In what became Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Tom and Nicole, who tied the knot in 1990, star as a troubled married couple named Bill and Alice Harford. The movie is based on the 1926 novella Dream Story and explores complex themes around marriage, fidelity, and sexuality — made all the more fascinating with a real-life Hollywood couple at the crux.
Eyes Wide Shut came out in 1999, and it was only a few years later, in 2001, that Tom and Nicole announced their separation. The couple’s divorce has been the subject of pop culture lore for decades, and to this day, it isn’t known exactly why they broke up.
After a rep initially attributed the couple’s divorce to “the difficulties inherent in divergent careers,” Tom was asked point-blank why he and Nicole decided “to end it” during a 2002 interview with Vanity Fair. In response, he said somewhat cryptically: “She knows why, and I know why. She’s the mother of my children, and I wish her well.”
That 2002 interview was the last time that Tom ever talked about Nicole on record — until now. Marking the first time he’s publicly mentioned his ex-wife in over two decades, the Top Gun star recently told the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine about his “great experience” making Eyes Wide Shut and working with Kubrick shortly before his death in 1999.
“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. I spoke to [Martin] Scorsese about him and Sydney Pollack…so I knew what he did and how he worked,” Tom said, before revealing how his then-wife entered the picture. “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.”
In the year 2025, a Nicole Kidman mention from Tom Cruise is wild enough — but a compliment? I never thought I’d see the day. For her part, Nicole has talked about her ex-husband slightly more over the years, but still very rarely. Last summer, during a conversation about Eyes Wide Shut with the Los Angeles Times, the Oscar winner was asked whether Kubrick took any inspiration from her marriage throughout the making of the film, to which she said: “I suppose he was mining it.”
I never thought I’d feel so inspired by Tom Cruise to say something nice about my ex, but here we are. You can find out more about the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine here.
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