Nicole Kidman in the action-thriller "The Peacemaker" (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The film grossed $110,000,000 worldwide. In 1998, she co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the poorly received fantasy "Practical Magic" as a modern-day witch. Kidman returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play "The Blue Room", which opened in London. In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a married couple in "Eyes Wide Shut", the final film of director Stanley Kubrick. The film was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of
Stanley Kubrick tones and don't have to be pounded over the head with plot points and suspense tools." Kubrick was notorious for demanding multiple takes during filming to perfect his art, and his relentless approach was often extremely demanding for his actors. Jack Nicholson remarked that Kubrick would often demand up to fifty takes of a scene. Nicole Kidman explains that the large number of takes he often required stopped actors from consciously thinking about technique, thereby helping them enter a "deeper place". Kubrick's high take ratio was considered by some critics as "irrational", although he firmly believed that actors were at