Stanley Kubrick Came Close To Casting Steve Martin In Tom Cruise’s Eyes Wide Shut Role
Can you imagine anyone besides Tom Cruise in the role of Bill from “Eyes Wide Shut?” Probably not, as no matter your thoughts on the death-defying actor, it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t shine in Stanley Kubrick’s final film. His discomforting and oftentimes goofy performance likely wouldn’t work in any other film besides “Eyes Wide Shut,” if we’re being honest with ourselves.
However, Cruise was once barely a possibility for the project. After all, the origins for it date all the way back to the late 1960s when he was still a child. For the project’s first decade, “Eyes Wide Shut” was slated to be a more traditional remake of the 1926 novella “Dream Story,” set in the original setting of Vienna at beginning of the 20th century. During this phase of the film’s development, Kubrick had his eye on one actor to play his leading man, and that was Steve Martin. In the book “Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ’80s Changed Hollywood Forever” by Nick de Semlyen, the “Jerk” actor recounted the unexpected phone call he received from the director. Kubrick cited an appearance on the talk show “Parkinson” as his inspiration for the call and invited Martin to visit him at his home in Hertfordshire, England.
“He called me up and said, ‘I was just sitting there and thought, ‘Oh, that’s who I need for this movie,'” recalled Martin. “So I went to his house in the country.”
Stanley Kubrick Came Close To Casting Steve Martin In Tom Cruise’s Eyes Wide Shut Role
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