20 Things You Didn't Know About Eyes Wide Shut
10. The R Lee Ermey Controversy
R Lee Ermey was a drill sergeant in the US Army, serving in Viet Nam and appearing in Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now before being cast by Kubrick as Sergeant Hartman in 1987s Full Metal Jacket.
On the release of EWS, Ermey weighed in on the film with some controversial opinions, featured in a Radar Magazine interview, via the Guardian:
"Stanley called me about two weeks before he died. We had a long conversation about Eyes Wide Shut. He told me it was a piece of s**t and that he was disgusted with it and that the critics were going to have him for lunch. He said Cruise and Kidman had their way with him - exactly the words he used."
Actor Todd Field (Nick Nightingale) countered in Groucho Reviews:
"The polite thing would be to say 'No comment'. But the truth is that ... you've never seen two actors more completely subservient and prostrate themselves at the feet of a director. Stanley was absolutely thrilled with the film. He was still working on the film when he died. And he probably died because he finally relaxed."