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He was hardly one for sentimentality or emotional attachment, but a regular collaborator of Stanley Kubrick at least appreciated how the final film, the enigmatic Eyes Wide Shut, now on Netflix, of his career became a full-circle moment for the legendary director.

Never one to do things by halves, even by his standards, Eyes Wide Shut evolved into a mammoth undertaking. Kubrick’s precision and meticulousness had been hallmarks for decades, but the lengths he went to to realise his vision for the existential psychodrama pushed his creative partners to the limit.

Tom Cruise did at least view it as one of the most important and inspiring productions he’ll ever be lucky to be a part of, but it was taxing nonetheless. Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman dedicated years of their lives to the project for the sole purpose of working with Kubrick, and for better or worse, it’s an experience they’ll remember forever.

Sydney Pollack wasn’t quite so thrilled, but even though Kubrick passed away less than two months before Eyes Wide Shut premiered, it tied a bow around his legacy in a manner that went unnoticed by many. One person who would never let anything Kubrick-related slip under their radar was Jan Harlan, who brought the serendipitous moment to the fore.

Kubrick’s brother-in-law, researcher, producer, assistant, and erstwhile biographer had been by his side ever since A Clockwork Orange, which was also the filmmaker’s first feature to be distributed by Warner Bros. Before that, he’d bounced around various studios, but once he made his home there, he didn’t leave.

The dystopian literary adaptation, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, were all Warner Bros productions, an association that spanned almost three decades. Call it fate or call it something else entirely, but Harlan revealed to the British Film Institute that it all began with the story that would eventually become his swansong.

“Did you know that his first contract with Warner Bros was for Traumnovelle in 1970, the film that became Eyes Wide Shut almost 30 years later?” he shared. “He postponed it because he wasn’t happy with his script and A Clockwork Orange came along, the script was a scissor job and he decided to do this.”

It was Arthur Schnitzler’s novella that convinced Warner Bros to ink a deal with Kubrick initially, and the company eventually got a return on its investment 29 years later, but at least there was no shortage of greatness to be found in the meantime. Between those two points, it became the only studio he’d allow to handle American distribution for any of his subsequent movies, and he eventually got around to it in his final act as one of the industry’s most esteemed auteurs.