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Tom Cruise has made a rare comment about ex Nicole Kidman 24 years after their divorce
Tom Cruise is looking back on one of the most defining chapters of both his professional and personal life.
In a new interview with Sight and Sound magazine, the 62-year-old actor opened up about working on Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 psychological thriller Eyes Wide Shut, where he starred opposite then-wife Nicole Kidman.
Married from 1990 to 2001, the pair were Hollywood’s golden couple at the time, and their involvement in Kubrick’s final film has long been viewed as one of the most fascinating intersections of art and life.
Cruise recalls working with Stanley Kubrick on Eyes Wide Shut
“It was a great experience. I was very excited to do it,” Cruise said.
“I knew Stanley’s movies very well and I was introduced to him through Sydney Pollack.
"He sent me the script, and I flew out to his house and landed in his backyard.
"We spent the day talking about it.”
Cruise suggests Nicole Kidman for the role of Alice
From there, the project became a full immersion.
“I knew all of his films,” Cruise explained, noting that he had spoken with directors Martin Scorsese and Sydney Pollack to better understand Kubrick’s working style.
“Then it was basically he and I getting to know each other. And when we were doing that, I suggested Nicole play the role [of Alice]. Because obviously she’s a great actress.”
The film follows Dr. Bill Hartford (Cruise), whose wife Alice (Kidman) confesses to sexual fantasies about another man.
That admission sends Bill spiraling into a night of obsession, jealousy, and temptation.
“I knew it was going to be a long shoot,” Cruise recalled.
“He was like, ‘No, no, no. We’ll finish in three or four months.’ And I said, ‘Stanley, I’m here for you. Whatever it takes, we’re going to do this.’”
The process stretched well beyond that, with Kubrick known for shooting and reshooting endlessly.
“It was a very unique experience,” Cruise said.
“The script was just an idea. We were constantly rewriting, testing, reshooting, trying to find the tone.”
Cruise and Kidman’s relationship timeline
Cruise and Kidman first met in 1990 on the set of Days of Thunder and married later that year in a private ceremony in Colorado.
They went on to star together in Far and Away (1992) and adopted two children, Isabella (born 1992) and Connor (born 1995).
For Kidman, that era was both intense and formative.
In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, she said she and Cruise were “happily married through that” production, even recalling late-night go-kart races after grueling shoot days.
By 2001, their marriage had ended. In a joint statement, their reps cited “the difficulties inherent in divergent careers” as the reason for their separation.
Both went on to remarry; Cruise to Katie Holmes in 2006 (with whom he shares daughter Suri) and Kidman to country singer Keith Urban, with whom she has two daughters (though, they're now in the midst of a divorce).
Cruise reflects on the film
Looking back now, Cruise describes Eyes Wide Shut as a turning point in his career, an all-consuming collaboration with one of cinema’s great auteurs, shaped in part by the presence of his then-wife.
“I thought the film was very interesting,” he said, “and I wanted to have that experience.”