Stanley Kubrick died six days after showing a cut of his final film to Warner Bros. executives and his stars, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. That single fact has fueled decades of conspiracy theories, Reddit deep-dives, and obsession over eyes wide shut deleted scenes. People want to know what was left on the cutting room floor because, with Kubrick, every frame was a deliberate choice. If he cut it, why? If the studio cut it after he died, what were they hiding?
Honestly, the truth is both more mundane and more frustrating than the "Illuminati" theories suggest.
We aren't talking about a few stray lines of dialogue here. We are talking about a legendary 400-day shoot. That is a massive amount of footage. When a production lasts that long, the sheer volume of outtakes is staggering. Yet, the estate and the studio have kept a tight lid on the archives. You won't find a "Deleted Scenes" sub-menu on the Blu-ray. Kubrick famously hated the idea of showing his process or his "failures." To him, if it wasn't in the movie, it didn't exist.
The Secret World of the 400-Day Shoot
To understand the eyes wide shut deleted scenes, you have to understand the grueling nature of the production. Kubrick broke the Guinness World Record for the longest constant film shoot. He would make Tom Cruise walk through a door 95 times. Just walking. No dialogue.
Because of this, "deleted scenes" in the context of this film often refer to entire subplots that were scripted and partially filmed but then evaporated during the years of editing. For instance, the character of Marion (played by Marie Richardson), the daughter of the deceased patient Bill visits early in the film, reportedly had a much more expansive arc. In the final cut, she confesses her love for Bill in a sudden, jarring moment of grief. Early script drafts and set reports suggest there was more "connective tissue" there—more moments of Bill wandering the streets of New York (or rather, a very detailed set in London) contemplating her offer.
Then there is the Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh situation.
Most hardcore fans know this, but it bears repeating: Keitel was originally cast as Victor Ziegler and Leigh as Marion. Keitel allegedly walked off the set—or was fired, depending on who you believe—after becoming frustrated with Kubrick's demand for endless retakes. Leigh was replaced because she wasn't available for reshoots that took place months after her initial scenes were filmed. Every single second of footage featuring Keitel and Leigh technically constitutes eyes wide shut deleted scenes, yet none of it has ever seen the light of day. It’s sitting in a vault in Hertfordshire. Imagine seeing Keitel’s version of the pool table confrontation. It would have changed the entire energy of the film's climax.
The Mystery of the Missing 24 Minutes
One of the most persistent rumors in film history is that the "original" cut of the movie was 24 minutes longer than the theatrical release.
Is it true?
Sort of.
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Julian Senior, a former Warner Bros. executive who worked closely with Kubrick, has gone on record stating that the version audiences saw is essentially what Kubrick delivered. But "delivered" is a tricky word. Kubrick was notorious for editing up until the very last second. He would have likely trimmed the film further after the March 1999 screening. The "missing 24 minutes" theory usually points toward the Orgy sequence at Somerton.
Rumors suggest the ritual was far more explicit and lasted significantly longer. We know for a fact that the studio had to use digital "CGI people" to hide certain sexual acts in the American R-rated version to avoid an NC-17 rating. While the international version didn't have these digital blockages, it didn't necessarily have more footage. The "deleted" parts of the orgy are mostly just longer takes of the masked revelers. Kubrick’s assistant, Leon Vitali, insisted until his death that there was no "secret longer cut."
But then you have the script.
Scripted Moments We Never Saw
- The extension of the "Sonata Cafe" scene: More dialogue between Bill and Nick Nightingale about their medical school days.
- Bill’s medical practice: More scenes of Bill interacting with his actual patients, establishing his "God complex" before it gets shattered.
- The "Missing" Morning: A longer sequence of Bill returning home after his night of wandering, showing more of his internal decay.
Why do these matter? Because they humanize Bill Harford. In the final film, Bill is a bit of a blank slate—a mannequin in a tuxedo. Kubrick likely realized that the more "normal" Bill seemed, the less the dream-like atmosphere of the movie worked. By cutting the mundane details of Bill’s life, the movie stays trapped in a hazy, liminal space.
Did the Studio Edit the Film After Kubrick Died?
This is the big one. The conspiracy.
The theory goes: Kubrick finished a masterpiece that exposed the global elite. He died. The "elite" (via Warner Bros.) gutted the movie to remove the most incriminating evidence.
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It makes for a great YouTube video. It’s probably not reality.
The people who were actually there—Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, and Sydney Pollack—have all maintained that the film we have is the film Stanley wanted. However, editing is a series of choices. Without Kubrick in the room for the final sound mix and color grading, small decisions had to be made by others. These aren't exactly eyes wide shut deleted scenes in the traditional sense, but they are "lost intentions." For example, the use of the song "Strangers in the Night" was a late-stage decision. Would Stanley have kept it? We can't know.
The sheer absence of deleted material on home video releases is actually the strongest evidence that the estate is honoring Kubrick’s wishes. He didn't want you to see the seams. He didn't want you to see the actors breaking character or the lighting rigs. He wanted the film to be an airtight dream.
The Lost "Fidelio" Meaning
There is a persistent belief that a specific scene involving the "Fidelio" password was shortened. In the book the movie is based on, Traumnovelle (Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler, the internal monologue of the protagonist is dense and heavy. Kubrick struggled to translate this to the screen without using a voiceover.
Some crew members have whispered about a scene where Bill tries to research the meaning of "Fidelio" before heading to the mansion. In the final cut, he just says the word and gets in. In the deleted version, he supposedly spends more time trying to "crack the code" of the secret society, showing his desperation. By removing this, Kubrick makes Bill’s entry into the cult feel more like fate—or a trap—than a successful investigation.
Why We Will Never See the Footage
The Kubrick archive at the University of the Arts London is massive. It contains boxes upon boxes of research, lens tests, and scripts. But the film negative? That is guarded.
Warner Bros. knows that a "Director’s Cut" or "Uncut Version" would sell millions. The fact that they haven't released one suggests two things:
- They actually respect the Kubrick estate’s wish to keep the film as-is.
- The deleted footage isn't "finished."
Kubrick’s process involved "finding the movie" in the edit. The eyes wide shut deleted scenes aren't polished sequences; they are likely thousands of variations of the same three-minute conversations. Watching 40 takes of Tom Cruise drinking a glass of water isn't exactly the "lost masterpiece" people are hoping for.
What You Can Do Now
If you are obsessed with what was lost, don't wait for a "Special Edition" that might never come. There are better ways to piece together the puzzle.
First, read the original screenplay. You can find PDF versions of the 1996 and 1998 drafts online. They contain entire blocks of dialogue that explain the "Ziegler" character’s motivations far more clearly than the film does. Second, read Traumnovelle. Since Kubrick followed the plot of the novella almost beat-for-beat, the "deleted scenes" are essentially the chapters he chose not to film—specifically the deeper exploration of the wife's (Albertine/Alice) own dark fantasies.
Third, look at the set photography by Christiane Kubrick and Manuel Harlan. There are shots of sets and costumes that don't appear in the final 159-minute runtime. These still images are the only window we have into the scenes that were left behind.
The power of the film lies in its gaps. The things we don't see—the scenes that were deleted or never shot—force our imaginations to fill in the blanks. That’s exactly what a dream does. And as Alice says in the final line of the movie, the important thing isn't the dream, but the fact that we are awake now.
To truly understand the "lost" version of the film, your next step should be comparing the 1996 script draft to the final theatrical cut. You'll notice that the biggest changes aren't in the "secret society" scenes, but in the domestic arguments between Bill and Alice. Those missing moments of verbal warfare show just how much more toxic their marriage was originally intended to be. Focusing on the human drama, rather than the conspiracy theories, provides the most accurate picture of what Kubrick was trying to achieve before he ran out of time.
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