brothers were required to digitally re-alter the orgy scene's most sexually explicit moments to get it down to an R-Rating.
This decision was criticised by legendary critic Roger Ebert, who said in his review: "Kubrick died in March. It is hard to believe he would have accepted the digital hocus-pocus.
"Eyes Wide Shut should have been released as he made it, either 'unrated' or NC-17. For adult audiences, it creates a mesmerizing daydream of sexual fantasy."
What was the contract clause Kidman had added?
Nicole Kidman had a very specific contract clause regarding her nudity in the film.
Speaking to New York Magazine, she said: “When I went to work with Stanley Kubrick, he was like, ‘I’m going to want full-frontal nudity,’ and I was like, ‘Ahh, I don’t know’.
“So we came up with a great agreement, which was contractual. He would show me the scenes with the nudity before they made it into the film.
“Then I could feel completely safe. I didn’t say no to any of it. I’d wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to be me standing there nude and everyone laughing at me.
“I was protected, so I got to explore a complicated marriage and the way in which Tom [Cruise’s] character is having those jealous images.”
She went on to say: “Sexuality is over here in a box, and we don’t deal with it.
“I’m happy to deal with it, but there needs to be a place where you can go, I’m not going to be exploited.
“Then I’ll go down the road with you. I love the relationship between a director and an actor. When it’s pure, it’s exquisite. And the other actors, when you’re all there doing the work, it’s exquisite.”
How was the film received?
Response to the movie were mixed when it released, but it has grown into a cult status.
Particular criticisms were made of Tom Cruise’s performance in the film, with Eyes Wide Shut breaking his streak when it released in 1999 of box office successes.
The movie has grown to a 7.6 on IMDb and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ebert gave the film 3.5/4 stars, and Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four stars, saying: “Stanley Kubrick’s last film, starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise as a warring, sexually obsessed couple, is fascinating and disquieting.
“There are tears, and Cruise in particular lays himself open in that fiercely committed way that he tries everything as an actor.”
Eyes Wide Shut is available to watch on Netflix now.
Topics: Film, Netflix, Nicole Kidman, TV and Film, Tom Cruise
Michael Slavin