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Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an influential and acclaimed American film director and producer. He also won an Academy Award for Special Effects. Kubrick became interested in still photography at an early age. On graduating from high school he worked for the primarily photographic magazine Look, first as a freelance and then as a staff photographer. His first foray into cinema was directing several promotional and documentary shorts for RKO Pictures, most of which were solely financed and filmed by Kubrick, himself.

Early life

Stanley Kubrick was born on July 26, 1928 at the Lying-In Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, United States, the first of two children born to Jacques Leonard Kubrick (1901–1985) and his wife Gertrude (née Perveler; 1903–1985); his sister, Barbara, was born in 1934. Father Jacques, whose parents were Jewish immigrants of Austro-Romanian and Polish origin, was a successful doctor. At Stanley's birth, the Kubricks lived in an apartment at 2160 Clinton Avenue in The Bronx.

Kubrick's father taught him chess at age twelve; the game remained a life-long obsession. When Stanley was thirteen-years-old, Jacques Kubrick bought him a Graflex camera, triggering Kubrick's fascination with still photography. He also was then interested in jazz, attempting a brief career as a drummer.

Kubrick attended William Howard Taft High School, 1941–1945. He was a poor student with a meager 67 grade average. On graduation from high school in 1945, when soldiers returning from the Second World War crowded colleges, his poor grades eliminated hopes of higher education. Later in life, Kubrick spoke disdainfully of his education and of education in general, maintaining that nothing about school interested him.

In high school, he was chosen official school photographer for a year. Eventually, he sought jobs on his own, and by graduation time had sold a photographic series to Look magazine in NYC. Kubrick supplemented his income playing "chess for quarters" in Washington Square Park and in various Manhattan chess clubs. He registered for night school at the City College to improve his grade-point average. He worked as a freelance photographer for Look, becoming an apprentice photographer in 1946, and later a full-time staff photographer.

During his Look magazine years, on May 29, 1948, Kubrick married Toba Metz (b. 1930) and they lived in Greenwich Village, divorcing in 1951. It was then that Kubrick began frequenting film screenings at the Museum of Modern Art and in the cinemas of New York City. He was particularly inspired by the complex, fluid camera movement of Max Ophüls, whose films influenced Kubrick's later visual style.

Many early-period (1945–1950) photographs by Kubrick were published in the book "Drama and Shadows" (2005, Phaidon Press).

Film career and later life

Early Films

In 1951, Kubrick's friend, Alex Singer, persuaded him to start making short documentaries for the March of Time, a provider of cinema-distributed newsreels. Kubrick agreed, and independently financed Day of the Fight (1951). Although the distributor went out of business that year, Kubrick sold Day of the Fight to RKO Pictures for a profit of one hundred dollars. Kubrick quit his job at Look magazine and began working on his second short documentary, Flying Padre (1951), funded by RKO. A third film, The Seafarers (1953), Kubrick's first color film, was a 30-minute promotional short film for the Seafarers' International Union. These three films constitute Kubrick's only surviving work in the documentary genre (he was involved in other similar shorts which have been lost). He also was second unit director on an episode about the life of Abraham Lincoln for the Omnibus television programme. The Seafarers was announced to be released on an official DVD, but never was; none of these shorts has ever been officially released, though they are widely bootlegged, and clips are used in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures.

In 1953, beginning with Fear and Desire (1953), Kubrick concentrated solely on feature-length, narrative films. Fear and Desire is about a team of soldiers behind enemy lines in a fictional war. In the finale, the men see that the faces of their enemy are identical to their own (the same cast play all the characters). Kubrick and wife Toba Metz were the only crew on the film, which was written by Kubrick's friend Howard Sackler, later a successful playwright. Fear and Desire garnered respectable reviews, but failed commercially. In later life, Kubrick was embarrassed by the film, dismissing it as amateur, refusing Fear and Desire's projection in retrospectives and public screenings on establishing himself as a major filmmaker. It is often said that Kubrick bought every print of the film which he could, to keep people from seeing it. At least one copy remained in the hands of a private collector, and the film was subsequently bootlegged on VHS and, later, DVD; all releases of the film are unofficial and in violation of applicable copyright laws. (The consensus opinion is that the film is bad, though student filmmakers tend to describe it as 'encouragingly bad', inasmuch as it shows how humble Kubrick's beginnings were.)

Kubrick's marriage to high school sweetheart Toba ended during the making of Fear and Desire. He met his second wife, Austrian-born dancer and theatrical designer, Ruth Sobotka, in 1952. They lived together in the East Village from 1952–1955 until their marriage on January 15, 1955; the couple later moved to Hollywood during the summer of 1955. Sobotka, who made a cameo appearance in Kubrick's next film, Killer's Kiss (1954), also served as art director on The Killing (1956). Like Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss is a short feature film, with a running time of slightly more than an hour, of limited commercial and critical success. The film is about a young, heavyweight boxer at the end of his career who is involved with organized crime. Both Fear and Desire and Killer's Kiss were privately funded by Kubrick's family and friends.

The Killing

Alex Singer introduced Kubrick to a producer named James B. Harris, and the two became lifelong friends. Their business partnership, Harris-Kubrick Productions, financed Kubrick's next three films. They bought the rights to the Lionel White novel Clean Break, which Kubrick and co-screenwriter Jim Thompson turned into a story about a race track robbery gone wrong. Starring Sterling Hayden, The Killing was Kubrick's first film with a professional cast and crew. The film made impressive use of non-linear time, unusual in 1950s cinema, and, though financially unsuccessful, was Kubrick's first critically successful film. The widespread admiration for The Killing brought Harris-Kubrick Productions to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio offered them its massive collection of copyrighted stories from which to choose their next project. Eventually, they chose The Burning Secret by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. Kubrick wrote a screenplay with Calder Willingham, but the deal collapsed before the film got properly underway.

Paths of Glory

The World War I story, based on Humphrey Cobb's novel Paths of Glory (1935), is about three innocent French soldiers charged with cowardice by their superior officers as an example to the other soldiers. Kirk Douglas was cast as Colonel Dax, a humanitarian officer trying to prevent the soldiers' execution. Paths of Glory (1957) was Stanley Kubrick's first significant commercial and critical success, establishing him as an up-and-coming cineaste. Critics praised the unvarnished combat scenes, and Kubrick's cinematography: Colonel Dax's march through his soldiers' trench in a single, unbroken reverse-tracking shot has become a classic cinematic trope cited in film classes. Steven Spielberg named this his favorite Kubrick film.

Paths of Glory was filmed in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. During its production, Kubrick met and romanced the young German actress Christiane Harlan (credited by her stage name "Susanne Christian"), who played the only woman speaking part in the film. Kubrick divorced his second wife Ruth Sobotka in 1957. Christiane Susanne Harlan (b. 1932) was born in Germany to a theatrical family; she trained as an actress. During her marriage to Kubrick she concentrated on a career as a painter. The two married in 1958 and remained together until his death in 1999. In addition to raising Christiane's young daughter Katharina (b. 1953) from her first marriage to the late German actor, Werner Bruhns (d. 1977), the couple had two daughters: Anya (b. 1958) and Vivian (b. 1960). Christiane's brother Jan Harlan was Kubrick's executive producer from 1975 onwards.

Spartacus

On returning to the United States, Kubrick worked for six months on the Marlon Brando vehicle One-Eyed Jacks (1961). Later, Kubrick claimed Brando forced him from the film, because Brando wanted to direct it himself. Kubrick languished working on unproduced screenplays (including, notably, Jim Thompson's treatment, Lunatic at Large) until Kirk Douglas asked him to assume direction of Spartacus (1960) from Anthony Mann who, two weeks into shooting, was fired by the studio because he lacked leadership (or, more likely, for disagreeing with producer-star Kirk Douglas).

Based upon the true story of a doomed uprising of Roman slaves, Spartacus established Stanley Kubrick as a major director. The production, however, was difficult; creative differences arose between Kubrick and Douglas, the star and producer of the film. Frustrated by lack of creative control, Kubrick later, largely disowned its authorship. The Douglas-Kubrick creative control battles destroyed their work relationship from Paths of Glory. Years later, Kirk Douglas referred to Stanley Kubrick as "a talented shit". Spartacus was a major critical and commercial success, but its embattled production convinced Kubrick to find ways of working with Hollywood financing while remaining independent of its production system. Kubrick referred to Hollywood production as "film by fiat, film by frenzy", this reasoning lay behind Kubrick's moving to England in 1962.

Lolita

In 1962, Kubrick moved to England to film Lolita, and resided there for the rest of his life. Unsurprisingly, Lolita was Kubrick's first major controversy. The book by Vladimir Nabokov, dealing with an affair between a middle-aged pedophile and a twelve-year-old girl, already was notorious when Kubrick embarked on the project, however it was also steadily achieving popularity; eventually, the difficult subject matter was mocked in the film's tagline, perhaps to gain attention: "How did they ever make a film of Lolita?". Nabokov wrote a three-hundred page screenplay, which Kubrick abandoned; reportedly, Kubrick wrote the final screenplay.

Despite changing Lolita's age from twelve years to fourteen years, which was a more acceptable age for commercial appeal at the time, several scenes in the final film had to be re-edited to allow the film's release. The resulting film toned down what were considered the novel's more perverse aspects, leaving much to the viewer's imagination, some viewers have even wondered whether Humbert and Lolita actually embarked on a sexual affair, as most of their relationship, sexually, is implied and suggested. Later, Kubrick commented that, had he known the severity of the censorship, he probably would not have made the film. However, Kubrick always spoke highly of James Mason, who portrayed Humbert Humbert in the film, identifying him as one of the actors with whom he most enjoyed working. Lolita also was the first time Kubrick worked with British comic Peter Sellers, a collaboration which proved one of the most successful of his early career, most notable for Dr. Strangelove (1964). Oswald Morris was the director of photography. Morris went on to shoot the hugley successful musical Oliver.

Lolita's release in 1962 was surrounded by immense hype, which was responsible for the box office success at the time; it was also given an "Adults Only" rating, since ratings for film and literature where not applicable at the time of Lolita's release. Critical reception for the film was mixed, many praising it for its daring subject, others surprised by the lack of intimacy between Lolita and Humbert. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing of an Adapted Screenplay, and Sue Lyon, who played the title role, won a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer Actress.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Kubrick's next film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), became a cult film. The screenplay—based upon the novel Red Alert, by ex-RAF flight lieutenant Peter George (writing as Peter Bryant)—was co-written by Kubrick, George, and American satirist Terry Southern.

Dr. Strangelove is often considered a masterpiece of black humor. While Red Alert is a serious, cautionary tale of accidental atomic war for Cold War-era readers, Dr. Strangelove accidentally evolved into what Kubrick called a "nightmare comedy". Originally intended as a thriller, Kubrick found the conditions leading to nuclear war so absurd that the story became dark and funny rather than thrilling; Kubrick reconceived it as comedy, recruiting Terry Southern for the required anarchic irony.

Peter Sellers, memorable as 'Clare Quilty' in Lolita, was hired to simultaneously play four roles in Dr. Strangelove. Eventually, Sellers played three, due to an injured leg and difficulty in mastering the Texas accent of bomber pilot Major "King" Kong. Later, Kubrick called Sellers "amazing", but lamented that his energy rarely lasted beyond two or three takes. To capture the actor's limited energy, Kubrick set up two cameras to film Sellers improvisation. Strangelove often is cited as one of Sellers's best films, and proof of his comic genius.

Kubrick's decision to film a Cold War thriller as a black comedy was a daring artistic risk that paid off for him and Columbia Pictures. Coincidentally, that same year, Columbia Studios released the dramatic nuclear war thriller Fail-Safe. Its close similarity with Dr Strangelove prompted Kubrick to consider suing the makers of that film, but decided against it.

Dr. Strangelove portrays a deliberate American nuclear war launched against Russia, by U.S.A.F. General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden). In real time, the film's duration, the story intercuts among three locales: (i) Burpleson Air Force Base, where RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers) tries stopping the mad Gen. Ripper; (ii) the Pentagon War Room, where the U.S. President (Sellers), U.S.A.F. General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), and (officially ex-)Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove (Sellers) try stopping (or not) the B-52 bombers enroute to dropping nuclear bombs on Russia; and (iii) Major Kong's (Slim Pickens) renegade B-52 bomber aeroplane where his crew try to complete their mission. Production designer Ken Adam's sets for the film—especially the War Room in the Pentagon—are considered classic film production design.

In belittling the sacrosanct norms of the political culture of mutually assured destruction (MAD) as the squabbling of intellectual children, Dr. Strangelove foreshadowed the cultural upheavals of the late 1960s and was enormously successful with the nascent American counter-culture. Dr. Strangelove earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) and the New York Film Critics' Best Director award. Kubrick's successful Dr. Strangelove persuaded the studios that he was an auteur who could be trusted to deliver popular films despite his unusual ideas. Director of Photography was Gilbert Taylor, a noted cinematographer who shot 'Star Wars' and 'A Hard Days Night'.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Kubrick spent five years developing his next film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), (photographed in Super Panavision 70). Kubrick co-wrote the screenplay with science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, expanding Clarke's short story "The Sentinel". The screenplay and the novel were written simultaneously—the novel was published in tandem with the film's release, and credited only to Clarke—the literary and the screen stories substantially deviate from each other; despite this, Clarke and Kubrick later spoke highly of one another.

The film's special effects, overseen by Kubrick and engineered by special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull (Silent Running, Blade Runner), proved ground-breaking and inspired many of the special effects-driven films which followed in the genre. Many manufacturing companies were consulted as to what the design of both special-purpose and everyday objects would look like in the year 2001. At the time of the movie's release, speaking to journalists at an MGM-hosted conference, novelist Clarke, commenting on the film's look, predicted that a generation of engineers would design real spacecraft based upon 2001's fictional spacecraft, "even if it isn't the best way to do it." Despite nominations in the direction, writing, and production categories, the only Academy Award Kubrick ever received was for supervising the special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This film also was notable for its use of classical music, such as Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra and Johann Strauss's The Blue Danube waltz. More notable is Kubrick's use of the music of contemporary, avant-garde Hungarian composer, György Ligeti, done however, without his consent. The use of Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna, and Requiem, was the first, widely commercial exposure of Ligeti's works. Kubrick's use of music in 2001: A Space Odyssey was unusual for its time, in that it is integral (or ironic) to the film and ideas and not simply a comment upon or an enhancement of the visual action.

Artistically, 2001: A Space Odyssey was a radical departure from Kubrick's previous cinematic oeuvre and cinematic technique. It has only forty-five minutes of dialogue of conversations seemingly superfluous to the background story, the images, and the music, nevertheless it outlines the 'story' while presenting mankind as dissociated from themselves. Clarke's characters function either as extensions to the story or anthropological archetypes. The story and plot are obscure for most of the film's duration, and its ambiguous, perplexing ending continues fascinating contemporary audiences. After this film, Kubrick would never experiment so much.

Despite being an unorthodox science fiction genre film, it was an enormously successful commercial and popular culture phenomenon. This occurred after the public's initial disinterest was followed by word-of-mouth recommendation. Were it not for a six-week exhibition contract, the film may not have had enough time in cinemas to have benefitted from the word-of-mouth popularity as ticket sales were low during the first fortnight of its release; it nearly was withdrawn from release; later, actor Jack Nicholson quoted Stanley Kubrick as having counted two hundred seventeen people walking out of the premiere showing (including the studio head). Paradoxically, Kubrick won total creative control from Hollywood by succeeding with one of the most thematically "difficult" films ever to win wide commercial release.

Initial critical reaction was negative, attacking the film's lack of dialogue and (seemingly) impenetrable story. Following the film's success, however, many critics later revised their opinions. Audiences embraced the film, especially the 1960s counterculture, who loved the movie's "Star Gate" sequence, a seemingly psychedelic journey to the infinite reaches of the cosmos. The cult following the film acquired in the burgeoning drug culture prompted the film's distributors to add the LSD-allusive tagline: "The Ultimate Trip", to the movie's advertising poster.

Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey are as widespread as its popularity, and, though made in 1968, it still prompts debate today. When critic Joseph Gelmis asked Kubrick about the meaning of the film, Kubrick replied:

They are the areas I prefer not to discuss, because they are highly subjective and will differ from viewer to viewer. In this sense, the film becomes anything the viewer sees in it. If the film stirs the emotions and penetrates the subconscious of the viewer, if it stimulates, however inchoately, his mythological and religious yearnings and impulses, then it has succeeded.

2001: A Space Odyssey may be Kubrick's most famous and influential film. Steven Spielberg called it his generation's big bang, focusing its attention upon the Russo-American space race. The special effects techniques Kubrick pioneered were later developed by Ridley Scott and George Lucas for films such as Alien and Star Wars. 2001 is particularly notable as one of the few films realistically presenting travel in outer space, i.e. the scenes in outer space are silent; weightlessness is constant, characters are strapped in place; when characters wear pressure suits, only their breathing is audible.

The film's primary themes include: the origins of evolution; sentient computers; extra-terrestrial beings; the search for one's place in the universe; and re-birth all seen within a cold, foreboding light. Books have been written about interpretations of it, and even Arthur C. Clarke is on record as ignoring what, exactly, Stanley Kubrick had in mind in making the film, going so far as to say that 2001: A Space Odyssey is ninety per cent Stanley Kubrick's vision. The brilliant cinematography was by director of photography Geoffrey Unsworth.

Napoleon

Kubrick's next film project was to be a large-scale biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte. He did much research, read books about the French Emperor, and wrote a preliminary screenplay. With assistants, he meticulously created a card-catalogue of the places and deeds of Napoleon's inner circle during its operative years. Kubrick scouted locations, planning to film large portions of the story in the historical places where Napoleon's life occurred.

In notes to his financial backers, preserved in The Kubrick Archives, Kubrick told them he was unsure how his Napoleon film would turn out, but that he expected to create 'the best movie ever made.' Ultimately, the project was cancelled for three reasons: (i) the prohibitive costliness of location filming; (ii) the release, in the West, of Sergei Bondarchuk's epic film version of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace (1968), and (iii) the commercial failure of Bondarchuk's Napoleon-themed film Waterloo (1970). Stanley Kubrick's screenplay for this film has been published on the Internet, much of his historical research would influence Barry Lyndon (1975), set in the late eighteenth century, just before Napoleon's wars.

A Clockwork Orange

In place of his Napoleon, Kubrick sought a project which he could quickly film with a small budget. He found it in A Clockwork Orange (1971). His film version is a dark, shocking exploration of violence in human society. It was released with an 'X' rating in the United States, though it later was re-classified with an 'R' rating.

Based upon the famous novel by Anthony Burgess, the film is the story of a teenage hooligan, Alex, (Malcolm McDowell), who gleefully torments, beats, robs, steals, and rapes without conscience or remorse. Finally imprisoned, Alex undergoes psychiatric aversion treatment to be cured of his instinctively reflexive violence. This conditions him physically unable to act violently, yet also renders him helpless and incapable of moral choice, resulting in a consequently brutal come-uppance at the hands of his victims.

Kubrick photographed A Clockwork Orange quickly and almost entirely on location in and around London. Despite the low-tech nature of the film, when compared to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick was highly innovative, i.e. throwing a camera from a rooftop to achieve the desired viewer disorientation. For the score, Kubrick had electronic music composer Wendy Carlos, at the time known as Walter Carlos, (Switched-On Bach), deface famous classical works such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the Moog synthesizer.

The film was extremely controversial because of its explicitly depicted teenage gang-rape and violence. Released the same year as Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and Don Siegel's Dirty Harry, the three films sparked ferocious debate in the media about the social effects of cinematic violence. The controversy was exacerbated when copycat violence was committed in England, by criminals wearing the same costumes as characters in A Clockwork Orange. The story is narrated in Nadsat, a slang language comprising many anglicized Russian words: the gang refer to each other as "droogie", from the Russian word for "friend."

When Kubrick and family were threatened with death, resulting from the social controversy, he took the unusual step of removing the film from circulation in Britain. The film was not released again in the United Kingdom until its re-release in 2000, a year after Stanley Kubrick's death. In banning his film in Britain, he showed the unprecedented power he held over his distributor, Warner Brothers. For the remainder of his career he held total control of every aspect of his films, including the marketing and the advertising; such was Warner Brothers' faith in his projects.

The novelist Anthony Burgess had mixed feelings about Stanley Kubrick's film. Though Kubrick's film ends differently from Burgess's original novel, Burgess blamed his American publisher for that, not Kubrick, who based his screenplay upon the American edition of the novel, from which the final, 21st, chapter had been removed. In the novel's original ending, Alex, the story's anti-hero, chooses to give up criminal ways to instead lead a peaceful, productive life. Kubrick did not read the final chapter until well into production, deciding it was out of keeping with the tone of his film version.

Eventually, Burgess dedicated his book Napoleon Symphony to Stanley Kubrick, who had given him ideas used in that novel. In fact, according to the online Kubrick FAQ, Kubrick considered Napoleon Symphony as the starting point for the cancelled Napoleon film he once was to have made. According to Burgess's autobiography You've Had Your Time and his 1986 introduction to A Clockwork Orange, Burgess was irritated that Kubrick ignored the controversy surrounding the film, leaving him (Burgess) to alone defend a work of art not his own. Another likely reason for Burgess's ambivalence towards the film is that he considered that novel one of his lesser works, wanting to be remembered for the books he considered his greater works, yet, largely because of the film's success, A Clockwork Orange is Anthony Burgess's best-known novel. It remains, unsurprisingly, Stanley Kubrick's most notorious and controversial film, given the number of murders it has spawned. Since it' re-release in the UK, the number of Clockwork-Orange style 'happy-slapping' incidents has increased. Their have been notable copycat-murders by delinquents youths (some as young as 14) since 2000, in London and Barcelona. However the controllers of Misplaced Pages, corporate multi-nationals (Warner Bros), Kubricks 'defendants' including film directors and actors continue to gamble with culture and society in the dissemination of this film. They simply do not care.

Barry Lyndon

Kubrick's next film, released in 1975, was an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's The Luck of Barry Lyndon, also known as Barry Lyndon, a picaresque novel about an 18th century gambler and social climber who slowly insinuates himself to English high society. It would be Kubrick's least-appreciated post-Strangelove film, despite strong acting (by Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, and Irish actress Marie Kean) and Kubrick's innovative cinematography and attention to period detail. Despite box-office failure in the United States, the film found a great audience in Europe, particularly in France.

Some critics, especially Pauline Kael, one of Kubrick's greatest detractors, found Barry Lyndon a cold, slow-moving, and lifeless film. Its measured pace and length—more than three hours—put off many American critics and audiences, however, the film was well-reviewed in the U.S. by noted critics Rex Reed and Richard Schickel. Time Magazine published a cover story about the film, and Kubrick was nominated for three Academy Awards. As with most of his films, Barry Lyndon's reputation has grown through the years, particularly among other filmmakers. Director Martin Scorsese cited it as his favorite Kubrick film. Steven Spielberg has praised its "impeccable technique," though, when younger, he famously described it "like going through the Prado without lunch".

As in his other films, Kubrick's cinematography and lighting techniques are innovative. Most famously, interior scenes were photographed with a specially-adapted, high-speed still camera lens (originally invented for NASA) allowing many scenes to be lit only with candlelight, creating two-dimensional, diffused light images reminiscent of 18th century painting. Kubrick's blending of music, mise en scene, costume and action set standards for period drama that few other films have matched. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, more than any other Kubrick film. Despite this, Barry Lyndon was not a box office success in the US, however, it was a big hit in Eurpoe.

Like almost all other Kubrick films, "Barry Lyndon" has a remarkable score, comprised most notably of one of Franz Schubert's piano trios.

The Shining

Kubrick's work pace slowed considerably after Barry Lyndon; he did not make another film until The Shining. Released in 1980, it is a free adaptation of Stephen King's popular horror novel. It stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall in the story of a writer manqué who takes the job of off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a high-class resort deep in the Colorado mountains. The job demands that he, his wife, and son spend the winter alone in the isolated hotel. His son, Danny, is gifted with telepathy, called "shining," and has glimpses of visions of the past and of the future.

To Danny, the hotel displays increasingly horrible, phantasmagoric images, notably the apparition of two girls murdered years before, by their father, the hotel's caretaker. Jack is slowly driven mad by the haunted Overlook Hotel until collapsing into homicidal psychosis, then trying to kill his family with an axe.

The film was shot mostly at the Elstree and the Pinewood studios, near London, where the film sets were built, however the Overlook Hotel exterior is that of the Timberline Lodge ski resort on Mount Hood, Oregon, U.S.A. Kubrick extensively used the newly-invented Steadicam (a spring-mounted camera support) for smooth movement in enclosed spaces, to convey the haunted hotel's claustrophobic oppression of the family.

More than any other of his films, The Shining gave rise to the legend of Kubrick-as-megalomanic-perfectionist. Reportedly, he demanded hundreds of takes of certain scenes (ca. 1.3 million film ft. were exposed), particularly plaguing actress Shelley Duvall. His daughter, Vivian Kubrick, shot a short documentary film of the production. It is available in the DVD release of the film, it is one of few documents of Kubrick in action in the latter half of his career.

The film opened to mostly negative reviews, but did very well, commercially, with audiences and made Warner Brothers a profit. As with most Kubrick films, subsequent critical reaction re-views the film more favourably. Stephen King was dissatisfied with the movie, calling Kubrick "a man who thinks too much and feels too little". Later, in 1997, King collaborated with Mick Garris to create a television mini-series version of the novel. Since then, King has spoken with less hostility toward Kubrick and his film (it was said at the time of the mini-series initial release that King agreed to not speak publicly about Kubrick's version if he were given the rights to do the miniseries).

Among horror movie fans, The Shining is a classic cult film, often appearing with The Exorcist (1974) and Halloween (1978) at the top of best horror film lists. Some of its images, such as an antique elevator disgorging a tidal wave of blood, are among the most recognizable, widely-known images from any Stanley Kubrick film. The Shining renewed Warner Brothers faith in Kubrick's ability to make artistically satisfying and profitable films after the commercial failure that was Barry Lyndon in the United States. As a pop culture phenomenon, the film has been the object of countless parodies, from The Simpsons and MAD Magazine to recent films such as Seed Of Chucky.

Full Metal Jacket

It was seven years until Kubrick's next film, Full Metal Jacket (1987), an adaptation of Gustav Hasford's Vietnam War novel, The Short-Timers, starring Matthew Modine as Joker, Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother, R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, and Vincent D'Onofrio as Private Pyle.

The film begins at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, U.S.A., where GySgt Hartman ruthlessly pushes his new men through punishing recruit training to release their repressed killing instincts and transform them from "maggots" to Marines. Pvt Pyle, a fat, slow-witted conscript, subjected to relentless physical and verbal abuse by GySgt Hartman, slowly cracks under the strain, resulting, on the eve of graduation, in Pvt Pyle's shooting and killing GySgt Hartman before killing himself as he repeats the by-then-familiar Marine mantra: "This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine…" The scene ends the boot-camp portion of the story.

The second half of the film follows Joker, since promoted to sergeant, as he tries to stay sane in Vietnam. As a reporter for the United States Military's newspaper the Stars and Stripes, Joker occupies war's middle ground, using wit and sarcasm to detach himself from the war. Though an American and a member of the United States Marine Corps, he also is a reporter and so is compelled to abide the ethics of the profession. The film then follows an infantry platoon's advance on and through Hue City, decimated by the street fighting of the Tet Offensive. The film climaxes in a battle between Joker's platoon and a sniper hiding in the rubble; she becomes Joker's first confirmed kill.

Filming a Vietnam War film in England was a considerable challenge for Stanley Kubrick and team. Much filming was in the Docklands area of London, with the ruined-city set created by production designer Anton Furst. This helped make the film visually very different from the other, contemporary Vietnam War films Platoon and Hamburger Hill. Instead of being set in the tropical, Southeast-Asian jungle, the second half of the story unfolds in a city, illuminating the urban warfare aspect of a war otherwise perceived as fought exclusively in a jungle. Kubrick said to film critic Gene Siskel that his attraction to Gustav Hasford's book was because it was "neither anti-war or pro-war", held "no moral or political position", and was primarily concerned with "the way things are." Which was an amazing view that categorized the war for what was really happening.

Full Metal Jacket received mixed critical review, but found a reasonably large audience, despite being over-shadowed by Oliver Stone's Platoon. This was one reason for Kubrick not making Aryan Papers, in fear that its publicity would be stolen by Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.

Eyes Wide Shut

Stanley Kubrick was a mute presence in Hollywood in the ten-odd years after the release of Full Metal Jacket (1987); many believed that he had retired from film-making. Occasionally, rumours surfaced about possible, new Kubrick projects, including Aryan Papers and A.I. (eventually produced after Kubrick's death, directed by Spielberg). Stanley Kubrick's final film would be Eyes Wide Shut, starring then-married actors Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as an upper middle class Manhattan couple in sexual odyssey.

The story of Eyes Wide Shut is based on Arthur Schnitzler's novella Traumnovelle (in English a.k.a. Dream Story), and follows Dr. William Harford's journey to the sexual underworld of New York City, after his wife, Alice, shatters his faith in her fidelity when she confesses to nearly giving him, and their daughter, up for one night with another man.

After trespassing upon the rituals of a sinister, mysterious sexual cult, Dr. Harford thinks twice before seeking sexual revenge against his wife, and learns he and his family might be in danger.

The film was in production for more than two years, and two of the main members of the cast, Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh, were replaced in the course of the filming. Although set in New York City, the film was mostly shot in London soundstages, with little location shooting. Shots of Manhattan itself were pick-up shots filmed in New York City by a second-unit crew. Because of Kubrick's secrecy about the film, mostly inaccurate rumors abounded about its plot and content. Most especially, the story's sexual content provoked much exaggerated speculation; some journalists writing that it would be "the sexiest film ever made." The casting of the celebrity-actor couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman increased the magnitude of pre-release journalistic hyperbole.

In 1999, days after screening a final cut of Eyes Wide Shut for his family, the lead actor and actress, and Warner Brothers executives, the seventy-year-old director Stanley Kubrick died of a heart attack in his sleep. He was buried next to his favorite tree in Childwickbury Manor, Hertfordshire, England, U.K.

The film did smashing box-office business, which considerably slowed down in the weeks after the film's release. Far from being an erotic thriller, Eyes Wide Shut proved a slow, mysterious, dreamy meditation on themes of marriage, fidelity, betrayal, and the illusion-versus-reality of sexual adventure. Critics mostly were negative towards the film, attacking its slow pace and perceived emotional inertia. Kubrick's defenders have speculated that the mixed criticism of and box-office response to the movie were deeply affected by the pre-release lurid misconceptions about the film—the audience disliked it because it frustrated their expectations.

According to his friends and family, Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick's personal favorite of his own films. Contrary to that, however, in 2006, actor R. Lee Ermey went on record as saying Kubrick told him in a telephone talk, shortly before his death, that Eyes Wide Shut was "a piece of shit" and that the critics would "have him for lunch". Yet, Todd Field (director, In the Bedroom, Little Children) who acted for Kubrick refutes Ermey's statements, "Stanley was absolutely thrilled with the film. He was still working on the film when he died, and he probably died because he finally relaxed. It was one of the happiest weekends of his life, he had just shown the first cut to Terry, Tom, and Nicole. He would have kept working on it, like he did on all of his films, but I know he was over the moon about the film, as I was told this from people who were with him daily throughout post-production. My production partner was Stanley’s assistant for thirty years." Field stated that Kubrick advised him to stay away from the Texas Chainsaw actor: " I’d originally thought about R. Lee Ermey for In the Bedroom, and I talked to Stanley a lot about that film, and, all I can say, is Stanley was adamant that I not work with Ermey, for all kinds of reasons that I won't get into, because there is no reason to do that to anyone, even if that person is saying slanderous things about Stanley, that I know, for a fact, are completely untrue."

Eyes Wide Shut, like Lolita and A Clockwork Orange before it, faced censorship before release. In the United States and Canada, digitally manufactured silhouette figures were strategically placed to mask explicit copulation scenes. It was done to secure an "R" rating from the MPAA. To Europe, and the rest of the world, the film has been released uncut, in its original form.

Character

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Kubrick was often unwilling to discuss personal matters publicly, or to speak publicly at all. Over time, his image in the media has ranged anywhere from being a reclusive genius to a megalomaniacal lunatic shut off from the world. Since his death, Kubrick's friends and family have denied this. Kubrick clearly left behind a strong family and many close friends. Many of those who worked for him speak highly in his favor. The rumor regarding his reclusiveness is largely a myth, and may have resulted from his aversion to travel once installed at St. Albans. Kubrick was afraid of flying and refused to take airplane trips, so he rarely left England over the last forty years of his life. Kubrick once told a friend that he went to London (about 40 minutes by car) four to five times a year solely for appointments with his dentist. Kubrick also shunned the Hollywood system and its publicity machine. His appearance was not well known in his later years, and a British man by the name of Alan Conway successfully pretended he was Kubrick to meet several well-known actors and get into fancy clubs. Conway is the subject of the film Colour Me Kubrick (2005), written by Kubrick's assistant Anthony Frewin and directed by Brian Cook, Kubrick's First Assistant Director for 25 years.

Kubrick was constantly in contact with family members and business associates, often by telephone, and contacted collaborators at all hours for conversations lasting from under a minute to several hours. Many of Kubrick's admirers and friends spoke of these telephone conversations with great affection and nostalgia after his death, most especially Michael Herr and Steven Spielberg. In his memoir of Kubrick, Herr said that dozens of people claim to have spoken to Kubrick on the day of his death and remarked "I believe all of them." Kubrick also frequently invited various people to his house, ranging from actors to close friends, admired film directors, writers, and intellectuals. Kubrick was also an animal lover. He owned many dogs and cats throughout his life and showed an extraordinary affection for them. Christiane, Kubrick's widow, said in her book version of Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures that Kubrick brought his cats to the editing room to spend time with them that was lost while he was shooting his films. Matthew Modine remembers Kubrick being deeply upset when a family of rabbits was accidentally killed during the making of Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick was so upset that he cancelled shooting for the rest of the day. Philip Kaplan, one of Kubrick's lawyers and friends, reports that Stanley once cancelled a meeting with him and another lawyer who had flown to London from the United States for the meeting, at the last moment, because he sat up all night with a dying cat and was in no shape to participate. Kaplan also reports that the huge kitchen table at St. Albans was supported by an undulating base and that within each curved space was a dog, most of no recognizable breed and some not notably friendly to strangers.

Kubrick had a reputation of being tactless and rude to many people he worked with. Some of Kubrick's collaborators have complained of a coldness or lack of sympathy for the feelings of others on his part. Although Kubrick became close friends with Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell during filming, Kubrick abruptly terminated the friendship soon after the film was complete. McDowell was deeply hurt by this and the schism between the two men lasted until Kubrick's death. Michael Herr, in his otherwise positive memoir to Kubrick, complains that Kubrick was extremely cheap and very greedy about money. He states that Kubrick was a "terrible" man to do business with and that the director was upset until the day he died that Jack Nicholson made more money from The Shining than he did. Science-fiction writer Brian Aldiss was fired from Kubrick's never completed project AI for vacationing with his family in violation of his contract, even though Kubrick had put the project on hold at the time. Kubrick brought in other writers to help write the AI script, but fired them because he felt they were useless. Kirk Douglas often commented on Kubrick's unwillingness to compromise, his out of control ego and ruthless pursuit to make a film his own distinct work of art instead of a group effort (it must be noted, however, that in interviews Kubrick often acknowledged and admired the effort of his team, especially those who made the special effects for 2001 possible). However, Douglas has acknowledged that a large part of his dislike for Kubrick was caused by Kubrick's consistently negative statements about Spartacus. James Earl Jones, despite his admiration for Kubrick on an artistic level, spoke negatively of his experience on Dr. Strangelove, saying that Kubrick was disrespectful to actors, using them as instruments in a grand design rather than allowing them to be creative artists in their own right. George C. Scott, who admired Kubrick in retrospect for reportedly being one of the few people who could routinely beat him in chess, famously resented Kubrick using his most over-the-top performances for the final cut of Dr. Strangelove, after promising they would not be seen by audiences. Kubrick's crew has stated that he was notorious for not complimenting anyone and rarely showed admiration for his co-workers for fear it would make them complacent. Kubrick complimented them on their work only after the movie was finished, unless he felt their work was "genius." The only actors that Kubrick called "genius" were Peter Sellers, James Mason and Malcolm McDowell.

Upon purchasing the Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire, England, Kubrick set up his life so that family and business were one. He purchased top-of-the-line film editing equipment and owned all of his own cameras. Children and animals would frequently come in and out of the room as he worked on a script or met with an actor.

Although Kubrick was greatly disliked by many of the people he worked with, many speak kindly of him, including co-workers and friends Jack Nicholson, Diane Johnson, Tom Cruise, Joe Turkel, Con Pederson, Sterling Hayden, Scatman Crothers, Carl Solomon, Ryan O'Neal, Anthony Frewin, Ian Watson, John Milius, Jocelyn Pook, Sydney Pollack, R. Lee Ermey, and others. Michael Herr's memoir to Kubrick and Matthew Modine's book Full Metal Jacket Diary show a different, much more kind, sane and warm version of Kubrick than the conventional view of him as cold, demanding and impersonal. In a series of interviews found on the DVD of Eyes Wide Shut, a teary eyed Tom Cruise remembers Kubrick with great affection. Nicole Kidman also shares his sentiments. Shelley Winters, when asked what she thought of him, answered, "A gift." Shelley Duvall, who played Wendy in The Shining did not always get along with Kubrick, as seen in The Making of the Shining, but has said that in retrospect it was a great experience that made her smarter—though she'd never want to do it again. Also, Malcolm McDowell in retrospect said that he felt some of his statements about Kubrick were "unfair" and were a "cry out" to Kubrick to call him. He has mused that it was because Kubrick saw some of Alex (the main character in A Clockwork Orange) in McDowell, and McDowell has commented on how much this termination of friendship personally hurt him. McDowell said that he was very sad when Kubrick died. However, in a 2004 interview with The Guardian, McDowell confirmed the suspicion that Kubrick was an anti-humanist director.

Politics

In his memoir of Kubrick, Michael Herr, his personal friend and co-writer of the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket, wrote:

Stanley had views on everything, but I would not exactly call them political... His views on democracy were those of most people I know, neither left or right, not exactly brimming with belief, a noble failed experiment along our evolutionary way, brought low by base instincts, money and self-interest and stupidity... He thought the best system might be under a benign despot, though he had little belief that such a man could be found. He wasn't a cynic, but he could have easily passed for one. He was certainly a capitalist. He believed himself to be a realist.

Herr also wrote that Kubrick owned guns and that he did not think war is entirely a bad thing. In the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Herr says "…he also accepted to acknowledge that, of all the things war is, it is also very beautiful." Kubrick, according to Ian Watson, reportedly said of the pre-1997 socialist Labour Party “If the Labourites ever get in, I’ll leave the country.” Watson explains that Kubrick was extremely opposed to laws on taxing the rich and welfare in general. Michael Herr said of initial reactions to Full Metal Jacket "The political left will call Kubrick a fascist." Despite that Full Metal Jacket is often cited as an anti-war film, in his 1987 interview with Gene Siskel called Candidly Kubrick, Kubrick has said, "Full Metal Jacket suggests there is more to say about war than it is just bad." In the same interview he said that everything serious the drill instructor says, such as "A rifle is only a tool, it is a hard heart that kills" is completely true. Though some have said Kubrick disliked America, Michael Herr says, on the other hand, that America was all he talked about and that he often thought of moving back. It was said that Kubrick was sent VHS tapes from American friends of pro-football, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and other television shows which he could not get in the United Kingdom. Kubrick also told Siskel he was not anti-American and that he thought that America was a good country, though he did not think that Ronald Reagan was a good President. He also said he thought that people in the world did not take the nuclear threat of the time as seriously as they should and he was extremely suspicious of centralized banking systems. Some claim this evidence suggests Kubrick's views lean Right while others still say he leans Left. It is unknown, however, if Kubrick belonged to any political group.

Kubrick's works depict his own view of human nature and are critical of moral/political stances based on other views of human nature. For example, in A Clockwork Orange, the police are as violent and vulgar as the droogs, and Kubrick depicts both the subversive writer Mr. Alexander (a figure of the Left) and the authoritarian Minister of the Interior (a figure of the Right), as manipulative, hypocritical and sinister. In regard to A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick said to the New York Times,

Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. He is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved—that about sums it up. I'm interested in the brutal and violent nature of man because it's a true picture of him. And any attempt to create social institutions on a false view of the nature of man is probably doomed to failure.

He also said in the same interview:

The idea that social restraints are all bad is based on a utopian and unrealistic vision of man. But in this movie you have an example of social institutions gone a bit berserk. Obviously social institutions faced with the law-and-order problem might choose to become grotesquely oppressive. The movie poses two extremes: it shows Alex in his pre-civilized state, and society committing a worse evil in attempting to cure him."

Kubrick's earlier work can be seen as more "liberal" than his later work. Colonel Dax in Paths of Glory and Spartacus in Spartacus are comparable to liberals, and the satire of government and military in Dr. Strangelove seems to point to a liberal political perspective (although the ignorant hawk, General Turgidson in the "War Room" is still more decisive than the peaceful, pacifist President Merkin Muffley). Kubrick's more mature works are more pessimistic and suspicious of the so-called innate goodness of mankind. In a letter to the New York Times in response to Fred M. Hechinger declaring A Clockwork Orange "fascist", Kubrick wrote:

It is quite true that my film's view of man is less flattering than the one Rousseau entertained in a similarly allegorical narrative—but, in order to avoid fascism, does one have to view man as a noble savage, rather than an ignoble one? Being a pessimist is not yet enough to qualify one to be regarded as a tyrant (I hope)...The age of the alibi, in which we find ourselves, began with the opening sentence of Rousseau's Emile: 'Nature made me happy and good, and if I am otherwise, it is society's fault.' It is based on two misconceptions: that man in his natural state was happy and good, and that primal man had no society...Rousseau's romantic fallacy that it is society which corrupts man, not man who corrupts society, places a flattering gauze between ourselves and reality. This view, to use Mr. Hechinger's frame of reference, is solid box office but, in the end, such a self-inflating illusion leads to despair.

Kubrick shares much of this view with Robert Ardrey, author of African Genesis and The Social Contract (not to be confused with Rousseau's) and author Arthur Koestler who is famous for writing The Ghost In The Machine, both of whom Kubrick quotes in his defense against Hechinger. Both authors (Koestler through psychology and Ardrey through anthropology) search for the cause of humanity's capacity for death and destruction and both, like Kubrick, are suspicious of the liberal belief in innate goodness of mankind (which Ardrey and Kubrick attribute to Rousseau, who, in Ardrey's words: "Fathered the romantic fallacy") and Behaviourism, especially what they consider "radical Behaviourism", whom they blame primarily on B.F. Skinner. (Mainstream anthropology contests Ardrey's view of man having an ancestor that was unremorsefully murderous and destructive, and mainstream psychologists' belief in innate empathy contradicts Koestler's or Kubrick's view of man as innately evil, or sadistic and unempathetic).

Reading Ardrey's African Genesis reveals he shared Kubrick's bleak view of man, and the growing concern of the juvenile delinquent, as Ardrey writes:

"Society flatters itself in thinking that it has rejected the juvenile delinquent; the delinquent has rejected society. And in the shadowed byways of his world so consummately free, this ingenious, normal adolescent human creature has created a way of life in perfect image of his animal needs."

Such a description brings to mind Alex, the delinquent thug in A Clockwork Orange. Ardrey also says society might eventually domesticate man through slavery and cure his innate urge to kill and destroy:

"We and our greater philosophers must grant, I believe, that the masters of a universal society with the aid of a captive science might just possibly succeed in producing, over a long period, a lasting answer to the problem of our animal nature: a universal human slave inherently obedient to other people's reason."

This brings to mind the Minister of the Interior and his proposal for the answer to street violence in Kubrick's film. However Ardrey also believes:

"Whether through sentimental attachment or rational choice, I find myself moved to prefer the wild creatures among who I was born to the more literal Homo sapiens that science and tyranny might produce."

The clergyman in A Clockwork Orange, whom Kubrick has called "the moral voice of the story" says, "Goodness must come from within. Goodness must be chosen. If a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man." In fact, Kubrick said in an interview with The New York Times that his view of man was closer to the Christian view than humanistic or Jewish views, as he said, "I mean, it's essentially Christian theology anyway, that view of man."

Kubrick said in an interview with Gene Siskel:

To restrain man is not to redeem him...I think the danger is not that authority will collapse, but that, finally, in order to preserve itself, it will become very repressive...Law and order is not a phoney issue, not just an excuse for the Right to go further right.

Religion

Stanley Kubrick was born Jewish, but never much practiced this religion, as his parents were not very religious either. When asked by Michel Ciment in an interview if he had a religious upbringing, Kubrick replied: "No, not at all."

Kubrick is often said to have been an atheist, but this may not be quite true. In Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Jack Nicholson recalls that Kubrick said The Shining is an overall optimistic story because "anything that says there's anything after death is ultimately an optimistic story."

In Kubrick's interview with Craig McGregor, he said:

2001 would give a little insight into my metaphysical interests," he explains. "I'd be very surprised if the universe wasn't full of an intelligence of an order that to us would seem God-like. I find it very exciting to have a semi-logical belief that there's a great deal to the universe we don't understand, and that there is an intelligence of an incredible magnitude outside the Earth. It's something I've become more and more interested in. I find it a very exciting and satisfying hope.

When asked by Eric Nordern in Kubrick's interview with Playboy if 2001: A Space Odyssey was a religious film, Kubrick elaborated:

I will say that the God concept is at the heart of 2001 but not any traditional, anthropomorphic image of God. I don't believe in any of Earth's monotheistic religions, but I do believe that one can construct an intriguing scientific definition of God, once you accept the fact that there are approximately 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone, that each star is a life-giving sun and that there are approximately 100 billion galaxies in just the visible universe. Given a planet in a stable orbit, not too hot and not too cold, and given a few billion years of chance chemical reactions created by the interaction of a sun's energy on the planet's chemicals, it's fairly certain that life in one form or another will eventually emerge. It's reasonable to assume that there must be, in fact, countless billions of such planets where biological life has arisen, and the odds of some proportion of such life developing intelligence are high. Now, the sun is by no means an old star, and its planets are mere children in cosmic age, so it seems likely that there are billions of planets in the universe not only where intelligent life is on a lower scale than man but other billions where it is approximately equal and others still where it is hundreds of thousands of millions of years in advance of us. When you think of the giant technological strides that man has made in a few millennia—less than a microsecond in the chronology of the universe—can you imagine the evolutionary development that much older life forms have taken? They may have progressed from biological species, which are fragile shells for the mind at best, into immortal machine entities—and then, over innumerable eons, they could emerge from the chrysalis of matter transformed into beings of pure energy and spirit. Their potentialities would be limitless and their intelligence ungraspable by humans.

In the same interview, he also blames the poor critical reaction to 2001 as follows:

Perhaps there is a certain element of the lumpen literati that is so dogmatically atheist and materialist and Earth-bound that it finds the grandeur of space and the myriad mysteries of cosmic intelligence anathema.

In an interview with William Kloman of The New York Times, when asked why there is hardly any dialogue in 2001, Kubrick explained:

I don't have the slightest doubt that to tell a story like this, you couldn't do it with words. There are only 46 minutes of dialogue scenes in the film, and 113 of non-dialogue. There are certain areas of feeling and reality—or unreality or innermost yearning, whatever you want to call it—which are notably inaccessible to words. Music can get into these areas. Painting can get into them. Non-verbal forms of expression can. But words are a terrible straitjacket. It's interesting how many prisoners of that straitjacket resent its being loosened or taken off. There's a side to the human personality that somehow senses that wherever the cosmic truth may lie, it doesn't lie in A, B, C, D. It lies somewhere in the mysterious, unknowable aspects of thought and life and experience. Man has always responded to it. Religion, mythology, allegories—it's always been one of the most responsive chords in man. With rationalism, modern man has tried to eliminate it, and successfully dealt some pretty jarring blows to religion. In a sense, what's happening now in films and in popular music is a reaction to the stifling limitations of rationalism. One wants to break out of the clearly arguable, demonstrable things which really are not very meaningful, or very useful or inspiring, nor does one even sense any enormous truth in them.

Stephen King recalled Kubrick calling him late at night while he was filming The Shining and Kubrick asked him, "Do you believe in God?" King said that he had answered, "Yes," but has had three different versions of what happened next. One time, he said that Kubrick simply hung up on him. On other occasions, he claimed Kubrick said, "I knew it," and then hung up on him. On yet another occasion, King claimed that Kubrick said, before hanging up, "No, I don't think there is a God." Stephen King said that the primary reason why he didn't like Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining was as follows:

"I think there are two basic problems with the movie. First, Kubrick is a very cold man—pragmatic and rational—and he had great difficulty conceiving even academically, of a supernatural world … Not that religion has to be involved in horror, but a visceral skeptic such as Kubrick just couldn't grasp the sheer inhuman evil of the Overlook Hotel. So he looked, instead, for evil in the characters and made the film into a domestic tragedy with only vaguely supernatural overtones. That was the basic flaw: because he couldn't believe, he couldn't make the film believable to others."

Curiously and ironically, King's choice for directing the 1997 miniseries version of The Shining was Mick Garris, who, according to the interview with his wife found on the DVD of the Masters of Horror series episode of "Chocolate", was a "confirmed atheist", who does not believe in the supernatural at all, while Kubrick was actually more open to the possibility. Also, King said that he believed H. P. Lovecraft was the greatest master of the classic horror tale (something he shared in common with Kubrick), but Lovecraft famously scoffed at the notion of a literal belief in the supernatural and was a very rational and pragmatic man himself.

Finally, Katharina Kubrick Hobbs was asked by alt.movies.kubrick if Stanley Kubrick believed in God. Here is her response:

"Hmm, tricky. I think he believed in something, if you understand my meaning. He was a bit of a fatalist actually, but he was also very superstitious. Truly a mixture of nature and nurture. I don't know exactly what he believed, he probably would have said that no-one can really ever know for sure, and that it would be rather arrogant to assume that one could *know*. I asked him once after The Shining, if he believed in ghosts. He said that it would be nice if there "were" ghosts, as that would imply that there is something after death. In fact, I think he said, "Gee I hope so."...He did not have a religious funeral service. He's not buried in consecrated ground. We always celebrated Christmas and had huge Christmas trees."

Aspect ratio

There has been a longstanding debate regarding the DVD releases of Kubrick's films; specifically, the aspect ratio of many of the films. The primary point of contention relates to his final five films, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. All five films were projected theatrically with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The DVD for A Clockwork Orange has an aspect ratio of 1.66:1; the remaining four films are 1.33:1 ("fullscreen").

Kubrick was very upset about television screenings of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Because the film was shot for Cinerama, it was one of the few times Kubrick used a widescreen ratio (originally 2.2:1 , modified to 2.35:1 ); for television, the distributor created a pan-and-scan transfer at 1.33:1, compromising many of the images Kubrick had meticulously created. Following this, he decided to shoot all of his films open-matte (the full 1.33:1 frame is exposed on the actual film, but, when projected, this image is matted to 1.85:1). Kubrick never approved a 1.85:1 video transfer of any of his films; when he died, in 1999, DVD was only beginning to catch on strongly, and most people were still used to seeing movies fill their television screen. Warner Home Video chose to release these films with the transfers which Kubrick had explicitly approved. Subsequent to that, some evidence has been brought out which suggests that Kubrick (along with his directors of photography) did, in fact, compose shots for 1.85:1 (though the evidence is strongest for The Shining, people extrapolate and apply it to all of them). According to statements by Kubrick's long-time assistant Jan Harlan, the next wave of releases will be 1.85:1, though specifics have not been mentioned (including whether A Clockwork Orange will be 1.85:1 as originally projected, or 1.66:1 which, apparently, Kubrick preferred).

There is a secondary concern related to aspect ratio. During the days of laserdisc, The Criterion Collection released six Kubrick films. Spartacus and 2001 were both widescreen (2.35:1 and 2.2:1, respectively) at the same ratio as their subsequent DVD releases, and The Killing and Paths of Glory were both fullscreen (1.33:1), as these films were released when projectors could still show 1.33:1. Dr. Strangelove and Lolita, though, were given very atypical aspect ratios, in transfers personally overseen by Kubrick. For unspecified reasons, Kubrick chose to give both films an alternating aspect ratio; at times, the image is 1.33:1, while at other times, the image is 1.66:1. This is sometimes falsely attributed to the use of stock footage in Strangelove. The initial DVD releases of Strangelove maintained this approved transfer, but for the most recent two-disc special edition, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment replaced it with a new, digitally remastered anamorphic transfer with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. All DVD releases of Lolita to date have been at a uniform 1.66:1 aspect ratio, and the expectation is that future releases will retain this aspect ratio.

Also of note, laserdisc releases of 2001 were in a slightly flawed aspect ratio. The film was shot for 70mm, with an approximate ratio of 2.2:1, but many theaters could only show it in 35mm, which is 2.35:1. Thus, the picture was slightly modified for the 35mm prints. The laserdisc releases maintained the 2.2:1 ratio, but applied it to a 35mm print; thus, the edges were slightly cropped, and the top and bottom of the image slightly opened up. This seems to have finally been corrected with the most recent DVD release, which was newly remastered from a 70mm print.

In debates over Kubrick's original intent, he is frequently quoted as saying that he likes/prefers height to width. However, without context, it is unclear whether he made this statement regarding 1.85:1 vs. 1.33:1 or 2.35:1 vs. 1.85:1. The latter would certainly be possible, given that many filmmakers contemporary to Kubrick used 2.35:1 as a default aspect ratio, whereas Kubrick only used it once, at the studio's insistence on Spartacus (though coming very close on 2001).

Filmography

Documentary Short Films

• Day of the Fight (1951)
• Flying Padre (1951)
• The Seafarers (1953)

Feature Films

• Fear and Desire (1953)
• Killer's Kiss (1955)
• The Killing (1956)
• Paths of Glory (1957)
• Spartacus (1960)
• Lolita (1962)
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• Barry Lyndon (1975)
• The Shining (1980)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

References

• 1. http://www.krusch.com/kubrick/Q13.html
• 2. http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0037.html
• 3. David Hughes (2000). The Complete Kubrick. London: Virgin. ISBN 0-7535-0452-9.
• 4. Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. Documentary film. Dir. Jan Harlan. Warner Home Video, 2001. 142 min.
• 5. Kubrick on The Shining An interview with Michel Ciment
• 6. The Hechinger Debacle
• 7. Anthony Burgess, (1962, 1986). A Clockwork Orange. Norton. ISBN 0-393-31283-6. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• 8. Stanley Kubrick, (2001). Stanley Kubrick: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-297-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• 9. Jeremy Bernstein (November 1966). "A Day in the Life of Stanley Kubrick". The New Yorker.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
• 10. Lyons, V and Fitzgerald, M. (2005) ‘’Asperger syndrome : a gift or a curse?’’ New York : Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 1-59454-387-9
• 11. Rainer Crone (text) and Stanley Kubrick (photographs) (2005). Drama and Shadows: Photographs 1945-1950. Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-4438-1.
• 12. Alison Castle (editor) and Stanley Kubrick (photographs) (2005). The Stanley Kubrick Archives. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)

External links

• Stanley Kubrick at IMDb
• Stanley Kubrick at the TCM Movie Database
• The Authorized Stanley Kubrick Web Site by Warner Bros.
• Stanley Kubrick: The Master Filmmaker
• The Kubrick Site
• Kubrick on Senses of Cinema (In Depth Biography)
• Stanley Kubrick biography and credits at the BFI's Screenonline
• Multi-media Kubrick archive
• The Guardian: Citizen Kubrick
• Kubrick Multimedia Film Guide
• List of interviews and Look photographs
• List of all the published Look photographs
• A Life In Pictures : A Stanley Kubrick Forum

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• Jewish film directors
• People from the Bronx
• American expatriates in the United Kingdom
• Deaths from cardiovascular disease