Blank Check — Patreon: Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free)

Published 2022-11-13; 3:08:22 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free)”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley. Guests: David Ehrlich.

Subject films: Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and a lot of cross-talk; speaker attribution is low confidence throughout. The mid-episode tangents on Sims's son and the box office game add noise.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

The Eyes Wide Shut cinematographer is unnamed in the transcript; not added to the data.
Year given only for Eyes Wide Shut (the speakers say the July 16th, 1999 opening).

Films that came up

Claims (34)

unmapped (critical verdict): Owen Gleiberman → Eyes Wide Shut. Gleiberman's review likens the film to a dream already analyzed on a shrink's couch.
“like a dream that has already been analyzed on a shrinks couch.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:03:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (inherited project): Stanley Kubrick → A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The speaker wonders whether Spielberg would mind A.I. being called half Kubrick's movie.
“would he be offended in that kind of way of like, that's half Stanley's movie?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:13:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (music in the film): Dmitri Shostakovich → Eyes Wide Shut. A speaker recalls it as the one with all the Shostakovich.
“the one with all the Shastakovich?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:24:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (crew): Leon Vitali → The Shining. Vitali's first big job was scouting America for the kid to play Danny Torrance.
“His 1st big job was to go to America and look for kids to play Danny Torrance for the Shining.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:25:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (project that led to another): Wartime Lies / Aryan Papers (unmade Kubrick project) → Full Metal Jacket. The speaker says Full Metal Jacket came out of Kubrick searching for the right Holocaust material.
“Full Mal Jack comes out of him searching for the right Holocaust material.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:29:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (project killed): Schindler's List → Wartime Lies / Aryan Papers (unmade Kubrick project). Schindler's List is said to have killed Kubrick's own Holocaust project.
“obviously, Schindler's list kind of killed it”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:29:41 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (template): Pinocchio → A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Kubrick told the short story writer he wanted to combine the story with Pinocchio, per the speaker.
“he was like, I want to take your story and combine it with Pinocchio.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:30:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (technology showed it was possible): Jurassic Park → A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The speaker says Kubrick, who first asked Spielberg to build a robot, saw Jurassic Park and reconsidered.
“And then he sees Jurassic Park and he's once again like, well, wait a second.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:31:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (origin of the project): Kirk Douglas → Eyes Wide Shut. Kirk Douglas claims he handed Kubrick the novella during their Paths of Glory or Spartacus fights.
“Kirk Douglas claims he gave it to him during one of their like shared therapy sessions”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (origin of the project): Ruth Sobotka → Eyes Wide Shut. Others guess Kubrick's Austrian second wife may have given him the Austrian novel.
“Maybe she gave it to him.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (source novella): Arthur Schnitzler → Eyes Wide Shut. The speaker says the novel is very close to the film, so close that its plot beats are nearly one to one.
“And it is very similar to eyes wide shut.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation): Dream Story (Traumnovelle, the Schnitzler novella) → Eyes Wide Shut. The speakers note the film's credit says inspired by, not adapted from, Schnitzler's novella.
“It's not adapted from Schnitzler.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:37:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (influence): Modern Romance → Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick reached out to Albert Brooks after Modern Romance because he wanted to bottle that dynamic of men and women.
“if you like reached out to Albert Brooks after seeing modern romance and said, like, Brit, and he was like, how did you do this?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:38:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if casting): Woody Allen → Eyes Wide Shut. At different times Kubrick wanted a Woody Allen version of the movie.
“at different times, he wanted to make a Woody Allen version of this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:39:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if casting): Steve Martin → Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick loved The Jerk and talked to Steve Martin about the lead.
“Simon, Steve Martin, he loved the jerk.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:40:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (title origin): Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy → Eyes Wide Shut. The speaker offers that the phrase 'eyes wide shut' may come from the le Carre novel.
“It may have been inspired from Tinker Teal or Soldier Spy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:40:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (family comparison): Armageddon Time → Eyes Wide Shut. The Harfords are compared to the aspirational James Gray family.
“the platonic ideal of like the James Gray family in Armageddon time”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:43:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career turn): Eyes Wide Shut → Vanilla Sky. Vanilla Sky is the outlier in Cruise's run after Eyes Wide Shut, seen as a bid for commercial work.
“It's just fascinating the vanilla sky.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:48:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (set visit): Tom Cruise → Paul Thomas Anderson. Cruise snuck PTA onto the Eyes Wide Shut set while they were meeting about Magnolia.
“Cruz snuck Paul Thomas Anderson on because they were meeting about Magnolia at that point”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:05:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (lesson learned): Eyes Wide Shut → Phantom Thread. The speaker feels PTA took lessons from visiting the Kubrick set about small crews.
“Like, it feels like PTA sort of learned some lessons from being on the set that took years to see Ben.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:06:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (same DP): Unnamed cinematographer of Eyes Wide Shut → Calvary. The speaker traces the Eyes Wide Shut DP's later career through McDonagh's The Guard and Calvary.
“He does the John Michael McDonough movie, so he does like the guard and Calvary.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:06:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (same DP): Unnamed cinematographer of Eyes Wide Shut → Only God Forgives. Same DP shot Fear X, Bronson and Only God Forgives, per the speaker.
“Only God forgives, he did.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:06:41 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (marketing comparison): Don't Worry Darling → Eyes Wide Shut. Both were sold on mystique and rumors about what happened on set.
“It just, it sort of was a, don't worry, darling, of its time where people were so fascinated by all the different stories”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:09:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (casting parallel): Tootsie → Eyes Wide Shut. Hoffman cast Pollack to be intimidated, and Pollack is similarly a director Cruise defers to.
“And similarly, it's very smart to cast Pollock in this because Pollock is a director who's worked with Cruz before.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:15:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (role comparison): Michael Clayton → Eyes Wide Shut. Bill Harford is called in like the Michael Clayton of physicians to clean up rich people's messes.
“the Michael Clayton of physicians to clean up rich people's messes.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:17:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (shared lead performance): Eyes Wide Shut → Magnolia. The speaker says Magnolia is the only other Cruise movie where reality distorts around him while he clutches at control.
“The only other movie that fits that description for Cruz is Magnolia, which he was filmed right after.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:21:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (mentorship): Todd Field → Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick saw Field's potential as a director and let him into the process more, per the speaker.
“recognized that he had potential as a director that his interests are going that way and brought him into the process a little more”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:26:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (one crazy night): After Hours → Eyes Wide Shut. The speaker pairs the two one-crazy-night New York movies and notes Kubrick adored After Hours.
“interesting to look at this movie against, uh, after hours in certain ways, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:53:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): Sleep No More (theater production) → Eyes Wide Shut. A speaker says the staged-ritual reading of the orgy makes it basically Sleep No More.
“It's basically sleep no more”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:58:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Showgirls → Eyes Wide Shut. Verhoeven makes nudity upsetting while Eyes Wide Shut makes it feel like nature photography.
“Our showgirls episode you talked about Pearl Verhoven's attack on the breast.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:00:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (composer): Jocelyn Pook → Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick asked Pook for sex music and what she came back with is incredible.
“Let's do some sex music.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:08:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (needle drop): György Ligeti → Eyes Wide Shut. The Ligeti music's first appearance is called one of the great needle drops in film.
“one of the great needle drops in all of film, which is the introduction of the Legeti score”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:10:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (lenses and lighting): Barry Lyndon → Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick briefly considered the Barry Lyndon lenses for a similar warm lighting scheme but film speeds had moved on.
“he briefly considered using the Barry Linden lenses for this because he knew he wanted to have a similar lighting scheme.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:37:41 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (ending analog): Before Midnight → Eyes Wide Shut. The speaker reads the ending of Eyes Wide Shut as like the ending of Before Midnight.
“It reminds me a lot, like the more recent, uh, analog, I think of, is the ending of before midnight”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:38:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items (23)

fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Owen Gleiberman's pan called the film a dream already analyzed on a shrink's couch; one speaker says that is exactly why it works for them.
“has an oddly formal closed off quality, like a dream that has already been analyzed on a shrinks couch.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:03:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Sydney Pollack: Only one awards body nominated him for Eyes Wide Shut, the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, where he lost to Dennis Leary in The Thomas Crown Affair.
“Nominated Sidney Pollock for, favorite supporting actor, drama slash romance.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:05:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: The film sits on a Sight and Sound top ten ballot; one filmmaker, Mia Hansen-Love, put it on her 2012 ballot.
“One director put eyes wide shot on their 2012 ballot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:12:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Unrated cut is on Netflix but not Apple. The R-rated version has digital robed figures placed in front of sex acts; contractually Kubrick had to deliver an R.
“Is there any chance Netflix has the nastier cut and they did?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:17:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Stanley Kubrick: Kubrick wouldn't get on a plane, so second-unit crews shot the New York establishing shots without him.
“you guys go shoot 2nd unit establishing shots in New York City without me. I cannot be bothered to get on a plane.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:25:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: The Schnitzler novella is a slender 110 pages and tracks the movie so closely the speaker jokes it predicted Epstein-era stories.
“it's a slender tomb, like 110 pages.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Stanley Kubrick: Kubrick was torturing himself over the shoes a character wears, which the speakers jokingly say makes him the inventor of Uggs.
“You know that he was like torturing himself about the UGs and he made a conscious choice.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:34:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Kubrick wanted a screenwriter who would crank out raw material for him to turn to gold, per Raphael's quote.
“He does not want and never wanted a collaborator.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise dropped everything including a big payday to do the movie, and Kubrick told him to just act like himself, the one direction that drives him crazy.
“And he was like, just you.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:49:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Vanessa Shaw: Kubrick held up a cue card mid-take when she kept blanking on a long line, and told her not to be embarrassed.
“He just, he just held up the cue card.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:55:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Nicole Kidman: Kubrick offered Kidman final approval on any footage of her naked, which she said no one else was offering then.
“anytime you were naked, I will give you final editing approval.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:57:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Paul Thomas Anderson: PTA, then 27, was shown the tiny Kubrick crew and felt like a Hollywood asshole when Kubrick asked how big his own was.
“And PTA is like, I felt like such a Hollywood asshole immediately.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:05:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: The first party was lit by force developing fast film, leaning into the Christmas lights, china balls and worm bulbs for a dreamy glow.
“The Christmas lights, china balls, uh, worm bulbs, but but trying to avoid standard Hollywood lighting setup.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:11:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: A Jewish speaker reads the Christmas look as a Jew's idea of Christmas: all the aura, none of the symbology; later the group jokes it is the Hanukkah movie, one crazy night.
“The Jewish element of the movie to me is that it feels like a Jews idea of Christmas.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:12:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: The New York is a single built intersection that gets flipped and redressed, and the film's Village cab rides are slower than walking.
“they built like this big sort of intersection.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:51:52 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Abigail Good, who replaced the actress who played Mandy, said Kubrick liked her long legs and the way she walks.
“She added that Kubrick liked my long legs.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:59:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Jocelyn Pook: Kubrick told Pook to write sex music, and she returned with the backwards Hungarian-monks orgy cue.
“Yeah, apparently Stanley Kubrick told her.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:08:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: The Ligeti needle drop at the orgy is one of the great ones, a cut to the wide shot of everyone waiting.
“Oh my god, you cuts that wide shot and they're all there.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:10:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Todd Field said they filmed at night on pre-lit sets and spent hours rewriting the scene before shooting.
“And then Todd Field said they filmed only at nights.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:19:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Hamleys doubles for FAO Schwartz, and Spice Girls dolls in the toy store are the one thing dating the film.
“There are the Spice Girls dolls in the background”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:34:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: A rare scene of plain over-the-shoulder coverage, the end-of-film marriage scene, is called a return to normalcy.
“he shoots just very standard over the shoulder coverage.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:37:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Eyes Wide Shut: Opened number one on July 16, 1999 with 21 million, the summer's other number-one-no-100M film being The Haunting.
“Eyes Wide Shut was only one of 2 movies to open between May and August that opened at number one and didn't hit $100 million.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:41:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Blank Check: Episode 401, recorded for 400 minutes, and the film shot for 400 days.
“Eyes wide shut filming for 400 days.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 2:59:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Obsessed with this film and calls it his favorite of the Kubrick set alongside Barry Lyndon. Loves box-office trivia and where he saw things. A sucker for the small perfect line readings and the Christmas-lights look.
David Sims (host): Loves Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon and is a proud texter. Likes Sidney Pollack as an actor and wants to age into him. Can't stand the idea of the film being dismissed as hermetic.
Ben Hosley (host): Came late to the film after writing it off for its reputation, then loved it. Keeps careful notes. Says the Kubrick miniseries made Barry Lyndon one of his favorite movies of all time.
David Ehrlich (guest): Has been obsessed with the film for a long time and calls it his favorite Kubrick and a focal point on the horizon of his life. Put it on his Sight and Sound ballot. Not a fan of best-vs-favorite dichotomies.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

Blackjack, with griffin and tailvin = Blank Check with Griffin and David
Sidney Pollock = Sydney Pollack
Glieberman = Owen Gleiberman; 'Own Cleeper' also Gleiberman
Legeti = Gyorgy Ligeti
Jocelyn Poopers / Jocelyn Poop = Jocelyn Pook
Vanessa Shaw = Vinessa Shaw
Jennifer Jason Lee = Jennifer Jason Leigh
Ruth Sabaka = Ruth Sobotka
Frederick Raphael = Frederic Raphael
Stanley Donan = Stanley Donen
Brian Aldis = Brian Aldiss
Zamekis = Robert Zemeckis
Matthew Modin = Matthew Modine
Ellen Scarsgard = Stellan Skarsgard
Dark Man = Darkman
beer X = Fear X
Hot field = Todd Field
Christian Kubrick = Christiane Kubrick
Trum Novel / Trumnevel = Traumnovelle
Cooper could = Kubrick
Rick Femi. The Woods = Rick Famuyiwa, The Wood
Dorman Greg = Dharma & Greg
Selik = Henry Selick
Mia Huntson Love = Mia Hansen-Love
rates for basic (2:03:27) = an actor in the costume-shop scene; not resolved

Blank Check — Patreon: Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free)

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

passing (72)

anecdote (29)

compared (25)

Claims (34)

Fun items (23)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong