“She’s a great actress”: Nicole Kidman landed her Eyes Wide Shut role on this actor’s recommendation

Nicole Kidman was recently seen opposite Harris Dickinson in Halina Reijn's erotic thriller, Babygirl. She plays a high-powered CEO who gets involved with an employee of a company, and then things take some exciting turns. It was praised by the critics, and Kidman was awarded the Best Actress prize by the National Board of Review.

Around a quarter century ago, she appeared in another erotic film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Reviewer James Berardinelli said that Kidman was "consistently excellent" in the Stanley Kubrick film. But that wouldn't have become possible if Tom Cruise, who is also her ex-husband, hadn't recommended her for the film. Recently, the Mission: Impossible star appeared in an interview with Sight and Sound Magazine, as The Independent reported, and said:

"I flew out to his house, and I landed in his backyard. I read the script the day before and we spent the day talking about it. I knew all of his films. 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."

Both Cruise and Kidman starred in Eyes Wide Shut, and both were married at the time (and in the movie too). A couple of years later, they were separated in a divorce.

What is Eyes Wide Shut about?

The Stanley Kubrick film is an erotic psychological drama where Tom Cruise plays Bill Harford and Nicole Kidman is Alice Harford. Kidman's character isn't really good for Cruise's, where both are husband and wife. Alice is unsatisfied with their relationship and fantasizes about a naval officer.

This comes as a shock to Bill, not simply because they are a couple, but because of his belief that women are naturally loyal. That said, a revelation like that can naturally leave anyone disturbed.

Later, Bill gets involved with a secret society, more like an orgy, and learns some dark truths as the story moves. He is eventually warned that this secret society is dangerous, which is obviously clear.

However, he confesses his actions to his wife, who then suggests some "action" to repair their broken relationship.

Eyes Wide Shut was Stanley Kubrick's last film

At the age of 70, the Eyes Wide Shut director succumbed to a cardiac arrest on March 7, 1999. That happened after only six days of the film's screening. It was then posthumously released across theaters for moviegoers. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman gave their eulogies alongside Steven Spielberg, Jan Harlan, and more.

The film certainly was a hard nut to crack for both Cruise and Kidman, a famous Hollywood couple at the time. It was exhausting, as Vanity Fair notes in one of its stories from July 2014. Stanley was notorious for his perfectionism in his movies, so this doesn't really come as a surprise.

Tom Cruise said about it, as Vanity Fair reported:

"I remember talking to Stanley and I said, ‘Look, I don’t care how long it takes, but I have to know: are we going to finish in six months?’ People were waiting and writers were waiting. I’d say, ‘Stanley, I don’t care—tell me it’s going to be two years."

Eyes Wide Shut was nominated for several awards at the Golden Globe, Satellite Award, and more, but won only the Best Foreign Film at the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.