Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s final film before his untimely passing in 1999, is arguably his most divisive work. The film left a certain swath of viewers scratching their heads, a.k.a. the people who went to see it just because Hollywood power couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were the stars.
Over the years Eyes Wide Shut has, like all of Kubrick’s films, split fans down the middle. Some still dismiss it as a rare misfire in the auteur’s decade-spanning career, others have wisely come around to realize it is one of his greatest achievements – just in case you can’t guess what side I’m on.
The exploration of monogamy, sexual desire, and the fever-dream isolation of Tom Cruise’s flaccid doctor is begging for a deep dive, and it seems now we are getting that very thing. Filmmaker Tony Zierra recently told Variety he is working on a documentary about the controversial picture:
“The one movie that I feel is the wrinkle in Kubrick’s filmography is ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ The people that love him always say, ‘He’s a genius, but I’m not sure what the hell that movie was about’… Many people just don’t get it. It makes no sense to them. The casting doesn’t make any sense to them. The story doesn’t make any sense to them.”
The documentary has the working title of SK13, in reference to the director and the fact was his 13th film. Zierra just recently premiered Filmworker, a story about Kubrick’s right-hand man Leon Vitali, so he seems like the perfect fit for this project.
Stay tuned as more details emerge.
