Tom Cruise makes rare comment about ex Nicole Kidman 24 years after their divorce
Tom Cruise has made a rare comment about his ex-wife Nicole Kidman - more than two decades on from their divorce.
In 1990, a 28-year-old Cruise married a 23-year-old Kidman, and over the next 11 years they shot three films and adopted two children together, before eventually splitting in 2001.
Although, technically, they starred in the 1990 film Days of Thunder while they were engaged - with its release coming in the June of that year and their grand Hollywood wedding in the December.
The other two movies were Far and Away (1992) and the late Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
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Now, reflecting on Kubrick's erotic mystery and how he and his then-wife came about landing the starring roles of Bill and Alice Harford, a 62-year-old Cruise told Sight and Sound: "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."
The esteemed screenwriter was behind cinematic greats like The Shining (1980) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), but tragically died as a result of a heart attack at the age of 70 - just months before Eyes Wide Shut was released.
Cruise went on to heap praise on his Oscar-winning ex, a rarity with the Mission: Impossible actor and stuntman often refraining from referring to his personal life and past relationships.
He continued: "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 later explained how he told Kubrick: "Whatever it’s going to take [to make the movie], we’re going to do this."
The story of Eyes Wide Shut follows Dr Bill Harford, of New York City, and his wife Alice - who admits to having fantasised about a man, and so Cruise's character joins an underground group that is obsessed with sex.
As per the Independent, Cruise added: "I thought the film was very interesting, and I wanted to have that experience.
"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, now 57, has also spoken about shooting Eyes Wide Shut and reflected on it positively.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times for the movie's 25th anniversary last year, the actress said: "When Tom and I first started with Stanley, it was at his home, and we didn't even go over to the sets at Pinewood [Studios].
"Six, eight weeks passed, and we're wondering, 'Are we ever going to start?' And we just wouldn't start. We were getting comfortable with each other, comfortable enough to throw out ideas."
The film was supposed to only be a six-month shoot, but it stretched out and took both stars off the market for almost two years.
Kidman also revealed she and ex-husband Cruise stayed in a studio on the set throughout some of the process.
"We had a home 10 minutes away, but we lived in that trailer," she explained. "Tom and I shared it because Stanley would say, 'You're not each getting a trailer. We can't afford it'."
Topics: Celebrity, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Sex and Relationships
Joe Yates