Cloaked in secrecy, Kubrick’s last film has eager audience

Wednesday, July 14, 1999 | 12:40 p.m.

A middle-aged man preying on a lonely widow so he can get close to her pubescent daughter.

A grinning, ax-toting Jack Nicholson chopping through a door to get to his family and maniacally announcing, "Here's Johnny!"

Stanley Kubrick never was one to spare audiences from disturbing ideas and images, as these scenarios from his "Dr. Strangelove," "Lolita" and "The Shining" attest.

On Friday, audiences finally can see his last foray into the unsettling with the opening of "Eyes Wide Shut," an examination of flirtation, infidelity and sexual obsession that some expect to be highbrow soft porn while Kubrick die-hards anticipate a final masterpiece.

"The most anticipated movie of the year was 'Star Wars,' but for me, this is it," said Rick Curnutte, a contributing editor to a Web site on Kubrick. "I'll be taking off work to see it. Everybody else did that for 'Star Wars' May 19, but I'll be doing it this Friday."

What U.S. viewers will see is a slightly altered version. Anticipating an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, Kubrick digitally added clothed orgy-goers to block some particularly explicit sex scenes during 65 seconds of footage, earning the movie an R rating. The racier version will be shown overseas.

With all the buzz, plus the star power of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, "Eyes Wide Shut" almost certainly will be Kubrick's highest-grossing film and has a good shot at topping $100 million, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks ticket sales.

Kubrick's previous best was an estimated $50 million for "2001: A Space Odyssey," closely followed by "Full Metal Jacket" at $46 million and "The Shining" at $44 million, Dergarabedian said.

Early on, "Eyes Wide Shut" had two things going for it: the lure of real-life husband and wife Cruise and Kidman, and the fact that Kubrick had not released a movie in 12 years.

Kubrick's death March 7 heightened the film's intrigue in much the way artists' deaths can boost the value of their works.

Add a cloak of mystery and measured marketing by Warner Bros., which has kept the movie under tight wraps per Kubrick's wishes, and "Eyes Wide Shut" likely ranks as the year's second most-talked-about film after the "Star Wars" prequel.

Days before the movie's release, Warner remained coy.

"Whatever you're expecting, it's not that," said Nancy Kirkpatrick, the studio's spokeswoman for the movie.

Warner insists the hush-hush marketing was exactly how Kubrick wanted it. The day before Kubrick died, he talked by phone with Warner Chairman Terry Semel and laid out his ideas about how to promote the movie, Kirkpatrick said.

Kubrick had specific instructions about the first movie trailer, the ad campaign and the initial footage to release, and Warner has followed his wishes closely, Kirkpatrick said.

The studio limited advance press screenings and released details about the movie in dribs and drabs. The trailer and ads were designed to titillate, with erotic images of Cruise and Kidman mixed with otherworldly shots of masked and cloaked revelers at an orgy.

A few snippets of dialogue in the ads portended something dark and potentially murderous.

The marketing result has been impressive, Dergarabedian said.

"Warner has really created an aura of mystery around this movie that makes people want to see it," Dergarabedian said.

"And you can't take Cruise and Kidman out of the equation," he said. "If this was a no-name cast, all the mystery in the world might create a want-to-see feeling among some film fans but not the general public. Without a star, it would just be a very expensive arthouse movie."

A certain "frat-boy audience" may go to "Eyes Wide Shut" for the nudity and sex, Curnutte said. From what he's read about "Eyes Wide Shut" and his knowledge of Kubrick, though, it will be a serious movie about sex that may disappoint viewers expecting a porn film, Curnutte said.

"I think people respect Kubrick as an artist and that he's going to do it in a special way," Kirkpatrick said. As for public perception of Cruise and Kidman, "the odds are they're not going to do something sleazy or in bad taste."