20 Things You Didn't Know About Eyes Wide Shut

11. Kubrick's Unexpected Death And The Final Cut

eyes wide shut
AP

On March 7 1999, the world lost one of the greatest film directors since the invention of modern cinema. To complicate the situation, he had just presented Warner Brothers with his first (and only) cut of the finished film, four or possibly six days (reports vary) before his death from a heart attack.

This led to a debate over the legitimacy of the cut released in 1999; his brother in law Jan Harlan had stated that Kubrick considered it to be his "greatest contribution to the art of cinema," while others, including Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam, have maintained (via Wiki) that they "... don't think there's a chance that was the movie he had in mind."

Rumours that Sydney Pollack, himself also a director, completed the final cut still circulate although as the entire production was so secretive, it's only Kubrick himself who could end this speculation.

Contributor
Contributor

A lifelong aficionado of horror films and Gothic novels with literary delusions of grandeur...