The only actor famous enough to scare Stanley Kubrick

(Source: Far Out / Stanley Kubrick)

Sat 24 August 2024 16:15, United Kingdom

During his lifetime he was undoubtedly one of the most famous and acclaimed names in the world of cinema, but Stanley Kubrick was not famous in the broadest sense of the word.

Sure, cinephiles around the world adored his every move and for the majority of his colleagues, contemporaries and successors he was an almost idolized figure, but he was not the kind of Hollywood figure who was chased by paparazzi everywhere in order to get on the front page of the tabloids.

Kubrick wasn't particularly keen on leaving his house unless he had to, and the idea of being chased by a jeering mob desperate to catch a glimpse of him was one aspect of the industry that didn't interest him at all. Fortunately, he managed to live out his retirement this way.

The legendary author worked with some of the best actors in the industry and called many famous directors his acquaintances and even friends, but nothing could have prepared him for the vortex of madness he fell into when he cast Tom Cruise for the lead role in Eyes wide closed.

The A-lister has been one of the most famous people on the planet since the 1980s, so he's adapted to this life as best he can. Kubrick, on the other hand, was terrified. Filming on Eyes wide closed Filming for The 400 took over a year, so the filmmaker experienced firsthand what it means to be Tom Cruise, and he couldn't believe what he saw.

In conversation with the British Film InstituteKubrick's daughter Katharina provided an example of how far apart director and star were in the public eye. “One day he came back from Marks & Spencer and said, 'Someone recognised me,'” she recalls. “'I didn't know what to do and they asked me for an autograph.' He was very surprised.”

Cruise, on the other hand, probably hasn't done his own shopping for decades. Kubrick's wife Christiane called him “literally a prisoner of the Midas touch,” before Katharina detailed how this ultimately affected the meticulous loner's plans to shoot his film undisturbed.

“There is a scene in Eyes wide closed “Tom had to go to hospital, this was in London,” she said. “The word got around and within half an hour the police had to set up cordons and people kept ruining the recording by shouting 'Tom, I love you.'”

Christiane recalls: “Stanley watched the film from his car and said it was just awful.” The film's director was too scared to get out of his car and approach his set because Cruise had done nothing more than show up for a day's work that happened to be in public.