Kubrick Remembered (2014) - full transcript

[Music]

Stanley was finished with Eyes Wide Shut

and he was exhausted

he suffered discomfort and huge

tiredness in the last two weeks

they were overworked and even for his

lack of sleep he had him less sleep I

didn't think he looked well at all I was

worried about him and I was all set to

send him to a doctor to have a checkup

and he looked awfully pale he was



exhausted which is very much a sign of a

bad heart I had a father who died of a

heart attack so I assumed if there was

anything wrong with him it would be the

same symptoms a wrong assumption because

most people who have a heart attack are

very surprised by it he had a big in

fact which is a clot

[Music]

when I very much hope is that his brain

was gone before he had any sensation of

suffocation or suffering

I console myself would have been so

unhappy with a horrible heart that



constantly makes him die over and over

and over

I'm so sad he died so young but we were

really very happy for 42 years we were

one of the lucky couples

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

unlike rumors about him that he was a

hermit Stanley was the opposite of a

recluse first of all he was an immensely

curious person he wanted to know

everything about everybody - a tactless

degree and he would come right out and

ask people in this is Stanley you got I

just wanna know you know and that could

both be insulting and flattering because

you know most people are just not that

interested in anything as he was recluse

that's not true we used to go down into

the little town St. Albans and walk

around the supermarket it's just that

nobody knew what he looked like

so he never got bothered when he was

doing that work Center was at home so

there was nowhere to go to go to work so

that was another area of it which people

don't understand it wasn't that he

didn't go anywhere because you didn't

want to go anywhere he didn't need to go

anywhere you could be a hermit poet a

hermit novelist a hermit gardener but

you can't be a hermit filmmaker that's a

big misconception about him

I mean Stanley was very hilarious and as

a film director I mean he was surrounded

by people too I mean he loved people

talking to be the right people I mean

fools didn't last long with Stanley

[Music]

Stanley was a lot of fun he would invite

us to his home for dinners from time to

time the most stimulating company and

there were people from all walks of life

not the face not the film business

scientists painters writers and he could

hold his own on any level on any subject

I mean he was an autodidact I suspect he

was amazing I was no more private than

myself for anybody that's is not you

know a social butterfly but we were

invited you know every weekend to go and

drink beers and watch a movie with him

and talk about anything

that very day I met Stanley he invited

me over to his house you know in St.

Albans for dinner and so I get a chance

not only to meet Stanley but the same

day to meet Christian and his kids and

the entire evening I spent in his house

was spent in the kitchen I did a dining

room I don't a formal dining room but it

was in a kitchen

I couldn't believe because I had also

heard the Stanley was kind of distant

and cool but he was a family man first

and foremost and that's the thing that

surprised me the most

he had his kids and he had his wife

obvious there was a very tight family he

is very much in love with her you could

tell that for sure

[Music]

I met Stanley because he saw me on

television and he wanted to cast me for

the girl in Paths of Glory and so I went

to his office in Geiselgasteig and there

he sat and I was very impressed and so

was he

[Music]

when I got to Munich just before there's

a glory it was about Judy Stanley said

that he had an idea for her for the end

of the movie which was not in the script

he explained to me that there's a German

woman in the hands of the French would

come up on the stage and sing a song and

he said and I have just the girl to do

the part and it just so happens that

we're going out together too and I said

oh now I understand what this is about

he'd written that scene because he

wanted a lyrical ending for the film and

Harris accused him of just wanting to

sleep with me and sacrificing his

artistic purity to that which was not

true it really was not true and it's a

point of honour for me to mention that I

didn't interfere in anything I had

already been hired and everything and

then it all started and nothing to do

with Jim Harris's fantasy of total moral

decline

I saw the light at some point that if he

was he was so right it turned out to be

so important as a punctuation for that

picture and Stanley went on to marry her

which was it wasn't like just a fling or

a passing fancy

the song I sang in passive glory was my

last part and I knew that also from then

on I I really he was a control freak I

wasn't allowed out of his sight so it

was very happy because ever since I met

him it seemed to me that all the other

people that I knew were really

horrendously boring in comparison

[Music]

Stanley grew up fairly sheltered except he

lived in the Bronx so once he was out of

the house not so sheltered so he really

lived very much New York City life his

father gave him a camera and that was it

he'd learned to do it properly he did

everything in the darkroom he knew

everything about lenses he was quite

scientific in his approach and really

eager to know so by the time he got his

first job in Look magazine he was a

child really he was just 17 socially

totally inadequate to have this job and

you ran into endless amount of trouble

socially but he made good money and he

was very only safe didn't he was very

sensible and he also was making money on

the side playing chess it was a very

good chess player then he was clever

enough to realize that what he really

wanted to make his films and that he had

to give up what had become a very

lucrative job by now

and saved up money to make his first

film and his uncle lend him some money

in the whole story it's very

hand-knitted the start of his career I

sometimes read his old Diaries when he

was a very young man and I wish I could

show this to film students it would give

them courage how difficult it is to make

up how nobody wanted to talk to him on

the phone I got nothing but rejection

after rejection for everything he did

and he never gave up and that I believe

is the testing ground for most artists

this ability to just hang in there

because that's what you have to do we

finally got married I think it was on

the 14th of April in Las Vegas and I had

never seen Las Vegas everybody said what

his son so sleazy

it was brilliant to a young European to

go to Las Vegas was AHA everything you

know fabulous and then we lived in Los

Angeles when I arrived not only was the

weather amazing everything was and I

went to UCLA I was very grateful to UCLA

sort of filling me in on

certain things and I studied birth

painting and English there the mixture

of toddlers and a painter is not very

good for your home decoration I knew

many women painters whose husband

wouldn't allow them to make a mess I

messed up every room

luckily Stanley was extremely tolerant

of all my painting stuff

boy did I not fit in our app or had a

very patient husband I must say and I

made every social mistake possible as

you can imagine Jim Harris was forever

trying to bring me up to scratch and

they taught me horrible things to say in

English with great amusement so they

they trained me to be an American and

then soon we left for England that have

been trained to be English so now I'm

just a wreck 5060 years ago you could be

a celebrity and still be a private

person nowadays if you're a celebrity

the public feel that they own you and

you're expected to go on TV they're your

soul your heart you know you become so

public property in other words Stanley I

guess was a bit old-fashioned in that

way and in the sense that he thought

well what matters of the film so I mean

not what I had for breakfast or my

favorite color

this is unimportant it's the work that

matters it wasn't compass or vein of

walking around thinking I'm a genius he

were the very opposite the very fact if

you care that much about making good

films you constantly find yourself

inadequate so did he he wasn't a

show-off at all and never played the

mister film director for one second he

did come back from the BBC once and he'd

say oh god it was so embarrassing this

man you know recognized me in the

hallway and I had to give him my

autograph and the fact is he liked to

live his life slightly differently from

other people and could afford to do it

and did it but not a lot of people build

around lives in that way didn't care to

do interviews or to be recognized in the

street which is not a criminal offense

it's just the way that he liked it that

was a great treasure to have that he

could be incognito but isn't that the

ultimate luxury though being famous for

your work and what you do what's

important and not have to worry about

some lens following you because he

wouldn't talk to the press there

from the press like to build up some

kind of myths about him but it wasn't

accurate in the case of Stan Lee he had

a very bad relationship always with the

UK press but it was only the UK press

and the rest of the world it was fine

the English press didn't like him

because he never talked to them he was

so often invited by TV and radio to talk

and to be in chat shows if there was

anything important to say he would put

it in his film and that was the end of

it I think he thought of it himself he

says I am far better as a filmmaker than

I would be as a judge-show guest I would be

inferior I would say wrong things I would

be nervous he had no faith in himself

at all in that and he apologized to

Warner Brothers he just said I can't do

it forget it I make a fool of myself I

felt like at the end of it that what he

had created was a kind of Wizard of Oz

character what he projected out to the

world that brow in those eyes and the

focus of making a film that was the way

that he wanted the world to see him but

then what I discovered as Toto the

little dog running and pulling the

curtain back was that it was just a kid

from the Bronx who was in love with

making movies saying he had two things

that he was devoted to and he separated

his time and and devoted 100% of that

separation in each case one was to his

work the other to his family it was

probably a tough test master for the

children because he is the tough

taskmaster for his work as well but it's

because of her dedication is because of

a desire to bring out the best in the

movie that he's making or if the

children's growing up he was very

protective he didn't like going to bed

if the cats weren't all home and and he

didn't know where we all were and thank

God there were no bar phones when we

were teenagers oh my god you know

where are you so yeah he was extremely

protective but also very supportive and

certainly if ever you were confused

about anything what to study what job to

have any of that stuff he would always

come up trumps

always always always he was problem

solver number one he loved his children

he loved me and he wanted us to do

exactly what he thought was right that

felt very bad for his daughters

especially during the woman's Lib ere I

remember bringing one boy home one time

I was about 17 and he had dinner and you

know he'd had the look and the questions

and I just saw God so we came back and

he dropped me off at the door and I was

going upstairs and dad pokes his head

out of the dining room door and he looks

at me says you're kidding right I was just like

but I was the first of three girls my sister's

got away with murder

I sort of cleared the way

[Music]

a lot of people didn't realize how good

his sense of humor was it was very very

very funny sense of their world appear

as as I said when I would be here at the

house and you know he'd be making tea

you know he wasn't particularly

practical with these things but he was

always happy to do you want a cup of

coffee Larry you want some toast he'd

burn the toast and the tea would get

spilt

I said I loved that you know see that

was part of the attraction for me was

more about the personal side and seeing

Stanley and laughing we would laugh and

he still terrible jokes

very funny jokes but some people might

find them distasteful but I still find

them really funny and I think our sense

of humor was a little bit similar so I

think that helped of you know our

working relationship it was one of the

funniest men on the planet he was like a

stand-up comedian in many respects even

when the chips were down on one or two

things it's very rare that you'd had a

conversation with him that didn't begin

with some kind of a joke and because he

had this Brooklyn accent he sounded like

a comedian from time to time but his

jokes his stories were very funny very

funny you know maybe they weren't for

everybody but I got I got his humor and

I loved it when he was funny he was

incredibly funny and if he was feeling a

little upset with someone who could be

biting me sarcastic we all went through

it he was just such a powerful force of

nature that's what he was really

I think was the first first seen in the

shell house at the very beginning of

Barry Lyndon and I took the ribbon off

from around my neck and hid it down

between my breasts and it was when we

were doing the close-up and I don't know

where he was sitting somewhere over

there and he said can you lift the right

point up a bit

thank you okay just pull in the left one

a little bit yeah okay and and the right

one again and can you push them both and

then the whole studio fella by busy side

over gay after the path of glory it was

a very uncomfortable time for him

because nothing sort of was happening

right away and he tried and he didn't

want to just make any old film in order

to support himself and by now me and the

children

so when Kirk phoned him and said I want

you to do Spartacus he jumped at it he

knew that if he got through this film

this would be for his career a good

thing that he made the film finished it

and was now an established film director

not somebody who made little independent

films

unlike Paths of Glory where Kirk was our

employee in this particular case Stanley

was his employee directing the picture

for Kirk Nance then we had never been in

this posture before where he had a boss

he was very used to pleasing himself

having done everything himself so this

was a new experience for him to now have

to do whatever was put in front of him

and I think 90% of the time

if not more everything went extremely

well he got through the picture the

picture turned out great and the

experience of working with with with

these some of these actors was terrific

and Stanley brought a lot to that

picture but he felt that he couldn't

wait to get on to the kind of filmmaking

that we were used to where there's no

boss over our heads that we made what we

wanted and didn't have to account to

anybody they only chose to make movies

in the UK rather than in America because

he had more freedom there he was away

from from the studio structure in

Hollywood in the studio system it was a

creative choice as well as a physical

choice many New Yorkers I think feel

trapped in California it felt like being

in a boarding school you know all the

people you work with you meet at dinner

and you meet them in restaurants if you

go out and how's it going Stan and and

and he didn't like that so after

Lolita and then soon we left to

England

I remember asking Stanley Stanley why

did you leave the states why did you

leave Hollywood because it was really

simple he said I was living in the flats

of Beverly Hills I was tired of walking

up to people that I knew and shaking

hands with them and them saying how are

you and knowing that they hope my answer

was lousy he said that while he was in

Los Angeles people would ask him how are

the dailies you know how's the film

going along hey say horse great he said

that before they turned away he said you

could start to see the bitterness on

their face the the animosity that they

that everyone in Los Angeles seemed to

him to be waiting for you to fail and he

didn't want to stay in that environment

he liked England because like many

people read a lot of English Lit they

got hooked with certain fantasies about

England and found them to be partly true

and he liked the weather and he said

when I got to England I found that the

the crews the technicians were really

wonderful at what they did a sound man

wasn't trying to direct the film the

director of photography wasn't trying to

direct the film that the director was

the director and they were they were

technicians and he loved that so he

started making films there and because

he was a chess player there he was now

eight hours ahead of Los Angeles is that

as the time goes when you're playing

chess and you make your move you stopped

the clock and now you're waiting for the

other person to make their move he was

eight hours ahead of him it was a great

position to find himself in he was a

part of the system because he was being

financed by the major studios but he

wasn't as subject to their directives by

being away from it and I think it gave

him a real sense of freedom

[Music]

Stanley recognized when he saw this

house that this had endless

possibilities this house is actually

quite amazing it's very old it's been

there pre-roman days because we live

above the water of St. Albans there's a

river called Ver and the river flows

under our house it's always been

occupied or wherever there's water there

are people so Childwickbury was owned by

the church and I believe there were

monks here and novices and they kept

cattle and it's mentioned in Samuel

peeps diaries they fled here during the

plague this house is been added onto

into a rabbit warren of Victorian and

Georgian and down to medieval bits so

it's got an amazing history it is a

dream house we had some cats run over in

our old house and this was very

protective to the animals because it's

you know quite a distance from the road

it was very strange when he moved to the

country of the things that are normal to

other people he'd never seen a cow close

up so it was a splendid education

teaching him what couldn't couldn't be

done in the country they took it very

seriously the whole thing the isolation

and the newness of his surroundings were

very good it looked like he had the

ultimate privacy and so he did he loved

living here he never left at all he

simply liked working from here and he

had the room to do so and keep all his

family with him without being disturbed

by anybody you can't disturb each other

if the walls are thick and old I mean

I'm totally aware of how spoiled I am to

be able to live here I am

[Music]

he used to say you know it's easy to

fall in love and find a good story which

may be true there aren't that many good

stories out there watch spot run Jack

and Jill went up the hill I mean

something like that would have bought

Stanley he would want to do something

challenging to himself that would also

be challenging to the audience I mean

otherwise why Paul Stanley struggled

with each script he wrote and threw away

and he wrote you threw away and he

changed and he pulled it back I think it

was the writing process of most people

filmmakers especially he wasn't just

gonna make any movie that came down the

pike he wasn't the kind of director you

could just send you know a kind of

middle of the road in cannon movie

script to he had to be a subject that

really embraced things that he was

interested in and so he worked on the

scripts he didn't write them he

developed them that was a constant

process in between camera setups he was

there on the typewriter working and

reworking and reworking sometimes we had

eight or nine different color-coded

pages of changes inside the scene in a

day he used to get to the point where he

kind of Soho which color are we on now

it was just impossible to keep track of

it

It was one of his great fears not

finding a story that it was really

interesting really good enough and he

dismissed many he probably had three or

four things that anyone's on that he was

reading and he had a dilemma which one

he really wanted to do and they did read

something about one but ah yeah but then

pick something else I'm I know you know

he would do this this was how he was as

a person he didn't go out of his way to

work that way it just happened he was

very depressed and sad that he wasted

time doing that it was like yeah falling

in love with something and not paying

off yeah they did it went through that

very often he wanted to do this film on

the Holocaust Harry and papers yeah that

was a big big project and we had one

year of pre-production on it because

it's a huge topic and it's a topic close

to his heart

to something he wanted to do

we had already the permission for

example in the city of Brno in

Czechoslovakia to get the Nazi flags on

the houses and get the trams out of the

museum in the road and close the city

centre we were very much advanced and

then Terry Semel and Stanley decided to

postpone it because of Schindler's List

that was finally his way out oh well

it's coming too late you know you can't

make two in a row but Schindler's List

was a story about somebody who saved a

handful of Jews not about the actual

killings and as he developed this film

he became clear to him he just couldn't

do it he had absorbed all this

information and at some point he just

imploded on knowing this he very much

felt that if you show the total truth

how would you get an actor to do that

how would you get an audience to see

that he just can't do it and at that

point you're not a filmmaker anymore you

your contributor to the ultimate crime

of all the torture stories in the world

so in a way it was unhappy but he was

happy that that was his official remark

about stopping that film just

coincidence is just shows you you know

two minds with a single thought they

were all good filmmakers and had the

same interest in no subjects the

Napoleon thing he was a sadist about he

would have liked have made that

Stanley was interested in this figure

because there was such a brilliant

person who was also so foolish at the

same time

that interested Stanley this mix of huge

talent huge charisma and utter

foolishness

he thought the history of Napoleon was

the most interesting thing he had ever

read and he was immensely well-educated

he spoke about it very well he was very

thoughtful would have been a brilliant

film I remember one of the visits that I

had with Stanley was it is called when

he was working on Napoleon and I

remember he invited me into this work

room huge room and there was an aerial

shot of a possible location for a battle

scene and he had a grid over this thing

very detailed grid and this covered the

wall he was counting the figures in each

of these little squares that made up the

grid he had an eye for extreme detail

MGM got cold feet

and pulled out because there was a

project

Dino De Laurentiis making a film as Rod

Steiger Waterloo that was the title of

the other film was just one particular

episode of Napoleon it was his end

really while that notwithstanding

interested in at all it was a total flop

and so the studio told Stanley Americans

don't like films where people write with

feathers

[Music]

Stanley's always told me when he was

prepping but casting is like maybe 80%

of your film in terms of whether it's

gonna be good or not

great directors cast very well and if

you cast very well you don't have to do

a lot I've always found that the most

successful things that I've done in my

life both in theatre and film have been

when I suspect that I've been cast well

said you picked the right actors that

can contribute something that are

intelligent but they know their lines

that prepared their professional and

when they come onto the picture they're

going to make it better so casting is so

important and you notice in off

Stanley's pictures the acting is

impeccable

he called me in to meet with him because

he had a project now at first I

misunderstood my agent I thought it was

Stanley Kramer a very different animal I

was shooting a movie at Elstree Studios

so I was very close to where he lived

and I just popped in to see him and we

went into a tiny little office and I

said well what is it he goes and then he

of course realized he was gonna have to

tell me if he's gonna give me the book

he said have you ever heard of it no it

no he went you haven't like it was some

big thing you know

I said no I've never orange no I have no

idea what it is he said oh it's a huge

cult book and I went well not in Notting

Hill Gate it's not I think it started

that Stanley Kubrick was sending me a

script

I said who really am I dreaming and he

had sent me a script and all the names

were changed because he didn't want

anyone to get wind of what he was

working on next in elaborate the story

of the 18th century with lots of duels

and love affairs what could he imagine

of the 18th century and I flew to London

to the Dorchester Hotel where Mr.

Stanley Kubrick would be waiting for me

in the restaurant and I found him from

the beginning

dynamic extremely attractive beautiful

eyes look right through you look beyond

you

framing always framing a scene

Leon Vitali was an incredible young

actor one of the best in England when

Stan they asked him to come play Lord

Bullington in Barry London he and they

only got on when they were making the

movie and Leon showed an interest in

filmmaking and when Stanley was looking

for an assistant Leon stepped right up

and right into that other role you know

he was responsible for a good deal if

not all of Stanley's casting on the rest

of the movies like The Shining Full

Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shot I got a

book it sent to me through the post and

it was a shiny and little yellow sticker

on the front saying
read it that was Stanley

anyway and the next night he rang me he

didn't even say hi Stanley or anything

he said do you read it I think yeah I

read it he said do you want to go to

America and find a little boy I said

yeah okay of course and we went on from

there

with the shining you know I saw 4,000

boys over period of six months in

America with Eyes Wide Shut you know for

the role of the receptionist in the

hotel where he goes to find Nick

nightingale the role that Alan Cumming

played actually I saw 80 actors that one

please just one scenes I'm casting with

Full Metal Jacket now went on all the

way through the movie I mean the aim was

always to get the cast together before

we started but we never managed to do it

I was doing theater in New York and

Modine and I had met at an audition and

we went together in Central Park and

learned our dialogue together he was

passing by the Ritz one night and

because he hadn't been around for a

while custom where he was and he said he

was preparing to do a movie with Stanley

Kubrick and that there was a part

available and that I should send a tape

and a couple of weeks later Stanley

Kubrick called me on the phone Stanley

was the first person really to do any

kind of auditioning on video in England

and what was beautifully refreshing

about that was it wasn't about walking

in a meeting a producer or director in a

room with a 10 by 8 this was a thing

where you give him text up front and you

had to learn it and then you audition it

from the a video camera with a costume

director and it was just great because

what you felt was that I've shown what I

can do one of the things we never did

was say well this character is you know

physically like this or psychologically

like

and it was all about letting in as many

people into the process of auditioning

for it and seeing exactly what they

could give you they might give you an

extra dimension to what ever you had in

the back of your mind which was always a

wonderful surprise when they did

what I remember about him outside of him

the director what really impressed me I

think the most was Stanley Kubrick the

producer he was such a parsimonious

producer that he watched the costs I

mean really really he was on top of it

and that's a good lesson to learn

actually because a lot of it is complete

waste a lot of what we do you know in

terms of getting the money on the screen

Sammy was brilliant at getting the money

on the screen

[Music]

good other directors the problem they

have is they have a producer looking

over their shoulder that producers the

money guy because there has to be some

sort of control then we've got a certain

amount of money and here's the project

it's all mapped out exactly where this

money goes and how much goes free of the

scene and how many minutes the scenes

going to blast family doesn't have that

he doesn't have that producer looking

right over his shoulder Stanley had

freedom he wouldn't even allow a Warner

Brothers representative to come on his

set while we were filming period I

remember my first day on set I wanted to

meet Stanley Kubrick the guy who had

just hired me for a film you know and

they said well you'll have time I go

where they shooting they're shooting

over there that bunch of people over

that's where they're shooting I said

well that's where I'm going so he walks

me over right and as we're walking over

there's this van and it's full of these

people sitting in it I knew that it

wasn't part of the movie it was very odd

though because this is sitting there and

we get there and I introduced and

Stanley shakes my hand and he goes

sit down we're gonna do a thing where

they marched through this alley and so

they shoot it and then they shoot it

again and they shoot it again and I'm

watching this man over there as people

are just sitting in the van I said who

are the people in the van and Stanley

leaned oh man he said those are the

Warner brother executives they're not

allowed to get out

that dilemma of director-producer with

that amount of control that he had you

can imagine these conversations going on

I'd really like to shoot a bit more on

this but it's gonna cost this and I

can't justify that even though he could

say I'll spend this he wouldn't just do

it you know without any good reason I'm

sure he analyzed everything in that way

he was totally entrusted with his budget

with his money was that nobody

interfered Warner Brothers trusted him

Terry Semel said look I mean either you

have this guy you don't yeah is no point

in interfering they trusted him and he

knew that I was supposed to be there for

two weeks and I was there for two months

it sounds so expensive when you think

about it now how did he keep a

production going on for that amount of

time how did all these things happen but

people don't realize that he worked with

his family so much and by working with

his family he was able to keep things

really secretive and really small and

there's nothing more beautiful than

working in a family business

the very first time I became involved

with the business was after I had

finished school I was 17 and I became

the video operator on Full Metal Jacket

everything that the camera films is also

recorded on video so that the director

can see a playback of the

and I was in charge of just making sure

everything was recorded that could be

played back and that I did but it was

interesting because Stanley relied on

the video playback quite extensively to

look at the take back with the actors

and I was there spooling back and then

pressing play and I would overhear in

his conversations with the actors and

his thoughts so it was a good place to

be when you are on his set it's you know

really lovely you don't realize that the

catering company is like hit the little

kid on the truck as his grandson and

it's run by his son-in-law and that his

daughter is in the office my least

favorite job was xeroxing scripts

because it would give me 20 copies of

that and he would always preface it but

you got five minutes because if you walk

past you know and you weren't actually

doing anything it'll take you five

minutes no I won't was one time I can't

remember what I was printing and he kept

sending me back saying I can't read it

and it wasn't until sometime after we

realized actually he needed glasses

that's why he couldn't
read it cause his arms

weren't long enough all right should we try

this Doug okay let's go

the best players whether it's in sports

or even in making films make it look

easy

the real good ones so watching Stanley

it really looked easy because she was so

good and he always could articulate what

he wanted he gained the respect of his

actors and and things just flowed the

impression as a director it was the

opposite to what my preconception of

what a director would do which is the

idea of being this race of commandeering

domineering shouting tyrannical character

he was name was there it's never like

that he was just really quiet and he was

really friendly with everyone that's the

point

my very first note from him was a very

discrete you know how some directors say

oh for God's sake do you know that he

didn't do that he said they're gonna

talk to your mom and he took me aside

and he said just to tell you um we know

that she's a little flirt so you can

play her as smoothly as you like I've

thought of that note so often since in

things I've done because it's a perfect

obviously you don't have to act it the

audience know his directions were

nothing eccentric about his directions I

mean we're they were as straightforward

as Matthew you're not gonna do it that

way are you or one that he'd said

there's a marching into combat was

pulling the beard down looking at me

coming over whispering in my ear look

really scared

my entire experience with him he he was

like the nicest most considerate

director you know the entire time even

like super protective actually I was

like a little kid but I had to ask him

if I could take a break in the middle to

shoot another movie I was really scared

and everybody would get like really

quiet as if like the president was

coming into the room and this guy came

in and he was just couldn't have been

sweeter I had eyes that were so

twinkling he was just lovable and it

made me feel super comfortable there was

a really great experience people say he

wasn't didn't come forward with things

but when he was saying goodbye to me he

said he said you a really lovely actress

and I wish there were more but there's

no more in the story I mean so lovely

things like that I was worried because

we were getting further and further

behind schedule what I felt because of

one's ego you think I'm responsible and

not considering what problems he was

faced with so I thought jeez you know

when am I not giving him what am I not

doing how do I play this character I

don't know what I'm doing and he was

what's the matter you know and I said I

don't know and he's what's wrong you you

know you're obviously you're upset about

something and I said well Stanley I

don't know what what to do I don't know

how to play this part I know I don't

know what I'm doing wrong

what do you need from me and he he shook

his head and he said I don't I don't

want you to play anything all I want you

to do is be yourself I mark that down in

my diary because I know the important

part of that sentence was to be yourself

it's a very legitimate thing that

Stanley did there was no nonsense none

he goes do you know what you're gonna do

tomorrow tomorrow was the bathroom scene

and I said yeah I think so and he said

okay it has to be big it has to be long

Cheney big do you understand what I mean

and I said yeah I understand sir me

okay see you tomorrow morning so I

incorporated what I had in mind

and we went in and we did the dialogue

and two takes and then he asked me to

come and sit with him after it because

he was he would watch playback and he

put his hand on my hand and he squeezed

my hand a little bit during one of the

takes and he has that is incredible work

he goes that is incredible

I always kind of took it as you know

thanks for doing the right thing for me

you know like I trusted you to come here

and do this and thanks for showing up

you know it was kind nice that he did that

Stanley tended to stick with a crew he

knew wherever possible and also stand

his reputation preceded him so you knew

what you were in for he expected a lot

out of you but I mean he expected even

more out of himself so he wasn't how

these directors who sort of Ponce's

about and says oh can you go and do that

and then gives you a BA looking for not

doing it properly he led by example he

didn't want to rush he for him it was

absolutely essential that there was no

pressure when it really comes to to film

that's the moment when you don't want to

have any pressure you can have it in

pre-production that's fine yeah but not

when it comes to turning over take your

time

and the actors liked it there's no doubt

about it I just know that I had turned

myself over to him that he was my

general and that I wouldn't be saying to

him listen are we gonna be done soon all

these stories about him doing hundred

takes of everything are so not true it

depended on the moment when it was

necessary 200 takes he would but most of

the time he sometimes took hardly and it

takes it all he didn't do that many

takes on Clockwork but I heard that

later the legend he went over a hundred and

all this I think that you know Stanley

got it in his head he was a man of

theories and unless they could be

disproved quickly you could be in a

little awful lot of trouble and the

theory was the more takes you do the

more resistance you break down in the

actor that you're likely to get

something fantastic around a hundred 120

takes I think I got 250 in one take

because it was very technical thing

and I just said to him Stanley could we

go back to 1a because say here take 50

is so it just so takes the air out of it

and he look to him anyway no that was it

I won okay excuse me for asking could

you stand the way you do with your gun

or simulate the gun he'd walk around

with a viewfinder and just keep putting

different lenses on and you'd run

through it once you'd run through it

twice he'd run through it a hundred

times if necessary until he found his

first shot when he was directing you and

when you were doing those multiple takes

he was looking for something you knew

when he'd got it there was a kind of an

excitement from him that you felt and

you saw in his face as soon as the tape

that he was really happy with there was

already an image he had in his head and

he would go and till he got that image

known that dance field we danced which

we knew inside out because we done it

for do you do it three weeks he'd say

lovely let's go again and so take 1 take

2 take 3 I have never done and as many

takes on anything and when you thought

it was good and you thought that was a

good one lowly go again

Oh could you be one thing he would just

say do it again let's do it again and I

said what I should do it differently

right if you want me to do it again I

dunno he said no just like that just

like that and yet you want another one

he said yeah I said that your 16th just

like that

he set up Peter Sellers he said he will

give you 50 takes of 49 are not usable

and in the 50th it can't be repeated

it's so good and if you remember Peter

in some of Stanley's movies he's pretty

breathtaking he'd kind of started to

just lose this idea of acting you were

just being he was just waiting for you

to drop all those add-ons as you do as

an actor those little touches you think

meet the performance he just wanted you

to be and so by the end of it and it

wasn't his pretension of a great acting

performance and you were in the moment

simply because you've done it so many

times

there was one actor that did I think two

days worth of takes on one line that

never made it in the movie we're about

50 yards looking through this broken

wall it was a hole and all these flames

coming from these gas pipes and cameras

earning them we're outside the building

were sitting at the monitors watching

this scene and he had his megaphone and

he would click the thing and go and in

the megaphone like wow like that and

he'd say yeah well it's take 66 that was

absolutely not good at all and we're

going again

I was there in England and Ireland for

almost a year and a half and at times I

didn't think it would ever end

when Stanley turns the camera from here

to here

we got a relighting job ahead of us okay

now the actors can go away and rehearse

when when they call us back in then it's

an Lea has to relight the scene it's his

baby

but there was a rhythm to it and you

found the rhythm Stanley's approach was

very very simple he wanted to test

everything

[Music]

yeah and use a really great expression

he looks under every stone and then he

looks again the fault that he had gone

away from something without knowing he's

done every single possible thing to make

it as good as it can be and that was the

kind of conversations that I used to

have with Stanley but Stanley we had

this and that looked great and we liked

it when we saw the tests in he couldn't

always explain that but it was something

in him that he just wasn't comfortable

with it you wanted to explore something

else he lights for a long time and then

he decides he's not happy with it and

you go home and you come back the next

day and you try again so there was maybe

three or four pages in this scene Marie

Richardson and Tom Cruise - the first

few pages and I come in at the end of

this one this first scene that I mean I

thought you know it'll be a few days but

it was more than a few days so I got to

the set to start to shoot my entrance

into that scene and he said I'm gonna I

don't really like what I'm how I've kind

of got you guys lived so I'll see you

tomorrow I was like I'm so close to

actually shooting a frame of footage but

we didn't do it until the next day

he was trying things out he made had

little models of things and he was

lighting them and he would travel with a

flashlight and then get it lit properly

he liked to play with that and had some

good ideas of how to get scenes very

logically constructed and visually very

nice by playing with his little paper

dolls Stanley found out that I was on

the same lot that he was preparing the

shining and he took me on a tour of the

sets which were I had never seen

anything quite like it before then

Stanley showed me how he planned his

shots he had a Nikon still camera and he

had rigged a periscope that went from

the lens straight down so when he took

me into a miniature version of all the

sets of the Overlook Hotel he could put

that little periscope down into the set

and he could basically take a lot of

pictures and plan where his camera was

going so I had a real tutorial that

first day I went to L Street from the

great master himself you know it took

seven days to light that bathroom every

morning the first thing we would do when

Stanley come in we would go right to

that hit and he would adjust filters and

lights and get rid of this he wanted an

icy-cold blue ambiance and I think he

accomplished that mission too the reason

that my Stanley's days longer than

probably most other people is because we

would shoot for the designated hours but

then we would go off into another part

of the studio and test the sets light

and tester sets with just a skeleton

crew like five or six people and then we

would maybe do two or three hours there

get some food in and invariably was very

relaxed

at the end of the day in the shining

McDonald's would arrive in those day the

hamburgers from McDonald's were a big

thing then after our hamburgers you do

lighting test and it was fascinating to

see the way he was doing like in tests I

learned all the time because Stanley is

a great great teacher

well that's that bear I have to say

that's probably but one of the things

Stanley enjoyed as much as anything and

it was a very very relaxed it was almost

like a social evening I would say and it

was very enjoyable you know we had no

standings he said well I can't light the

scene to a Stannis that's you so we had

to be completely dressed quaffed even

with my sword and do our own standing in

until it's lit which could take half a

day they touch us up and we begin

shooting no matter how good a standing

is you bring them in and you light them

and it never looks right I don't feel

right is there a standing and the second

the actor comes in boom there's like a

spark that happens and it's the only

time you can tell if you really feel the

lighting in right or not

[Music]

Stanley didn't like big crews it was a

thing that he had he never wanted to

have more people around than was

necessary and sometimes he it was a

hundred percent right and sometimes he

was you know he was wrong and we'd have

to get more people in because we didn't

have enough but he generally speaking

didn't like to have more people than was

really essential we had a very very

humble set up on Eyes Wide Shut we had

four offices and a Xerox machine

we were very few people you could go on

our set and you thought they had wrapped

we did major major scenes on Eyes Wide

Shut and we had a setup of seven people

very very very simple he was totally

entrusted with his budget with his money

with that nobody interfered Warner

Brothers trusted him and he knew that he

knew he had to deliver and I think

that's a secret that's relatively small

crew because we went over scheduled by

200% but certainly only 10% of a button

on the whole Stanley thought time is the

most important thing that you spend with

actors and if you have such an emotional

story such incredibly complicated

thought processes it go into these

scenes you want to take time and keep

his crew very small keep it all as cheap

as possible

and take the time with Eyes Wide Shut it

was scheduled for 89 days that shoot

after day one we were half a day behind

schedule and I just thought that's great

how wonderful this one's getting rolling

on and rolling on and rolling up on the

course sheets you know you'd have day 24

straight out of 89 and day 50 out of 89

so when we got to day 89 and we still

had a third of it to do he said well

what do we do now stand him tomorrow do

we put day 90 out of 89 or

and just said don't put any days at all

that was it the number of days we've

been shooting he was taking off the cold

sheet and we never thought about it

again he told me that his favorite part

of filmmaking is editing because in the

editing room that's where the film comes

to life and he loved editing he couldn't

wait to finish the movie he said I only

really enjoyed making films after the

actors are gone and I just have it to

myself Full Metal Jacket was the first

time that yes she started using computer

editing systems we had over a million

feet of film The Full Metal Jacket which

ended up as not even six double reels it

was astonishing every word of dialogue

was listened to every single tape was

looked at and before you know of

computer editing systems of course

everything had to be cut spliced tried

and then there were so many combinations

of it if a character that Sarah had a

simple line like I love you just for

argument's sake okay and it was 40 tapes

or 50 things you'd listen to every

single eye in isolation every single

love in isolation and every single you

in isolation and then bit by bit he'd

start knocking out the ones that sounded

like nothing he'd find the right

combination of I love you so you could

only thank God The Full Metal Jacket

yeah that we actually had a computerized

editing system

he used to play music through the

editing process close to something that

he thought might work and then you know

the choices would bear a down narrow

down he used to say that the biggest

music library in the world is the world

so you know try and find it there

Stanley was an extremely musical man he

was often accused he didn't use enough

composers and so on because he was

playing music around the clock and he

was always hooked on something he was

himself a drummer and he liked anything

from Dixieland and jazz and modern music

and classical music hugely Catholic

tastes in I mean enormous range of music

they're interested in he always had to

tune in mind so for instance to have the

waltz in 2001

[Music]

he said everything in space turns you

can't be out there without going in

circles like a walls it's giving you

such an atmosphere which you just put

the picture into that context instead of

the other way around it's not

reinforcing a mood of drama or humor or

anything it's just this is where we are

it set up a whole different feeling in

different understanding of what was

going on you did it with all of them

he get as much pleasure out of dealing

in the distribution and marketing of

his films as he did with making the

movie so he was watching them grow and

grow from there you know birth at the

opening through the release and making

sure that every stage was done to

benefit the film Stanley made a point

quite how he managed to do it I don't

really know of studying and learning and

coming up with alternative ways of doing

things or at least questioning the old

ways of doing things so as a result of

that he learned his way around different

aspects of the contractual advertising

and distribution issues as well Stanley

wanted to control advertising even when

the studios to have anything to do with

it he would want to see which of kind of

three ways could be better so you had a

have to get all of the information from

each of the three ways and presented to

him before an action could be taken the

great example was the film poster for

Clockwork Orange he had found a couple

of newspaper illustrations and one of

them that I found that he found happen

to be Philip castle they set up a

screening of very rough footage I took a

little writing palette Basildon Bond

writing palette and I was drawing

in the dark you know ideas as they came

from the screen because he was leaping

with ideas

Mike would take the drawings would look

at them and then he would take them to

Stanley they looked at them together and

he would have chosen that format of the

a and the college one director that was

really interesting that Stanley told me

was asked Philip to do the logo as well

I found that if someone is creative in

one area they could be just as creative

in a related area even though they won't

know where and I said Philip what we

need the titles we just give it a shot

and he said well I don't really do and

then Sally comes up with it and then

Stanley had him do the title treatment

in every single language so Philip was

working on the title treatment of

Clockwork Orange for a year I finally

didn't really know what he wanted until

he saw it at least as far as artwork I

knew that he wanted to see lots of ideas

rather than one lukewarm idea developed

with Full Metal Jacket of course he knew

he knew we wanted that okay it was just

the means of getting get into it I've

come across a lot of directors who want

to get involved in the process and have

demanded certain approval rights but

none of them had the authority that

Stanley did I do remember on one

occasion when we were working on the

shining I'd been involved in some very

complex discussions on the telephone

with the Stanley and so I got up and

started wandering around the office as

one does and I wandered into the office

of the theatrical supervisor for Europe

Middle East and Africa at the time this

is about three minutes later and he goes

Stanley and I can see that he's looking

at a newspaper or a photocopy of the

newspaper from France and he's looking

at the timing of the screenings at a

cinema in Lille

and he's talking about yep if we move

that by 10 minutes we could then start

10 minutes earlier we get an extra

screening in and of course he was

probably supposed to be shooting a film

at the time for Warner Brothers instead

of doing all of this stuff but that

didn't stop Stanley

when you were choosing to make movies

that appealed to you and not being

concerned about the box-office potential

whether their commercial whether their

mainstream you're gonna have trouble

Stanley and I always liked pictures that

would not mainstream not because they

would not mainstream they just happened

to be esoteric or away from from popular

type of movies what can you do about a

bad review nothing if you are creator

once you've put your work out there it's

kind of not yours anymore you then open

yourself up to all the criticism there

is and if people interpret it one way

that's their interpretation you mustn't

explain it because you did it and now

it's out there and let people take from

it what they will

he did like people to enjoy his work to

like his well you know you can criticize

it by all means but you know that wasn't

a problem to him I'm sure but he liked

it I think he liked to feel it once he

delivered something that look at the

film

you know examine it and you know and be

critical yes but you know see what I've

what I've tried to do it's interesting

for example the reaction to 2001

there is a man who did just Dr.

Strangelove and Lolita and passive

Gloria now he takes a bow to the

unknowable creator of the universe and

many people over 40 or 50 were angered

by this it got very mixed reviews it was

not the iconic film that has now become

there were a lot of bad reviews for this

film Stan Lee told me that when they

first showed it in Washington for the

sort of politico's there was a guy from

MGM at the back with a clicker and Stanley

was what are you doing he goes I'm

counting that how many people leave and

there was like 380 left the movie just

didn't get it

2001 was saved by teenagers yeah there's

no doubt about it Bob

teenagers let's say bi people between 12

and 30 particularly young boys were

absolutely infused by 2001 for the first

time we see an so called

science fiction film as something which

is very philosophical almost spiritual

that hasn't been done before Pauline

Kael didn't like it she thought it was

incredibly boring but 12 year olds and

14 year olds saw something that is

indirectly a very very strong presence

but it isn't talked about

Eyes Wide Shut was the most difficult

film of his life but he also considered

Eyes Wide Shut his greatest contribution

his greatest contribution to the art of

filmmaking

I remember a fax from Japan office which

said how wonderful this film was and

that couples are leaving the cinema

holding hands so many people have come

to me over the last four or five years

and said you know I just saw Eyes Wide

Shut again I hadn't seen it since its

release and I get it now

where I didn't before and it was exactly

the same with Barry Lyndon said exactly

the same with 2001 people who didn't get

it when they first saw it the critical

reaction to Barry Lyndon hurt him for

years I mean he was upset disappointed

depressed about him he was very very

disappointed that the film wasn't

successful because one of the things he

wanted to be sure is that Warner

Brothers kept their money back it was

much more important to him but the

backers get the money back then that he

got paid which is good so that's best

part of his character so yes that was

the biggest disappointment and Barry

Lyndon he also disappointed that people

enough people liked the film I know when

Barry Lyndon came out it wasn't wildly

worried people would say my god it's

through yours long you know all this

sort of thing but the latest release in

London give it five stars and across the

board and you know I meet people who say

yeah it's my favorite Kubrick which is a

little bit heartwarming BBC BBC

television they ran a series of his

films everything from Lolita on to Full

Metal Jacket

and so the Sunday they showed Barry

Lyndon he watched it I think it's the

first time he'd actually watched that

film from beginning to end without a

break and the next day came bouncing

into my office he said it really is a

great movie sort of Mia

I said yeah we've been telling you that

for years

and one of the big tragedies for me one

of the most upsetting things to me is

that he's never been honored in any way

by the Academy I doubt that it'll come

now because I think it's just gone on I

think it's too long now

but I mean his body work come on

surely suddenly somebody's summer is

that even if it was a posthumous award

of you know Lifetime Achievement Award

I mean or whatever if any director

should be awarded something by the

Academy it has to be Stanley Kubrick

[Music]

daddy had died and the house was full of

stuff shelves

cupboards rooms famously boxes statues

awards scripts you name it he would take

everything out of his office when the

film was finished give it to the driver

and he would dump it at home we said

just put it in bloody Bell room and

because we have enough room it was just

put somewhere I'll tidy it up he had

good intentions but it was total I never

did which in a way was good because had

he tidied up here would have been

ruthless you don't value your own

rubbish around everywhere Stan Lee

famously kept everything everything was

labeled in boxes and there were whole

storerooms full of stuff he never threw

anything away I was very depressed when

I saw it all because a person seemed

suddenly very long dead when the paper

starts to go yellow it's a most

depressing thing to do to open up and oh

my god yes and you start reading old

letters and sooner or later you start to

cry and it is it's it's a horrible

widows fate that one

I had no idea what to do

then through the Frankfurt film museum

and I talked to hospitalize man who ran

it and we got the idea of doing the

Stanley Kubrick exhibition he sent me an

archivist very talented archivist

because it takes talent to spot what is

interesting we had an archivist here for

eight nine months with his white gloves

going through everything meticulously he

became a member of the family and he and

we found things that we didn't know were

there he opened my eyes to a great deal

what people would be interested in in

the beginning I thought would he find

dis embarrassing or that embarrassing

once you start on that you find almost

everything embarrassing if it's written

down on horrible paper or if you doodled

even the old yellow pads with a ring of

coffee stains and horrible remarks on

the side you drank all my orange juice

it said on one but of course that's what

interested people this gives you a

little bit of an idea of what this

person was like and so we had to really

go through it very carefully so that was

a lot of work but in a way it now gave

me something to do that made sense so I

could stop just sitting there and crying

it was something positive to do and it

was very valuable in every way

[Music]

[Music]

we knew that eventually the an

exhibition or a traveling exhibition as

it now is where would that stuff go so

it had to find a final resting place

several museums and countries you know

were considered but you know we lived in

England and daddy liked England and

we're also very close to Europe where

his films were hugely appreciated so it

enables anybody who's interested in the

medium of film at all to come and look

at that archive and look at all his

stuff

[Music]

we are sitting in the University of the

Arts London archives and Special

Collections Centre where we house the

Stanley Kubrick archive the store room

itself is kept at a constant 17 degrees

centigrade 50 percent relative humidity

which is kind of about the optimum

temperature and humidity level for

things like photographs and paper it's

pretty much top of the range as far as

archival storage is concerned the

majority of the archive is paper-based

or photography based there's something

like eight hundred and twenty linear

meters worth of material in boxes and

plan chests it spans the entire of his

career so we've got everything from

original copies of Look magazine from

when he was a photojournalist in the

1940s all the way through to material

that relates to Eyes Wide Shut and

obviously because he was so involved in

every aspect of filmmaking the film

materials can relate to all of those

aspects as well so everything from kind

of draft scripts his notes on the

original novels all the way through to

advertising designs and which quotes to

use on the ads and we have a huge range

of researchers come in anything from

academics writing books or our own

University of the Arts London students

students from other film schools even

members of the general public who were

just interested in seeing a bit of

Stanley's stuff I would love to see

Renoir's palette you know I would love

to see Vermeer's brushes whatever it is

that you're into you want to be in the

presence the ghostly presence and feel

some of the mojo of the people who

practice the work that you you love to

do so I get that completely

[Music]

you

[Music]

I stayed in touch with Stanley until he

started production on Eyes Wide Shut I

called him up one day and I don't

remember why I was calling I was I said

hey Stanley it's Matthew yeah what do

you want and it was the first time he'd

ever said something like that to me I

didn't want anything

I was just except conversation and see

how he was doing I spent two years with

him working on Full Metal Jacket so him

saying something like that to me

while it was punching the gut it was

just because he was getting busy on

another project and I had to respect

that but that was the last time I spoke

to him

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for me he died too young because there

are times when you you know you feel

that you want to have a conversation not

about anything in particular lot about

work about anything but those moments

come back to me more often now than they

did in the in the early days for me that

I wish I could have spoke to him one

more last time just been in his company

one last time

he's a somebody that if you were invited

to sit with him you wouldn't turn it

down you know you you would hang out he

was such an interesting guy

we were not only business associates but

we were we were really best friends and

we were together all the time we played

poker together we went to the stock

market offices at 6:00 in the morning

we played touch football it was

dedicated to his family he dedicates it

was work I know him as a regular guy I

worshipped him I loved him Stanley was a

I I think he's the best director ever

I know his history and I know where he

came from and how difficult the climb

was and how many knows he had had to put

up with the rejections he had had to put

up with in his life I was quite shocked

when he died all I could think of it

what would have been all the great

movies that were never going to see what

makes an artist my definition of an

artist is somebody who does something

that does not disappear that's relevant

for the next generation

Kubrick will not disappear you may not

like him it has nothing to do with it

yeah people didn't particularly like the

French Impressionists and they changed

the way people paint and so Stanley's

films changed everything I feel you know

my education didn't start until I

started working for Stanley then coming

to work with Stanley I'm in this you

know like suddenly jumping on a roller

coaster

it was quite something quite

exhilarating it was funny witty

tremendously stimulating and a good

laugh yeah

great guy when people ask me if I miss

him you know even now well yeah I do I

mean of course they do it didn't really

hit me now he wasn't around it until the

October of that year because by then I'd

kicked out the very last theatrical

prints of Eyes Wide Shut

so from March to October I was kind of

just keeping myself going October it was

the first time I ever went on Prozac

okay it was the first time I ever went

on an antidepressant because I crashed

so quickly that's when I realized he

really wasn't around anymore he was

a very passionate loving concerned

husband father dog owner employer he was

probably one of the most caring people

ever in the met if it was in his power

to do something to help somebody who

needed it or an animal who needed it he

would be there and he would always try

yeah not many like him so I miss him

miss him a lot

I really consider myself extremely lucky

we were people from the most opposite

side of things and so in that sense we

both were lucky that we were a good

match

when he was dead I really suffered I

didn't have his voice to give me the

rundown or what he thought anything that

he ran across him he was very interested

and intensely so his sounds like such a

cliche but he was really engaged in life

every part of it that kind of energy and

enthusiasm and intensity made him very

different from other people to me he was

brilliant he was unique

he was Stanley Kubrick

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