Monday, July 26, 2021

The Real Stanley Kubrick - July 26, 2006

 

How did one of Hollywood's greatest recluses become one of its most idiosyncratic directors? That's only one of the riddles that add up to Stanley Kubrick, whose birthday we note today. 

Despite having no training as a filmmaker, he was directing independent documentaries at the age of 23, and by 27, he'd helmed his first major feature, Killer's Kiss. Such big-budget movies as Spartacus and Dr. Strangelove followed. 

Disenchanted with the studio system, Kubrick relocated to England, where he remained for the rest of his life, turning out 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining, among other films. 

His quirks were legendary: He never returned to the U.S., but was a huge fan of both Seinfeld and The Simpsons. He listened to air traffic controllers on the radio, but refused to fly. Once his films were finished, he never watched them. 

Kubrick kept such a low profile, in fact, that a British travel agent successfully posed as him, despite neither looking like him nor knowing anything about his films.

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