<p>When <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em> opened in the summer of 1999, it was widely considered a disappointment. This final film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick had been sold as an erotic thriller, and potentially even a peek into the real sex lives of its then-married stars, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. But <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em> was stranger than that: a meditative art film whose much-hyped orgy scene is more creepy than sexy, run by a cabal of rich and powerful men who prey on young women.</p><br><p>But <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em> has received a burst of new attention in the last few years, amid constant revelations about a real-life cabal of rich and powerful men who prey on young women. Across the internet, cinema sleuths have been asking: is it possible <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em> was not fictional? Was Stanley Kubrick trying to warn the world about a real conspiracy? And if so… was he murdered for it?&nbsp;</p><br><p>In this episode of Decoder Ring, we follow Lane Brown—a lifelong Kubrick fan and features writer for New York Magazine—as <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/eyes-wide-shut-conspiracy-stanley-kubrick-jeffrey-epstein.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">he investigates this conspiracy theory</a> and what it says about how we deal with ugly facts and murky fictions.</p><br><p>This episode was written and produced by Max Freedman and edited by Willa Paskin. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.</p><br><p>If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[email protected]</a> or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.</p><br><p><strong>Sources for This Episode</strong></p><p>Barbezat, Michael. “<a href="https://publicmedievalist.com/pizzagate-cults/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">‘Pizzagate’ and the Nocturnal Ritual Fantasy: Imaginary Cults, Fake News, and Real Violence</a>,” The Public Medievalist, May 4, 2017.</p><br><p>Brown, Lane. “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/eyes-wide-shut-conspiracy-stanley-kubrick-jeffrey-epstein.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em> Conspiracy</a>,” New York Magazine, Dec. 17, 2025.</p><br><p>Ebiri, Bilge. “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/eyes-wide-shut-orgy-scene-oral-history.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">An Oral History of an Orgy</a>,” New York Magazine, June 27, 2019.</p><br><p>Nicholson, Amy. “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/movies/tom-cruise-eyes-wide-shut-magnolia.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Year Tom Cruise Gave Not One but Two Dangerously Vulnerable Performances</a>,” The New York Times, Aug. 27, 2024.</p><br><p>Raftery, Brian. “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/the-dream-team.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dream Team: Cruise, Kidman, Kubrick, and the making of <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em></a>,” New York Magazine, Apr. 15, 2019.</p><br><p>Shapiro, Lila. “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/07/what-i-learned-after-watching-eyes-wide-shut-100-times.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What I Learned After Watching <em>Eyes Wide Shut</em> 100 Times</a>,” New York Magazine, July 1, 2019.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>. Or, visit <a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=Decoder_Ring&amp;utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/decoderplus</a> for access wherever you listen.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>