Nicole Kidman regrets not calling Stanley Kubrick

The Australian actress hailed her Eyes Wide Shut director as a "great, great teacher" while chatting about her career during a question-and-answer session at the New York Film Festival on Wednesday (03Oct12).

She recalled, "(My ex-husband) Tom (Cruise) and I went to his house and had dinner, and I remember I was nervous. (Ultimately, I was) able to sit on the floor of his office... and be privy to so many things. It was like having a great, great teacher."

Kidman also revealed she nearly phoned Kubrick the night before he died.

She explains, "I remember thinking (he) was frail, and... if I were more intuitive I would have realised that he was not well. One of the worst things... was, I was going to call him and I didn't. Instead I got a phone call (the next day) saying Stanley was dead. It was one of my great regrets that I didn't call him that night."

Kubrick was 70 when he suffered a fatal heart attack in March 1999, just four days after screening his final cut of Eyes Wide Shut.