Cumming in America

A few weeks ago I attended an interview of renowned Scottish actor Alan Cumming at New York's Oxonian Society. With charm and wit he described the beginnings of his career at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and overcoming one professor's assurance of Alan's inevitable doom as an actor. He showed that professor by taking off from school for an acting gig. His career flourished both in cinema and on stage, as well as behind the scenes as a storyteller. Mr. Cumming discussed his unique encounter with Stanley Kubrik, playing a small role in Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrik's last film before death. At their first meeting Kubrik was surprised by Cumming's Scottish accent, convinced by the American one used in audition tapes. Mr. Cumming blamed the art of acting. Alan Cumming also provided some insight into Eyes Wide Shut that I most likely wasn't old or mature enough to grasp when it was released in theaters in 1999. At age 13, I simply remember writing off the movie as overtly sexual. But really, Eyes Wide Shut, while featuring a ton of nudity, is not sexual at all. Instead, in regards to this troubled couple, it's about all the pre-emotions of lust and desire and the post-emotions of guilt and possible dissatisfaction. I plan to revisit Kubrik's last work and see if my opinion has evolved.