in april 1983, he was approached to work on a planned sequel to "easy rider" called "biker heaven". he had little to do with the script, but he was paid about $20,000, which was several times more than he had earned from the original. around this time stanley kubrick requested some sample dialogue for a planned film adaptation of arthur schnitzler's book "traumnovelle" which was to star steve martin, but southern's bawdy submissions reportedly sabotaged any prospect of further involvement; kubrick eventually made the film (as "eyes wide shut", with tom cruise and nicole kidman) shortly before his death in 1999.