The Only Reason Tom Cruise Was Cast In This
Was to prove at the time this was made that he wasn't Gay which was a rumor at that time
shareWhy would Stanley Kubrick care about that unfounded rumour?
How would the film dispel such a rumour?
I suppose at the time they made this movie, having Tom Cruise have sex with Nicole Kidman proved he wasn't Gay since they were married to one another back then and share a daughter
https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/the-jokes-on-him-tom-cruise-and-eyes-wide-shut
"Cruise built his star image playing handsome, fearless, cocky, ultra-heterosexual young men who mastered whatever skill or job they'd decided to practice, be it piloting fighter jets, driving race cars, playing pool, bartending, practicing law, representing pro athletes, or being a secret agent. Offscreen, the actor was long suspected of being closeted—a rumor amplified by his hyper-controlling relationships with a succession of public-facing spouses who read, from afar, less as wives than wife-symbols—and he sued media outlets that implied he was anything other than a 100% USDA-inspected slab of lady-loving, corn-fed American beefcake (thus the infamous 2006 “South Park” “Tom won’t come out of the closet” scene)."
"So it was doubly startling for 1999 audiences to watch Cruise being swatted across the screen from one cringe-inducing psychosexual horror setpiece to the next, each enjoying its own version of a hearty pirate’s laugh at the idea of Cruise playing a butch straight man who dominates every room he’s in; and to witness his onscreen humiliation by homophobic frat boys."
Why do you think having Cruise simulate sex with a woman on screen prove that he is not gay?
shareCruise and Kidman’s marriage was extremely well known, I doubt them appearing together in a film as lovers (for the third time) would dispel any silly showbiz rumours about Cruise’s sexuality.
Again, why would Kubrick, who cast them, care about that rumour?
I have several thoughts on this, but let's start with this one..
"I suppose at the time they made this movie, having Tom Cruise have sex with Nicole Kidman proved he wasn't Gay since they were married to one another back then and share a daughter"
How would that prove anything? You suppose a lot. Why couldn't gay men have sex with women and have daughters? They have, throughout history, they do and they will. There are plenty of gay men with daughters, so there goes your theory.
However, why would 'gayness' have anything to do with anything, and why would some rich, crazy (look at his Scientology-themed interviews more than his stunts) celebrity care whether someone thinks he's gay? Almost regardless whether he actually is or not..
Also, 'gay' is (and was even back then, just to a smaller extent) CELEBRATED in the world! You see that rainbow-colored flag every darn where, from corporate logos to commenter avatars to public events and so on and so forth. It's not a shameful thing to be in this world, so why would he hide it, and try to convince people he's not, whether it's true or not?
He does have this 'macho' image, but that's a little bit deserved, I think. He loves riding motorcycles, running, keeps having enormous stamina at his age, doesn't seem to properly age any more than Keanu Reeves and so on. He has pretty strong onscreen charisma as well.
Of course this doesn't preclude anything, but it might explain the motive for such. However, I don't think you can 'prove' that kind of thing one way or another to a large audience just by marrying someone or being in some movie.
In any case, I think the REAL reason was because he can pull off a difficult role like this, he is a high-profile celebrity, so he has most likely BEEN to this kind of 'behind the veil' ritual stuff, so he fits better than some bright-eyed newbie that hasn't seen this kind of stuff yet.
He's also a crazy scientologist, so he can probably be persuaded to act in this stuff easily..