Stanley Kubrick 1999. He commenced a script with Frederic Raphael, and worked 18 hours a day, while maintaining complete confidentiality about the film. "Eyes Wide Shut", like "Lolita" and "A Clockwork Orange" before it, faced censorship before release. Kubrick sent an unfinished preview copy to the stars and producers a few months before release, but his sudden death on March 7, 1999, came a few days after he finished editing. He never saw the final version released to the public, but he did see the preview of the film with Warner Bros., Cruise, and Kidman, and had reportedly told Warner executive Julian
Nicole Kidman its sex scenes. The film received further attention following Kubrick's death shortly before its release. After brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise, Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama "Birthday Girl". In 2001, Kidman played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann's musical "Moulin Rouge!", opposite Ewan McGregor. Her performance and her singing received positive reviews; Paul Clinton of "CNN.com" called it her best work since "To Die For", and wrote "[she] is smoldering and stunning as Satine. She moves with total confidence throughout the film [...] Kidman