Tom Cruise rarely singles out movies – But he broke his own rule to watch this movie twice

Tom Cruise has been a part of several successful films in his decades-long career. Starting out with relatively small roles, Cruise slowly emerged as a superstar with titles like Top Gun, The Color of Money, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, the Mission: Impossible franchise, and Jerry Maguire.

In his long-standing career, Cruise has not re-watched any of his films, except one: Stanley Kubrick-directed 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut, co-starring Nicole Kidman.

So let us try to decipher why Cruise opted for a repeat viewing of this Kubrick swan song.

Tom Cruise watched Eyes Wide Shut more than once

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Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were a part of Stanley Kubrick's erotic mystery psychological drama Eyes Wide Shut. Released on July 16, 1999, the film marked Kubrick's last directorial venture. Cruise rarely singles out his films, but he made an exception with this film. At the time of the film's release, he confessed to Larry King that he had already watched the film several times. The actor stated that he saw the film twice back to back, once all by himself and the next time with his then-wife Kidman. He said,

"I was amazed by the movie, and stunned, and felt incredibly proud of the movie, and to have been a part of his picture."

Cruise's statements make it clear that the film has several layers, and it almost demands repeated viewing. The film functions as a labyrinth and has a sense of ambiguity.

More about Eyes Wide Shut

Eyes Wide Shut is helmed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick also wrote the script with Frederic Raphael. Here's the official synopsis:

A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.

The cast of the film includes,

Tom Cruise as Dr. William Harford aka Bill
Nicole Kidman as Alice Harford
Sydney Pollack as Victor Ziegler
Marie Richardson as Marion Nathanson
Rade Šerbedžija as Mr. Milich
Vinessa Shaw as Domino
Todd Field as Nick Nightingale
Sky du Mont as Sandor Szavost
Fay Masterson as Sally
Thomas Gibson as Carl Thomas
Madison Eginton as Helena Harford
Julienne Davis as Mandy Curran

In an interview with Far Out Magazine, Tom Cruise revealed that the film was misunderstood when it came out. The actor was surprised that even long-time fans of Kubrick found it difficult to make sense of Eyes Wide Shut. He said,

“There were rumours out there about how Stanley was going to make a p*rnographic picture. But that wasn’t the movie he was making. You can see that they didn’t quite grasp what the movie was, even when they saw it, because they carried the baggage in.”

Praising Kubrick's writing and direction, Tom Cruise explained that one will have to drop their preconceived notions about the director and his other works to comprehend the narrative. He further added,

“You have to understand: it’s Stanley Kubrick. It’s not going to be what you think it is. And he’s not going to tell you everything. So even the people who think they know Stanley Kubrick’s movies, missed it because whatever preconception you have, you’ve got to take it on its own merits and not the surrounding elements.”

What are your thoughts on the film?