Tom Cruise Says He “Suggested” Nicole Kidman for ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Role: “She’s a Great Actress”

Tom Cruise is still speaking highly of ex-wife Nicole Kidman, even nearly 25 years after their divorce.

During a recent interview with Sight and Sound (via The Independent), the actor looked back at his 1999 film, Eyes Wide Shut, and how he recommended Kidman be cast as Alice Harford in the Stanley Kubrick-directed erotic thriller, opposite his Dr. Bill Harford.

“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,” he recalled. “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.”

Cruise was particularly passionate about the film as he also told Kubrick, “Whatever it’s going to take [to make the movie], we’re going to do this,” despite it shooting much longer than expected.

Eyes Wide Shut centers on Dr. Bill Harford, who is shocked when his wife, Alice, tells him that she contemplated having an affair the previous summer. He then embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey in New York City, during which he infiltrates a masked orgy of a secret society. It was Kubrick’s final film before he died in 1999 at age 70.

“I thought the film was very interesting, and I wanted to have that experience,” the Mission: Impossible star reflected. “When I go to make a movie, I do a lot of detailed investigation and a lot of time with the people before I commit so that I understand what they need and want and they understand me and how we can work together and really create something very special.”

Kidman has previously addressed whether working with Cruise on Eyes Wide Shut brought up “negative feelings” about their marriage at the time, as some viewers made comparisons between their onscreen and real-life relationships.

“That fits the narrative that people came up with, but I definitely didn’t see it like that,” she told The New York Times in 2020. “We were happily married through that.”

Kidman — who is currently married to country singer Keith Urban — and Cruise divorced in 2001 after 11 years of marriage.