One of the Most Iconic Tom Cruise Scenes Was Filmed on a Treadmill

Stanley Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut, was based on the 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler. It shows the mysterious erotic adventures of a doctor (Tom Cruise) affected by his wife's (Nicole Kidman) urge to have an affair. The film was well-received by critics. Many call it a masterpiece and highly praise Kubrick for his study of human psychology. The film is often included in different top lists.

This universal praise did not come easily. Kubrick's well-known perfectionism led to parts of the script being rewritten on the set and the majority of scenes being reshot many times.

Eyes Wide Shut holds the Guinness World Record for the longest constant movie shoot that ran for over 15 months, a period that included an unbroken shoot of 46 weeks.

The filming was incredibly exhausting for the cast, who had to work much longer than initially expected. For example, Vinessa Shaw playing a sex worker named Domino was supposed to be on the set for two weeks but ended up filming for two months.

Due to Kubrick's aerophobia, the story happening in 1990s New York City was shot in England. Greenwich Village was fully recreated at London's Pinewood Studios. Kubrick sent people to Manhattan to take pictures and measure every location. Real New York footage was shot to be used as a rear projection in the scene where Tom Cruise's character walks along the street.

For many viewers, it is shocking that this simple scene of a protagonist walking was shot in such a twisted way. But once you see it, it's impossible to unsee. Tom Cruise is actually walking on a treadmill in his sneakers in front of a huge screen. While some viewers consider the scene to be an epic fail, others seem to think that all is not that simple.

"As a Kubrick fanatic I should say he did it to leave an eerie unease to the viewer's subconscious and that it's also meant to be a metaphor for the fake world the character feels he's walking in," one commenter wrote on Reddit.

The effect of the scene is really strange and off-putting in a deliberate way. Knowing how obsessive Kubrick was about details, it is hard to imagine the dream-like atmosphere of the scene was not deliberate. It completely portrays the detachedness and narcissistic self-absorption of the character.