20 Things You Didn't Know About Eyes Wide Shut

14. Kubricks's Fear Of Flying

eyes wide shut
Warner Brothers

Stanley Kubrick had a fear of flying, so far, so normal but when you're making a movie set in Manhattan and you live in the UK, problems may occur.

To get around this, Kubrick went as far as recreating the streets of New York with an old movie-making technique: Using background plates of NY projected behind Cruise, the actor then walked on a treadmill, feet out of shot, seen in the sequence in which he is followed by a sinister bald man.

Greenwich Village, NY was also painstakingly reconstructed for additional filming at Pinewood Studios, with Kubrick using accurate measurements taken from the actual Manhattan streets and pavements to complete the illusion.

Contributor
Contributor

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