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| NAME: Stanley Kubrick |
| BORN: 26 July 1928 - 7 March 1999 |
| PLACE: New York City, USA |
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Stanley Kubrick (July 26th 1928 - March 7th 1999)
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor who did most of his work as an expatriate in the United Kingdom. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His films, typically adaptations of novels or short stories, were noted for their "dazzling" and unique cinematography, attention to details to achieve realism and an inspired use of music scores. Kubrick's films covered a variety of genres, including war, crime, romantic and black comedies, horror, epic and science fiction. Kubrick was also noted for being a perfectionist, using painstaking care with scene staging and working closely with his actors.
Starting out as a photographer in New York City, he taught himself all aspects of film production and directing after graduating from high school. After becoming successfull spent most of the rest of his career living and filming in the United Kingdom. Many of his films broke new ground in cinematography, including 2001: A Space Odyssey , with innovative visual effects and scientific realism. For Barry Lyndon Kubrick designed lenses to film scenes under natural candlelight and The Shining was among the first feature films to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots. He directed, produced and wrote all or part of the screenplays for nearly all his film. One of the greatest movie makers of all time. It's a shame he died before 2001.
Trivia
Rarely gave interviews. He did, however, appear in a documentary made by his daughter Vivian Kubrick shot during the making of The Shining
He had a well-known fear of flying, but he had to fly quite often early in his career
Refused to talk about his movies on set as he was directing them and never watched them when they were completed.
One of the founders of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.
The controversy around A Clockwork Orange UK release was so strong that Kubrick was flooded with angry letters and protesters were showing up at his home, demanding that the film never be shown in England again. He personally petitioned the studio to pull it from theaters.
His next project after Eyes Wide Shut (1999) was to be A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), which was taken over by Steven Spielberg. It is dedicated to Kubrick's memory.
Several of his novel adaptations were often met with angry reactions from the authors, because they are usually unfaithful to the source material.
Kubrick's favorite pastime was chess and he was said to be a master at it.
People would come to his door looking for him, and as few people knew what he looked like, he would tell them that "Stanley Kubrick wasn't home."
Had an extensive and rich friendship with Malcolm McDowell during the filming of A Clockwork Orange. After filming ended, Kubrick never contacted him again.
He reportedly briefly considered leaving England for either Vancouver, Canada or Sydney, Australia.
According to his wife Christiane Kubrick, he would screen every movie he could get ahold of. One of his favorites was The Jerk. He considered making Eyes Wide Shut a dark sex comedy with Steve Martin in the lead. He even met with Martin to discuss the project.
According to his close friend Michael Herr, he watched The Godfather (1972) over ten times and said it was probably the greatest film ever made.
He considered Elia Kazan the best American director of all time. His list of favorite directors included at various times Federico Fellini, David Lean, Ingmar Bergman, Vittorio De Sica, François Truffaut, and Max Ophüls.
Was a lackadaisical student with grades near the bottom of his class.
He was a huge fan of the New York Yankees.
Seven of his last nine films were nominated for Oscars. He was nominated for Best Director four consecutive times, for his pictures starting with Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and ending with Barry Lyndon.
By the age of thirteen, he had become passionate about photography, chess and jazz drumming.
At the age of 16, he snapped a photograph of a news vendor in New York the day after President Franklin D. Roosevelt died. He sold the photograph to Look magazine, which printed it. The magazine eventually hired him as an apprentice photographer while he was still in high school.
Starting with Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), he independently produced all his films from his adopted home of England, UK.
He joined with directors Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack and George Lucas in forming the Film Foundation (promotes restoration and preservation of film - May 1990).
His favorite cartoon character was Woody Woodpecker. Kubrick reportedly loved Woody Woodpecker so much that he wanted to feature him in every film he ever made
Grew up in the Bronx.
Was of Austrian descent.
A few days before his abrupt death, he revealed his least and most favorite personal films. He labeled Fear and Desire (1953) as his least favorite personal film, and Eyes Wide Shut (1999) as his most favorite personal film.
First grew his famous beard during the making of "2001:A Space Odyssey". He kept the beard for the rest of his life and kept his hair long.
Used to skip school to take in double-features at the cinema.
Was of Austrian, Roman and Polish descent.
While working for, One-Eyed Jacks (1961), in Brando's home, Brando asked visitors to remove their shoes so as not to scratch the wooden floor. Kubrick often removed his pants as well, choosing to work in nothing but his shirt and underwear.
A heavy chain smoker in his youth, he mostly quit smoking in the 1970s (his forties), but would still smoke occasionally under the pressure of his shoots. On the other hand, he was said to rarely ever drink alcohol.
One of his favorite films was Eraserhead (1977) directed by David Lynch.
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