It's purely a matter of what I want to work on when I get the time. Its not an actual dream, since Bill clearly does attend the event in reality, as evidenced by his costume rental and his later discussion with Ziegler, who references it and claims to have been a guest. All I could say was, Oh, well, I really like your films, too, Tom. [Laughs]. They do change their balance a little bit. He described the whole scene being in this secret huge mansion with this secret society of men with prostitutes. And then in the later scenes, its Leon [playing him]. And apparently, there were some real-life influences for this story beat. This has also fed some theories that the orgy scene was at least somewhat inspired by the Rothschild family and those they associate with. This theme of wilful ignorance is symbolized by the object of the mask. The important thing is we're awake now and hopefully for a long time to come.". Kubricks autumnal work, a tale of jealousy and sexual obsession, Eyes Wide Shut follows the erotically charged misadventures of Dr. Bill Harford (fun fact! CENSORED! Currently, he is both a writer and an editor at TheThings where he specializes in entertainment, film, and celebrity news. Youve got some Janning to do! But there is a sobering moment of reality that completely rattles Bill. Here, his collaborators discuss how it all came to be. Also Illuminati! Blanchett was a rising star during the "Eyes Wide Shut" post-production phase. "Eyes Wide Shut" opened on July 16, 1999, and did well at the box office and with critics. They aim to work hard on their marriage so that they never face such tribulations again. It wasnt his stuff, to be honest with you. Throughout the night, Bill meets various strangers who attempt to engage him in sex. But all the [CGI] figures are moving slightly. UNCENSORED! And then we had to find some more because we realized we didnt have enough. Its a deliberate kind of movement. The documentary, filmed at the Kubrick household in St Albans, England one half of the house taken up by these boxes, relics explores among other things the photographic research for 1999sEyes Wide Shut, everything from doorways to mortuaries and every costume shop in the South East of England. This anonymity is required of the participants, otherwise . And when we were shooting Eyes Wide Shut, it took Tom as long as it would have taken him to make three movies. Dreams and the subconscious are powerful, and have the ability to transform our waking. She possesses the knowledge, while he is clueless. ago I really enjoyed reading this. And every day, Leon would record it and come back with feedback from Stanley. I know they find clues as the night progresses, but it seems they immidietly know he doesn't belong? I stuck to my guns about what I would do. Leon Vitali (assistant to Kubrick): We looked for the barriers we just would not be able to cross. At the beginning, he just asked me to try some ideas for the masked-ball scene and the orgy scene. These soulless copulations at the orgymirror Bill and Alice's potential affairs: they would be nothing but meaningless physical encounters that could never replace the profound intimacy of their marriage a genuine type of closeness that allows them to be their true selves. I told him, Its not that Im saying that I wont do it; Im saying that I cant do it. I was upset. Stanley could change a whole scene just because it suddenly made sense to him in a different way. She is still open with him about her past sexual fantasies, but in the end they stay loyal to each other, happy that their marriage and mutual sexual attraction have survived this long. Cruises Bill Harford wanders a nocturnal landscape of potential transgressions, all of which remind him of the warmth of domestic life. At the very least, it was one of the late director's most memorable. AG: Leon came back one day with pictures from the Kama Sutra and said, Stanley would like you to draw inspiration from these images, at which point we were all sort of like, Okay, thats not really what we signed up for. But we knew each other very well at this point, so taking on more of a sexual nature was not so shocking. What do you think? I had been sexually assaulted on the street in London just a few years earlier, and being attacked does things to you. In Full Metal Jacket, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and Lolita he chooses not to include the most shocking violence - especially sexual violence - from the texts he is adapting. Facing the centennial, there was a lot to look forward to, and a lot to leave behind. Lines, roads, walking, processions towards a threshold or towards an altar. Dr. Harford is on call to that class of person who can afford not to wait in emergency rooms or die in hospitalspeople like his friend Victor Ziegler, whose name denotes him as one of the worlds winners. I also reached out to Yolande Snaith, a choreographer with her own dance company. This pushes Bill into a sexual odyssey, where he wanders through the night, spontaneously ending up at a secretive masked ball . If the man represents Ziegler (and I think the evidence is extensive that this is the case), the men in blue must correspond to the power of his money. Well put. He died only six days after. LV: The cut was locked a week before Stanley had showed it in New York to Tom and Nicole, and he told them that was his final cut. He also sent over a lot of illustrations of secret-society rituals and the Black Mass, mainly from the 19th century. But the scene was more about the secret society of supremely rich hedonists who, under the shadows, orchestrate horrendous acts of violence and sexual manipulation. The first is that Alice found the mask and left it out in order to provoke a confession. It ties together many of the recurring themes and elements quite nicely. However, it was clear to Yolande Snaith that Stanley didn't precisely know what he wanted from the scene. Solves the mysteries of Mandy's redemption, the masked man on the balcony, and whether Alice was at the ritual: https://wp.me/p6pteV-1U 23 15 Related Topics Stanley Kubrick Movie 15 comments Add a Comment andrew_stirling 3 mo. "I did watch some soft-core porn and Red Shoe Diaries, just to see really what the general idea of the limits was. Some scenes had been lit solely with Christmas lights. In truth, fashioning the orgy and the scenes around it may well have been one of the biggest challenges of Kubricks career. This essay will not engage in that kind of analysis.]. This was totally abnormal as the director was notoriously (and agonizingly) precise about his decision. "We looked for the barriers we just would not be able to cross," another assistant to Stanley, Leon Vitali, explained. It seems to appear whenever Bill is wrestling with the underlying lie of his situation. That level of precision was pretty exceptional. And the next day, the car returned to pick me up, and I went to see him in Pinewood studio. Hes dangerous, hes terrifying, hes an extra in, How to Watch the 2023 Oscars Celebrate All 23 Categories Live Again. YS: By the time we got to working on the orgy scene, I had a commitment to a project that I was doing with my company. It is overly long. But not explicit. A member of the Blast Beat Network. As Tim Kreider points out in his essay Introducing Sociology A Review of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick and his collaborator, Frederic Raphael, discussed exactly how much money a New York doctor like Bill Harford must earn per year. The owner of the New England Patriots allegedly patronizes low-rent massage parlors. Full 1080p HD Show more Show more Movie. Weve got romance, breakups, emotionally loaded dumplings this episode has a little bit of everything! Things are happening and that means I have less time to dedicate to YouTube. YS: We did a lot of work with [the models], doing yoga to get them a little more flexible, spending a lot of time getting them to do things in perfect unison, which was a challenge. You dont! We used to have a laugh about that. It's interesting to see the similarities to Kubrick's film even though Traumnovelle (Dream Story) takes place in the 1920's. You can watch it with English subtiles on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d172U5tmTwQ Brian Cook (first assistant director): I used to say to Stanley, We should get Adrian Lyne or Tony Scott to come and shoot this stuff for us. While Kubrick's other films explore topics like free will, conformity, and class privilege, "Eyes Wide Shut" takes on society's dehumanization of sex. Your theory also fails to explain the three men from the first party who appear behind Helena in the toy shop in the final seconds in which we see her. It was all very Stanley. He then begins a night-long journey to explore and possibly give in to his own temptations, stumbling upon a secret society participating in a masked orgy. It's safe to say that Kubrick had a reputation for being quite the demanding and unusual filmmaker. "Masked Ball" plays during the black mass/lesbian homoeroticism part and "Migrations" during Dr. Hartford's wandering through the mansion afterwords. Gone girls! One of the problems was that they had to be totally natural. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google 1999 was a busy year for a lot of reasons. The mansion in which the orgy scenes were filmed also just so happens to be Mentmore Towers in Somerset, England, built for the Rothschild family in the 1850s, a family with many ties to conspiracy theories because of their history of running the banking industry; which effectively made them the wealthiest family in human history. It was clear to Yolande Snaith that Stanley didn't precisely know what he wanted from the scene. According to the documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures," Kubrick was in the middle of post-production when he showed what Warner Bros. executives claim was a relatively final cut of the film on March 1, 1999. He even sort of handled the wardrobe for all his dressing low-key, Stanley actually loved clothes. But when I look at the scene, I think what we did in the studio [during rehearsal] definitely influenced the whole feel of that scene. More importantly, it now demands that I re-watch the movie for the umpteenth time! And as with Kubricks earlier The Shining (another initially dismissed film that is now a classic), there have been plenty of conspiracy theories around it, mainly from overzealous viewers connecting the films secret society of possibly murderous, mega-wealthy hedonists to all sorts of shadowy organizations allegedly operating in the real world. He previously suffered a brain aneurysm on February 18, and was ultimately taken off life support. Im not going to lie. It's also a story about the constant temptation in a world that over-emphasizes sex.". What you're talking about isn't "Masked Ball" (the song brought up in the OP), but rather "Migrations", the subsequent track. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. For every movie he made, he was getting $20 million, $25 million up front. We just did it again and again and again to get the timing right. But the agreement between Kubrick and Warner Bros. was that he was contracted to deliver an R-rated film. They were erotic, but there was no humping going on. Naturally some in Hindu community wasn't . So it makes sense that many scenes with blue would also relate to themes of illusion. YS: There were a few male dancers we were working with initially on the erotic dances. LV: It was Cate Blanchett! God, I sound like a bit of a bimbo! Stanley had talked about finding this voice and this quality that we needed. Id love to hear more stuff. I remember a car came within a few hours to collect the little cassette I made. You make some very interesting points throughout your analysis. Can Anyone Predict Whos Going to Win Best Supporting Actress? Russell Trigg (dancer): Yolandes practice involves lots of contact work and improvisation, so that guided the rehearsal. "Eyes Wide Shut" recognizes how earth-shattering disloyalty can be, even if it just occurs in your mind. It was only after months of rehearsal and improvisation that the sequence took its final shape. [After] the emphasis shifted onto that, I went out with him and Leon and the production designer to look at different locations, one of which was the big venue we eventually used. Theres not, Stanley. But that doesn't mean that there isn't any controversy attached to the film's release. A frequent collaborator of Kubrick, writer Michael Herr, revealed in a Vanity Fair piece that Kubrick called him shortly before he had to show the Warner Bros. executives a cut the film, saying that "there was looping to be done and the music wasn't finished, lots of small technical fixes on color and sound; would I show work that wasn't finished?" BC: When we were doing the glimpses of Nicole Kidman [with the naval officer], I used to have to go with pictures, blown-up pictures, and ask her what she was prepared to do. Phenomenal analysis. Something curious happened in New York around Christmastime 2016. Plus, sex/money is a thematically important dichotomy in the film, so it makes sense that they would each be assigned a color.