A Front Row Seat as an Actress in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Reinforces How Much It Anticipated the Epstein Scandal

In November it will be thirty years since Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” first started filming and yet again it has resurfaced in the news. The reason is the Epstein files. The obvious connections here are the wealthy elites and ritualistic sex orgies depicted in the film and how they seem to be mirroring at least some of the content mentioned in the files. “Eyes Wide Shut” today is now looking less like a work of fiction and more like a documentary. Little did I know at the time of filming “Eyes Wide Shut” that my pivotal role of Mandy Curran, her story arc (with Mandy also depicted as the “mysterious woman”) and what was in the film itself would become the subject of numerous and ever-expanding conspiracy theories. One of the more striking details now drawing attention is the estate used to represent Somerton — the mansion where the infamous secret ritual scene in the film first unfolds.The exterior shots were filmed at Mentmore Towers in England, a grand estate built in the 1850s for the Rothschild family. Stanley Kubrick was famously deliberate in his visual choices, and I believe this was not merely an aesthetic decision. Mentmore embodies dynastic wealth — not simply affluence, but generational power and the kind of institutional authority that gives off an aura of being beyond consequence.Julienne Davis with Tom Cruise in ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ Warner Bros.In my days as an “It Girl,” I met dozens of uber wealthy international jet set types at parties and other social events in London and Europe, and almost all of them gave off that same aura of being beyond consequence. These were people who had so much money, power and influence that in their circles, morality and laws no longer seem to really exist for them. The one questionable virtue they did possess was the ability to keep secrets. So Kubrick’s decision to pair Mentmore’s exterior with different lavish interiors for the ritual scenes sent the perfect message – this was not merely the home of a wealthy individual, but a fortress of hidden elite influence.In light of the revelations about Epstein’s private island — particularly the now infamous blue-and-white structure that many have speculated about — the visual language of “Eyes Wide Shut” now feels far less abstract. Whether it’s Mentmore Towers or a private island, these are spaces isolated from public view, designed for activities that could not exist in daylight.Other recent theories about “Eyes Wide Shut” have touched on Sydney Pollack’s character Victor Ziegler – that Victor is Epstein. Ziegler functions as the social broker of the film — host to elite gatherings, both manager and participant of scandals, and ultimately the voice of authority who reminds Tom Cruise’s character Bill Harford that some worlds are not meant to be questioned. Ziegler and Epstein are clearly embodiments of the same archetype: the wealthy gatekeeper who facilitates access, ensures discretion, and shields the powerful from consequence. Because they know all the dirty little secrets, blackmail becomes the ultimate insurance and leverage. An autographed (by Julienne Davis) still from ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ that was for sale on Amazon. Warner Bros. / AmazonEpstein was already a familiar figure in the fashion and media industries before he was more widely known. I myself encountered him briefly while working as a fashion model in Paris in the summer of 1994. A junior booker from my modelling agency invited me to Les Bains Douches — a club well known at the time among models, photographers, and industry insiders. On the way there, he suggested stopping first at a New York businessman’s apartment, mentioning that several models were staying there and might want to join us.That businessman was Jeffrey Epstein. His apartment was expensively yet sparsely furnished. This made sense because he mainly stayed there in the summertime – the season when the youngest girls (aged 14-18) were in Paris and Milan on their summer breaks from school. Thankfully I wasn’t quite young enough to be of interest to him. In any case, I found his persona to be so low key, it felt odd to me. After a short inane conversation, it struck me that this guy had no real life force of his own and maybe he thrived on taking it from others. The models staying with him and lounging around in T-shirts and underwear were all in their late teens. It’s strange how as brief a meeting as that has stayed with me all these years. As a model, I’d had experiences before with predatory men, so although I didn’t know who Epstein was when I met him back then, his overly casual manner and his studied laidbackness made me wary of him. There’s plenty of Epstein-like characters hovering around young models in the fashion industry, just as there’s plenty of Harvey Weinstein-like characters in the film business. Young impressionable girls (and, of course, sometimes boys) with beauty and ambition are the perfect prey for the carrot danglers of money, power and influence like the Epsteins and Weinsteins of this world. Julienne Davis interacts with Tom Cruise and Stanley Kubrick in a production still from ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ Warner Bros.I’m sure Stanley Kubrick witnessed those kinds of goings on in his dealings with actors, A-list stars, studio heads and producers. In fact, while revisiting one of his earlier films, 1962’s “Lolita,” I realized he had previously touched on some of these very same themes. In fact, “Lolita” is a microcosm of the same dark world that he tried to expose in “Eyes Wide Shut.”On the surface, “Lolita” appears to be a twisted love story about one man’s obsession and pedophilia. But beneath that lies something even darker — a system of predation, operating under the guise of culture and protected by layers of prestige and power. The character of Clare Quilty isn’t merely a rival for the book’s anti-hero Humbert Humbert or merely an eccentric playwright. He is portrayed as a serial predator darting in and out of arty, elite and polite social circles, a man who uses his artistic status as camouflage to prey on young girls.Quilty writes and directs plays for schools. He positions himself as a “progressive” creative figure using his scripts and screenplays as cover. He’s another carrot dangler, offering introductions to Hollywood producers, and “art films.” He hosts gatherings filled with sex orgies, drink and manipulation. Crucially he often doesn’t operate alone. Alongside him is a female accomplice who quietly facilitates, oversees, and enables his activities — an unsettling parallel to how later real-world figures such as Ghislaine Maxwell functioned within Epstein’s network. Some of the unforgettable and unsettling masks in the cult ritual scenes in ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ Warner Bros.Quilty doesn’t simply desire Lolita. She is another commodity to be fully utilized. Quilty was not merely a lone villain, he represented an entire network. A culture where influence opens doors, art provides cover, and young people are treated as currency. There was his “Duk Duk” Ranch and the debaucherous goings on there – the filmed parties and the groups of young girls being used as props in adult perversions. It all eerily anticipates recent revelations about Epstein’s properties — including his New Mexico ranch — which functioned not so much as residences, but as controlled environments for abuse networks. But whereas “Lolita” focuses on the predator embedded within society, “Eyes Wide Shut” zooms outward to reveal the elite structures that protect and normalize exploitation at the highest levels. Quilty is the recruiter and broker. Ziegler is the fixer and gatekeeper. The masked ritual is the inner sanctum; different layers of the same hierarchy.One of the strangest and most telling moments in “Lolita” occurs in the beginning when Quilty, emerging from under a sheet, announces himself as “Spartacus.” This was not in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel and to casual viewers it may seem absurd. But in Hollywood history, the reference is loaded. Kubrick’s relationship with Kirk Douglas during the filming of “Spartacus” was notoriously acrimonious. Douglas wielded enormous power in the industry, and for years rumors circulated about his abusive behavior being quietly tolerated.The anonymous, sexualized women in the cult ritual scene in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ has parallels to Epstein’s world, Julienne Davis writes. Warner Bros.By placing that name in the mouth of a predator, Kubrick wasn’t being random. He was suggesting that the heroic façades of Hollywood often concealed something darker beneath, much as later revelations would show that Harvey Weinstein was publicly championing prestige cinema while privately running a system of coercion and abuse. Taken together, “Lolita” and “Eyes Wide Shut” feel less like isolated stories and more like Kubrick was slowly peeling back layers of similar hidden worlds. He wasn’t predicting specific scandals but he was exposing the structure that makes them possible.In light of everything now known about Epstein, Weinstein, and the systems that enabled them, Kubrick’s work no longer feels exaggerated, just disturbingly accurate.Lastly on a personal note, in some ways my choices as Mandy in “Eyes Wide Shut” mirrored that of Lolita. Quilty wanted Lolita to participate in orgies with other men or boys. Lolita refused and Quilty kicked her out. Like Lolita’s character, Stanley wanted me to participate in the “action scenes” of the orgy depicted in “Eyes Wide Shut.” I refused. Stanley gave half my role and Mandy’s feathered mask identity in those scenes to another actress. She was amenable to those scenes, I was not. I got kicked out. Funny irony, that.

A Front Row Seat as an Actress in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Reinforces How Much It Anticipated the Epstein Scandal

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