Stanley Kubrick, the late American film director, had a strange and strict rule for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman during the filming of “Eyes Wide Shut.”

It was a deliberate thematic choice, as revealed in a 2014 retrospective by Vanity Fair.

Kubrick wanted to assure that Bill and Alice, played by Cruise and Kidman, respectively, were consistently alienated from one another.

Specifically, he insisted that the two stars, who were actually married at the time, remain apart as much as possible during the shoot.

According to critic Amy Nicholson, Kubrick directed Cruise and Kidman separately and gave them each their own notes that they were forbidden to share with each other.

Although they were allowed to develop their own characters, they were not allowed to compare notes as a couple.

This was a unique approach by Kubrick, who was known for his meticulous attention to detail.

In addition, Kubrick tried to play with actual jealousy on the set.

In the film, Bill’s s**ual odyssey begins when Alice admits to feeling lust for a soldier who just happened to pass by.

Bill and perhaps Alice too began having visions of Alice n^de in bed with another man.

To shoot these scenes, Kidman and a male model filmed n^ked for six days, posing in 50 unique s** positions.

However, Cruise was forbidden from visiting the set, and Kidman was not allowed to tell him about her experiences filming the s** scenes.

Cruise and Kidman were professionals, of course, but the terse nature of Kubrick’s movies likely still left a deliberately uncomfortable atmosphere.

The shoot for “Eyes Wide Shut” was notoriously long, running continuously for 46 weeks from November 1996 to June 1998.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest consistent film shoot in cinema history.

Kubrick was known for his unconventional approach to filmmaking, and “Eyes Wide Shut” was no exception.