Tom Cruise has opened up in a rare interview about his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, praising her acting skills and their collaborative efforts during the making of Eyes Wide Shut.
In a conversation with the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine, the Top Gun: Maverick star, 62, recalled how he recommended Kidman for the role of Alice Hartford in Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 sexual drama. Cruise mentioned that their interaction with Kubrick during the film’s development was crucial to shaping the project. “It was basically he and I getting to know each other,” Cruise said. “And when we were doing that, I suggested Nicole play the role. Because obviously, she’s a great actress.”
Kidman, 57, was cast in the part, and alongside Cruise, they portrayed a married couple navigating infidelity. Reflecting on the unique process of making the film, Cruise described the experience as one of constant reworking and reshooting scenes to get the right tone. “It was a very unique experience – not a large crew. We arrived in the summer and basically we just started testing… constantly rewriting the scenes and shooting them,” he added.
The actress has previously reflected on their time making Eyes Wide Shut in a 2020 interview with The New York Times, describing how, despite the dark nature of the film, she and Cruise would lighten the mood. “We would go go-kart racing after those scenes,” Kidman shared. “We’d rent out a place and go racing at 3 in the morning.”
At the time, Kidman and Cruise were raising their children, Isabella and Connor, and often enjoyed family dinners with Kubrick, who was a significant part of their lives during the filming. “We shot that for two years,” Kidman explained. “We had two kids and were living in a trailer on the lot primarily, making spaghetti because Stanley liked to eat with us sometimes.”
Cruise and Kidman separated in 2001, and although both have moved on with their respective families, their time together in both personal and professional contexts remains a significant chapter. Kidman later shared that the split was difficult, admitting in a 2012 interview that it took a long time for her to heal from the divorce.
While Cruise married Katie Holmes and has a daughter, Suri, Kidman found love with country singer Keith Urban in 2006. The couple shares two daughters, Sunday and Faith.
