EVERYONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT KUBRICK; MANY REFLECT ON DIRECTOR AFTER HIS DEATH.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

With his 13th and final feature film, ``Eyes Wide Shut,'' opening today, at least one of Stanley Kubrick's closely guarded secrets will be revealed.

But what about the famously private, reportedly eccentric master filmmaker himself? The Bronx-born Kubrick, who spent most of the last four decades of his life at a rambling estate in England, shunned Hollywood, avoided the media and fairly effectively enforced a code of silence among his collaborators.

But following Kubrick's death March 7 at the age of 70, some of the people who worked on ``Eyes Wide Shut'' began talking. In the process, they painted a much more accessible, affectionate picture than what had been assumed of the supposedly inscrutible genius behind such masterpieces as ``The Killing,'' ``Dr. Strangelove,'' ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' and ``A Clockwork Orange.''

``He was not a partygoer, absolutely true,'' says Jan Harlan, Kubrick's brother-in-law and executive producer of his last four films (``Barry Lyndon,'' ``The Shining,'' ``Full Metal Jacket'' and ``Eyes''). ``I mean, he came to my house for New Year's Eve or birthdays, but because he didn't like to carouse, does that make him a recluse? I don't think so. He loved his house, and he was a very dedicated family man. He just wasn't accessible to strangers, and he didn't talk to the press.''

Some parts of the Kubrick legend were true, of course. Harlan confirms the director's legendary passion for total artistic control of his projects.

``He was a wonderful guy to work for, but he was not easy,'' Harlan notes. ``He could be very difficult and he was definitely, in fact, like a general. There were no committee meetings; he decided what would go on, and his few collaborators would try to help him execute what he wanted.''

According to one world-class filmmaker, Kubrick's expertise-laden confidence was inspiring to behold.

``I think he's given a new name to the word `meticulous,' '' says Oscar-winning filmmaker Sydney Pollack (``Out of Africa,'' ``Tootsie,'' ``The Firm''), who replaced Harvey Keitel in a small but key ``Eyes'' role. ``He was the most amazing man in terms of his patience and his attention to detail and his absolute meticulousness. I would think that, overall, is the thing that I learned from him. And I learned a lot from him; he was just a pleasure to watch in every department.''

Indeed, ``Stanley really took on most jobs (on the set),'' according to Harlan. ``He was really the key lighting guy, the key cameraman, which our cameraman will readily admit. And he was highly involved in the editing; (film editor) Nigel Galt will be the first to confirm this.''

With all his focus on the technical aspects of filmmaking, though, it's naturally been assumed that Kubrick gave his actors short shrift - even if he did elicit top-flight performances from the likes of Kirk Douglas (``Paths of Glory,'' ``Spartacus''), James Mason (``Lolita''), Peter Sellers (``Lolita,'' ``Dr. Strangelove''), Jack Nicholson (``The Shining'') and R. Lee Ermey (``Full Metal Jacket''), among many others.

But some ``Eyes'' actors say Kubrick was completely available, even graciously attentive.

``I didn't find him difficult at all, he was a pleasure to work with,'' says young Leelee Sobieski (``Never Been Kissed,'' TV's ``Joan of Arc'' miniseries), who plays a teen-age temptress in ``Eyes Wide Shut.'' ``They were a great two months, working with him. I only wish I was working with him now; at the time, I was such a little girl, I really didn't realize what a genius he was. I'd like to ask him so many more questions, and I would be in so much more of a state of wonder.

Even Jennifer Jason Leigh, whose role in ``Eyes'' was ultimately essayed by another actress when scheduling conflicts prevented her from filming some of Kubrick's numerous reshoots, has nothing but good memories of the man.

``He was such a mensch, sweet and so smart and funny,'' Leigh says of Kubrick. ``Nothing like I'd heard, so horrific and hard and such a perfectionist he left no room for anybody's input. I found him a very open and lovely guy; and he loved actors, gave us such a luxurious amount of time to explore and get things right.''

Though Kubrick completed his cut of ``Eyes Wide Shut'' mere days before he died in his sleep, much post-production work - scoring, sound-mixing, even the controversial (but reportedly Kubrick-approved) imposition of digitally generated figures in front of the more enthusiastic attendees at a vast orgy sequence - still needed to be done.

That's when he was missed the most.

``We knew what he wanted, and it just had to be executed,'' Harlan says with deceptive matter-of-factness. ``It just had to be done by his standards. The biggest difficulty was the constant asking yourself, `How would Stanley have done it?' You couldn't say, `Hey, do you like it?'

``But I hope we did well by him.''

Free-lance writer Craig Modderno contributed to this article.

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Photo

Photo: Stanley Kubrick had finished editing ``Eyes Wide Shut'' before his death March 7, and his associates say they have attempted to complete other work on the film to comply with the director's wishes.