When it comes to celebrity couples, we’re often more interested in their off-screen drama than their on-screen roles. But what about those rare instances when the two intersect? Then, audiences are left in the time-honored role of armchair psychologist, sussing out what these generationally famous stars are bringing to the screen from their own romantic lives and what we might be projecting onto them from our cheap seats.
READ MORE: The Essentials: The Best Stanley Kubrick Film Ranked
On a new Be Reel, we check in with “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999) as the infamous Stanley Kubrick-directed interrogation of Tom Cruise, and his marriage to Nicole Kidman turns 20. We also look back at the lovechild of “Liz” Taylor, and “Dick” Burton, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966) and the honeymoon-cum-couples therapy “By The Sea” (2015), which self-analyzes Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s sinking ship of a union.
READ MORE: The Lost & Unmade Projects Of Stanley Kubrick
We’re joined by New York Magazine writer Lila Shapiro, who watched “Eyes Wide Shut” 100 times and lived to tell the tale. She reminds us (and maybe some of you writers out there) why it’s important to check ourselves come anniversary time and then argues “Eyes Wide Shut” may have predicted the cult of power that propped up Jeffrey Epstein’s horrors.
READ MORE: Dream Walking Through Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’
As always, Be Reel is part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes The Discourse, The Fourth Wall, Adjust Your Tracking, Indie Beat, and more – and can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and now on Spotify. To listen on this page, press play on the AnchorFM embed below or up top. Be sure to subscribe, and drop us a comment or a rating as we do appreciate it. Thanks for listening.
