In a frank new essay, a tribute to the late film director, the actress, 45, writes that she relished working on it for two years even though many have speculated that the unrelenting shoot caused Kidman and Cruise's marriage to unravel for good, said The Hollywood Reporter.
"My approach to the two-year shoot was actually very Zen. Tom and I thought, 'We're so lucky, we've gotten to spend two years with the master'," the Oscar winner says.
"People thought that making the film was the beginning of the end of my marriage -- but I don't really think it was. Tom and I were close then, and it was very much the three of us," says Kidman, who shares kids Conor, 17, and Isabella, 19, with Cruise, 50.
The actress was well-aware that Kubrick was playing up the famous couple's real-life relationship for the 1999 film, which opened after the director's death in March.
"Onscreen, the husband and wife are at odds, and Stanley wanted to use our marriage as a supposed reality. That was Stanley: He used the movie as provocation, pretending it was our sex life. Which we weren't oblivious to, but obviously it wasn't us. We both decided to dedicate ourselves to a great filmmaker and artist," says Kidman, now happily married to Keith Urban.
Learning of Kubrick's death was devastating, Kidman admits. "That was one of the worst calls -- I just started screaming; I had Isabella and Connor in the kitchen with me. Tom and I immediately got on a plane. The funeral was so traumatic. I truly loved Stanley and felt very connected to him."
