Mystery of 20-25 Minute Cut from Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' Revealed

Stanley Kubrick is widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His last movie, Eyes Wide Shut, received mixed reactions upon its release in 1999. Kubrick was known for making controversial films and being linked to conspiracy theories. In a notable instance, his film “2001: A Space Odyssey” depicted a realistic moon landing in 1968, a year before the actual moon landing in 1969. Some even speculate that Kubrick might have been involved in faking the moon landing footage.

“Eyes Wide Shut” is a psychological thriller. After spending two years making the movie, Kubrick showed it to Warner Bros in June 1999. However, the studio refused to release it unless Kubrick removed 24 minutes from the film. Kubrick refused, and four days after the screening, he passed away from a heart attack.

After Kubrick’s death, the studio released “Eyes Wide Shut” with the edits. Some suspect that the timing of Kubrick’s death is suspicious, and they question if he was actually killed under mysterious circumstances. The mystery revolves around the significance of the 24-45 minutes that the studio wanted Kubrick to remove from the movie.

Various theories suggest that the deleted scenes may have depicted a real satanic ritual, including elements like cannibalism, human sacrifice, and child sexual activities. Despite the speculations, no one has seen a single second of these alleged 24 minutes. Kubrick’s daughter Vivian Kubrick confirms that there are no deleted scenes, but some still believe they exist, waiting to be discovered.

In this video, Vivian states that her father was under enormous pressure from the elite not to make his films: “He was subject to a lot of pressure not to make the films he made… I feel that my father was very… haunted by those factions on this planet that try to manipulate humanity,” she said.

David Icke said, “Kind of interesting, Eyes Wide Shut because Stanley Kubrick was trying to tell us something. He died very soon after that film was given to Warner Brothers. But when he gave them the original movie, the Warner Brothers executives were watching it in the theater. And when they walked out, basically, this great director was just ignored. They just walked past it and insisted that 25 minutes of the movie be cut. When he agreed to fake the moon landing shots, he thought, ‘Well, I’m going to make sure that I get a deal here.’ And he got a deal, according to J. One, that his movies could never be edited or censored again.” (Source)

So when they asked for 25 minutes to be taken out, he refused. And a few days later, not long after, he’s dead. And they took out 25 minutes that have never been seen. When you see what’s in the movie and how far that goes, what the hell is in the 25 minutes that they wouldn’t have shown? It’s a dark movie. Yeah.

In “Eyes Wide Shut,” Dr. Bill Harford (played by Tom Cruise) and his wife Alice (played by Nicole Kidman) explore the idea of cheating as they enter high society. This takes them from being naive to more mature, but Bill’s search for new experiences leads him to places he shouldn’t be. In a key part of the movie, Bill attends a secret party where he witnesses a masked orgy. Because of his actions, a woman dies under suspicious circumstances.

It’s important to note that one widely cited Nicole Kidman interview was made up by the fake news site NewsPunch. Equally false are descriptions of 24 minutes of lost footage, cut from “Eyes Wide Shut” to protect the elite. Photos exist of a deleted scene featuring Bill, Alice, and their daughter rowing a boat in Central Park, but it’s hardly a smoking gun. A dream sequence—which would have counterbalanced Bill’s experience at the orgy with the sexual imaginings of Alice—was storyboarded but never shot.

“Eyes Wide Shut” co-writer Frederic Raphael asserted that the final edit of the film was overseen by well-acclaimed director Sydney Pollack. Following this, the movie underwent editing by Pollack, who, indeed, played a role in the production.

“Eyes Wide Shut” has a runtime of 2 hours and 59 minutes. In a screening held a few days before Stanley Kubrick’s passing, he purportedly informed Terry Semel, the head of Warner Bros., that the final cut would be 2 hours and 39 minutes long. As noted by a reputable Kubrick site:

Kubrick’s film found itself in an unusual position. His contract explicitly prohibited any unauthorized editing of his work, granting him exclusive rights to final cut. Consequently, while his sound editor could arrange audio elements and incorporate music following his guidelines, they were not permitted to make actual edits to the footage. Typically, music and visuals are edited simultaneously, but this was not the case with “Eyes Wide Shut.”

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This suggests that Kubrick may not have completed the editing process. It also indicates that sound and music were intended to follow, suggesting that the soundtrack may not have been finalized.

It is plausible that Pollack’s role involved overseeing the removal of the anticipated 20 minutes of footage, as perceived by everyone involved. Furthermore, Pollack likely supervised the development of the sound mix and the selection of final music cues. This significant responsibility underscores the need for an experienced director like Pollack for such a task.

Boating scene from “Eyes Wide Shut”

Why did Stanley Kubrick cut this boating scene from “Eyes Wide Shut”? Why didn’t he want the audience to see it anymore? What’s in it exactly? And what was he trying to say? What relation does it have to the film’s original source novel Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle? Where would it have been placed within the film? Did it no longer fit the film’s rhythm, thematic or mood? Or was it taken out for deeper, darker, and more personal reasons?

Stanley Kubrick’s daughter, Vivian Kubrick, left the family to join the Church of Scientology. Some people think that this caused stress for Stanley, and it might have led to his heart attack while he was editing “Eyes Wide Shut.” In the movie, there’s a scene where the main character, Dr. Harford, is warned not to talk about a secret society or face dire consequences for his family.

Knowing this makes the scene where the main character is in a boat with his wife and daughter more important. The only information we have about this scene is from a picture in Stanley Kubrick’s archives. In the photo, the main character, Bill Harford (played by Tom Cruise), is rowing a boat with his wife and daughter. They are close, and it looks like a happy moment. The scene is reminiscent of leisure scenes in another Kubrick film, “Barry Lyndon.” The picture, with its beautiful visuals, is like a painting by Édouard Manet. The colors in the shot, like the reds and blues, add to the mood of the film. The greens in Helena’s dress and the lake suggest nature, spring, and ideas of innocence and rebirth.

Toronto Film Review blog writes: “This rowboat scene is synchronous with Alice’s fantasy of ‘fucking’ a sailor, which would have provided a more calm and peaceful counterpart. But this isn’t what the film is about. It’s dark and pessimistic and supposes that intimate relationships are based on deep uncontrollable passions that can never be fully explained.

Illum1nat1 also discusses another short scene that was unfortunately cut from the film of Dr. Harford walking down an empty hallway and seeing an empty ceremonial room, which would have been very significant. And Welcome to Somerton brings up there was also another deleted scene where Alice and Helena were supposed to go horse riding in one scene. These missing scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s film, as Justin Morrow suggests, bring out and further contribute to one of Kubrick’s films most important qualities: their mystery.”