Part of the New Hollywood era of cinema,[1][2]Kubrick's films are considered by film historian Michel Ciment to be "among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century",[3] and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in the history of cinema.[4][5] According to film historian and Kubrick scholar Robert Kolker,[6][7][8][9] Kubrick's films were "more intellectually rigorous than the work of any other American filmmaker."[6]
Orson Welles, one of Kubrick's strongest personal influences, famously said: "Among those whom I would call 'younger generation', Kubrick appears to me to be a giant."[10]
Many filmmakers imitate Kubrick's inventive and unique use of camera movement and framing. For example, several of Jonathan Glazer's music videos contain visual references to Kubrick.[20] The Coen Brothers' Barton Fink, in which the hotel itself seems malevolent,[21] contains a hotel hallway Steadicam shot as an homage to The Shining. The storytelling style of their Hudsucker Proxy was influenced by Dr. Strangelove.[22] Director Tim Burton has included a few visual homages to Kubrick in his work, notably using actual footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,[23] and modeling the look of Tweedledee and Tweedledum in his version of Alice in Wonderland on the Grady girls in The Shining.[24] Film critic Roger Ebert also noted that Burton's Mars Attacks! was partially inspired by Dr. Strangelove.[25] The video for The Killers' song "Bones" that Burton directed includes clips from Kubrick's Lolita, as well as other films from the general era. Satyajit Ray, an Indian film director and screenwriter, greatly admired the works of Stanley Kubrick, calling him a great technician. In his words: 'I am fascinated by what he does all the time because he is a superb technician, not that his subject matter greatly appealed to me.'
Kubrick's influence on Todd Field was perhaps the most direct. After acting in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Field immediately went on to make In the Bedroom. William Arnold, in reviewing the film, wrote:
Like Kubrick, Field's direction manages to feel both highly controlled and effortlessly spontaneous at the same time; and his lifting of the facade of this picturesque, Norman Rockwell setting is carried out with surgical precision... also like Kubrick, Field doesn't make any moral judgments about his characters, and his film remains stubbornly enigmatic. It can be read as a high-class revenge thriller, an ode to the futility of vengeance or almost anything in between.[26]
In January 2002 Field cited Kubrick as an important inspiration:
He confirmed a lot of things for me about the process of making a film… single-mindedness… trusting your script, not trying to make everybody love it.[27]
Although Michael Moore specializes in documentary filmmaking, at the beginning of shooting his only non-documentary feature film Canadian Bacon, he sat his cast and crew down to watch Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He told them, "What this movie was in the '60s, is what we should aspire to with this film." Moore had previously written Kubrick a letter telling him how much Bacon was inspired by Strangelove.[28]
Use of music
Paul Thomas Anderson (who was fond of Kubrick as a teenager)[29] in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, stated "it's so hard to do anything that doesn't owe some kind of debt to what Stanley Kubrick did with music in movies. Inevitably, you're going to end up doing something that he's probably already done before. It can all seem like we're falling behind whatever he came up with."[30] Reviewer William Arnold described Anderson's There Will Be Blood as a stylistic homage to Kubrick, "particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey– opening with a similar prologue that jumps in stages over the years and using a soundtrack throughout that employs anachronistic music."[31]
Film director Frank Darabont has been inspired by Kubrick's use of music. In an interview with The Telegraph, he states that 2001 took "the use of music in film" to absolute perfection, and one shot employing classical music in The Shawshank Redemption follows Kubrick's lead. On the other hand, while Darabont has followed Kubrick in directing two Stephen King adaptations, Darabont shares Stephen King's negative view of Kubrick's adaption of The Shining and claims that 2001 is his greatest film.[32]
Critics occasionally detect a Kubrickian influence when the filmmaker acknowledges none. Critics have noticed the influence of Stanley Kubrick on Danish independent director Nicolas Winding Refn. Jim Pappas suggests this comes from Refn's employment of Kubrick's cinematographer for Eyes Wide Shut in his film Fear X, suggesting "it is the Kubrick influence that leaves us asking ourselves what we believe we should know is true".[33] The apparent influence of Kubrick on his film Bronson was noted by the Los Angeles Times[34] and the French publication Evene[35] When asked by Twitch about the very frequent comparisons by critics of the film Bronson to A Clockwork Orange, Refn denied the influence.[36] Refn stated
Of course if you put violence with classical music, people think it's obvious that's Clockwork Orange, because Kubrick used it very well and you always look at it as a reference. There are similarities between my Bronson and the Alex character from Clockwork Orange. There is kind of anti-authoritarian popculture iconish quality, but I stole every single thing from Kenneth Anger. Bronson is a mixture of [Anger's] Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) and Scorpio Rising (1964).
Kubrick's direction has impacted the field of rock music as well. American rock group the Byrds were inspired to cover Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" for their album Mr. Tambourine Man after hearing the song's use in Dr. Strangelove.
A number of people who worked with Kubrick on his films created the 2001 documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, produced and directed by Kubrick's brother-in-law, Jan Harlan, who had executive produced Kubrick's last four films.[39] The film's chapters each cover one of Kubrick's films, and Kubrick's childhood is explored in the introductory section.
Stanley Kubrick travelling exhibition
For nearly twenty years, an exhibition devoted to Kubrick has circulated from city to city around the world. Exhibits include a wide collection of documents, photographs and on-set material assembled from 800 boxes of personal archives that were stored in Kubrick's home-workplace in the U.K,[40] as well as items custom built for the exhibition.[41] The collection, curated by Deutsches Filminstitut and Deutsches Architekturmuseum, was first displayed in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 2004; followed by Berlin (2005); Melbourne, Australia (2006); Ghent, Belgium, and Zurich, Switzerland (both in 2007); Rome, Italy (2008); Paris, France (2011); and Amsterdam, Netherlands (2012), and Los Angeles (October 2012 to June 2013).[42]
The show then travelled to Brazil in conjunction with the São Paulo International Film Festival in October 2013, which paid tribute to Kubrick, staging an exhibit of his work and a retrospective of his films.[46] It next travelled to Krakow, Poland (May-September 2014), and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in late 2014, running to January 2015.[47] Succeeding exhibitions, typically continuing for about six months at a time, were held in Monterrey, Mexico (March to July 2016), Seoul, Korea (November 2014 to March 2016), San Francisco (June to October 2016), Mexico City (December 2016 to July 2017), Copenhagen (September 2017 to January 2018), Frankfurt, Germany (March to September 2018), Barcelona, Spain (October 2018 to March 2019), New York City (January 2020 to October 2021, including a pause for Covid-19), Madrid, Spain (December 2021 to May 2022) and Istanbul, Turkey (September 2022 to March 2023).[42]
Rankings
In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ranked Kubrick at No. 23 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list.[48][49]MovieMaker magazine ranked him at No. 6 on their 2002 list of The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time.[50] Kubrick was ranked 8th in director's poll on Sight & Sound's 2002 list of The Greatest Directors of All Time.[51] Kubrick was ranked at No. 4 on Empire magazine's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005.[48] In 2007, Total Film magazine ranked Kubrick at No. 8 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list.[52]
In 2009, an exhibition of paintings and photos inspired by Kubrick's films was held in Dublin, Ireland, entitled 'Stanley Kubrick: Taming Light'.[57] In 2010, painter (and film storyboard artist) Carlos Ramos held an exhibition entitled "Kubrick" in Los Angeles, featuring paintings in a variety of styles based on scenes from Stanley Kubrick films.[58]
Abel Tesfaye, also known as 'The Weeknd' is an avid cinephile[59] and has been known to integrate cinema into his music.[60] He too has expressed an admiration for Stanley Kubrick by citing him as an artistic influence; he has constantly referenced his work in his music videos such as "Call Out My Name"[61] and "Save Your Tears."[62]
Among her multiple allusions to Kubrick in song and video, pop singer Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance" appeared to pay homage to Kubrick,[63] and her concert shows have included the use of dialogue, costumes, and music from A Clockwork Orange.[64] He was also mentioned in her song "Dance in the Dark", alongside other famous people who died tragically, like Jesus and JonBenet Ramsey. Her concert shows have included the use of dialogue, costumes, and music from A Clockwork Orange.[65]
American heavy metal band Slipknot had paid homage to The Shining with the music video of their song, "Spit it Out", directed by Thomas Mignone, where it consists of conceptual imagery of the bandmates each portraying characters enacting iconic scenes from the film, with Joey Jordison as Danny Torrance; Shawn Crahan and Chris Fehn as the Grady twins; Corey Taylor as Jack Torrance; Mick Thomson as Lloyd the Bartender; Craig Jones as Dick Hallorann; James Root as Wendy Torrance; Paul Gray as Harry Derwent; and Sid Wilson as the corpse in the bathtub. The video was banned from MTV for overtly graphic and violent depictions, including Corey Taylor's smashing through a door with an axe and the scene wherein James Root viciously assaults Corey Taylor with a baseball bat. Mignone and the band eventually re-edited a less violent version, which was subsequently aired on MTV.[67][68]
American heavy metal band Mudvayne also paid tribute to The Shining with their 2007 song, "Dull Boy" right from its opening hook being the quote, "all work and no play makes me a dull boy." Frontman and singer Chad Gray is also a fan of Kubrick as the song was written as a tribute and homage to him as well as Stephen King, the original author of novel.
American metalcore band Ice Nine Kills released a song celebrating the 37th anniversary of The Shining, entitled "Enjoy Your Slay". The song is based on the film adaptation of The Shining and features Kubrick's grandson, Sam, as a guest vocalist.
In 2023, the Stanley Kubrick Estate announced that actor Steve Coogan would be playing the leading roles in a West End adadaption of the film, Dr.Strangelove, scheduled to open in October 2024.[69]
In the early 1990s, a con artist named Alan Conway frequented the London entertainment scene claiming to be Stanley Kubrick, and temporarily deceived New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich, as well as multiple aspiring actors. Kubrick's personal assistant, Anthony Frewin, who helped track Conway down, wrote the screenplay for a film based on the Conway affair Colour Me Kubrick, starring John Malkovich as Alan Conway. Kubrick's widow, Christiane Kubrick, was also a consultant for the film. The film contains several tongue-in-cheek homages to scenes from Kubrick's films. Conway was earlier the subject of the short documentary film The Man Who Would be Kubrick.
Kubrick was portrayed on film by actor Stanley Tucci in the film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. Although Sellers acted in two of Kubrick's films, the material here is almost wholly focused on their work together in Dr. Strangelove.
In 2012, the documentary film Room 237 was released, which speculates about overt and hidden meanings behind The Shining. The film includes footage from that and other Kubrick films, along with discussions by a number of Kubrick experts. The film includes nine segments, with each segment focusing on different elements within the film which "may reveal hidden clues and hint at a bigger thematic oeuvre."[70]
In 2017, Filmworker was released, which was a documentary about Leon Vitali, an actor first cast in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Vitali would become a friend and frequent collaborator to the director on his subsequent films as his assistant. The film explores his friendship and working relationship with Kubrick.
Related Research Articles
Barry Lyndon is a 1975 epic historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray. Narrated by Michael Hordern, and starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard Rossiter and Hardy Krüger, the film recounts the early exploits and later unravelling of an 18th-century Anglo-Irish rogue and golddigger who marries a rich widow to climb the social ladder and assume her late husband's aristocratic position.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character. The film, financed and released by Columbia Pictures, was a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's setting from early twentieth-century Vienna to 1990s New York City. The plot centers on a doctor who is shocked when his wife reveals that she had contemplated having an affair 12 months earlier. He then embarks on a night-long adventure, during which he infiltrates a masked orgy of an unnamed secret society.
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 psychological war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel The Short-Timers. It stars Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, and Arliss Howard.
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or short stories, spanning a number of genres and gaining recognition for their intense attention to detail, innovative cinematography, extensive set design, and dark humor.
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. The film presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist (Nicholson) who takes a job as winter caretaker for a haunted resort hotel with his wife (Duvall) and clairvoyant son (Lloyd).
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian crime film adapted, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It employs disturbing and violent themes to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian near-future Britain.
Jan Harlan is a German-American executive producer who worked with his brother-in-law, the director Stanley Kubrick, on his last five films.
The Stanley Kubrick Archive is held by the University of the Arts London in their Archives and Special Collection Centre at the London College of Communication. The Archive opened in October 2007 and contains material collected and owned by the film director Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999). It was transferred from his home in 2007 through a gift by his family. It contains much of Kubrick's working material that was accumulated during his lifetime.
Ray Lovejoy was a British film editor with about thirty editing credits. He had a notable collaboration with director Peter Yates that extended over six films including The Dresser (1983), which was nominated for numerous BAFTA Awards and Academy Awards.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay was written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and it was inspired by multiple short stories by Clarke, including "The Sentinel" (1951). Clarke also published a novelisation of the film, in part written concurrently with the screenplay, after the film's release. 2001: A Space Odyssey stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Douglas Rain and follows a voyage by astronauts, scientists, and the sentient supercomputer HAL 9000 to Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith.
Hawk Films was a British film production company formed by American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick to produce his 1964 film Dr. Strangelove. Kubrick also used it as a production company for his later films A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980), and Full Metal Jacket (1987).
Drive is a 2011 American action drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The screenplay, written by Hossein Amini, is based on James Sallis's 2005 novel. The film stars Ryan Gosling as an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. He quickly grows fond of his neighbor, Irene, and her young son, Benicio. When her debt-ridden husband, Standard, is released from prison, the two men take part in what turns out to be a botched million-dollar heist that endangers the lives of everyone involved. The film co-stars Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks.
The following is a list of unproduced Stanley Kubrick projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Stanley Kubrick had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell or are officially cancelled.
The political and religious views of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) have been subjects of speculation during his lifetime and after his death. It is generally agreed that Kubrick was fascinated by the possibilities of a supernatural reality, as reflected in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and The Shining (1980).
A list of books and essays about Stanley Kubrick and his films.
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Rob Ager is a British internet film critic and analyst. He has published in-depth analyses of a variety of films, including the horror genre and the works of Stanley Kubrick in particular. He has a YouTube channel, "Collative Learning" and a website of the same name.
↑ Willman, Chris (November 8, 2007). "There Will Be Music". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
↑ Lynch, Paul (September 27, 2009). "Stanley's Rubric". Sunday Tribune (Ireland). Archived from the original on October 21, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2011. The Sunday Tribune shut down its website in early 2011, and the website of this article appears to have been not archived by the Wayback Machine. The text of the article has been reproduced (without the painting reproductions) at a website for the exhibit
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