Stanley Kubrick: Trivia

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Source: Theiapolis

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

One of the many popular myths about Kubrick is that he was a chess grandmaster. He wasn't, although by all accounts he was a highly skilled player; indeed, it has often been noted that he approached his projects from the point of view of a chess strategist. On occasion, Kubrick himself was known to recall how, as a young director, he would earn enough money to feed himself by hustling chess games for quarters in Manhattan's Washington Square.

A popular rumour, started in the mid-80s, was that Kubrick had not only shot a fan who intruded on his property, but delivered a coup de grâce gunshot to the intruder's face because he had bled on the grass. This was untrue and was intended to irritate Kubrick into giving an interview; he didn't, though he was deeply upset.

He is the voice of Murphy, the soldier on the other end of the radio communication, in Full Metal Jacket.

The only female character in Paths of Glory, the beautiful singer in the final scene, became Christiane Kubrick a year or two after starring in his film.

In 1990, he began preparations for a film about the Holocaust, Aryan Papers. During this period, he became deeply depressed due to the content he was working with. In 1991, Spielberg announced he would direct Schindler's List, so Kubrick gave up the project.

He worked on multiple projects at a time, with surprisingly few reaching fruition. Some of the more well-developed films that never made it include Napoleon (1969 - 1971), which was cancelled upon the release of Waterloo; Aryan Papers (1988 - 1991); and Blue Movie (late 1960s, early 1970s), about a director so prolific he is allowed to direct a pornographic movie starring major Hollywood celebrities. This project was proposed by Terry Southern following their collaboration on Strangelove and was the basis of his novel "Blue Movie". For a short time in 1997, it was believed that Kubrick was making his own "blue movie" with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise (this later turned out to be Eyes Wide Shut).

The last occasion on which Kubrick was seen in public was at a performance of "The Blue Room" at the Donmar Warehouse then starring Nicole Kidman.

Both Brian Aldiss and Fredrick Raphael who worked for several years with Kubrick on projects testified to his eccentric working and personal habits (including eating desserts with his main course at meals) though Kubrick's aides have disputed their accounts. The journalist Jon Ronson has been given access to Kubrick's extensive files and reports that in preparation for 'Eyes Wide Shut' he had an aide photograph every front door in the Islington area of London.

Kubrick often had an antagonistic relationship with the writers with whom he collaborated. Arthur C. Clarke was upset that Kubrick's actions caused the delay of the publication of his novel "2001: A Space Odyssey" so that it appeared the book was a novelization of the film rather that the film an adaptation of the book as the pair had agreed. Anthony Burgess was appalled that he was called on to defend "A Clockwork Orange" when Kubrick refused to as the film contradicted the message of his novel. Stephen King was so upset by Kubrick's variations from his novel that he commissioned a new film version of 'The Shining'.

From the 1970s onwards, he was often described as a recluse, but he frequently socialized with people (though mostly on his own idiosyncratic terms), and was often involved with minutiae regarding the treatment of his films and his estate. During the 1980s he was involved in a fractious dispute with neighbours to his property in Hertfordshire.