If you have come this far, there is a solid chance you have already seen one of Stanley Kubrick’s films. If not, here is a quick refresher. He directed, among other things, the Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eyes Wide Shut, and Full Metal Jacket. This alone is a pretty impressive filmography.
Much of his success comes from a sort of obsessiveness with getting details right. For example, Jack Nicholson reported that he would have the actors do over fifty takes of some scenes because he was still not satisfied with their performance. One can imagine the nearly absurd level of involvement he had with every other part of the film.
If fifty sounded absurd, you may be floored to learn that the staircase scene in The Shining took 127 takes, which left actress Shelley Duvall traumatized and in tears. Kubrick believed in pushing his actors as much as possible, as he believed that somewhere in all those takes there would be one or two perfect performances.
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Despite this reputation, he did espouse a philosophy of appealing to the masses. One would think that a demanding, transgressive director would limit him or herself to something highbrow, but Kubrick stated that he wanted his films to more resemble pop music. He compared two viewers, an Alabama truck driver, and a Cambridge intellectual, and stated that his films are for both since their "emotions and subconscious are far more similar than their intellects."
While a lot of discussions of Kubrick focus on his scripts and directing methods, it’s worth pointing out that he was in many ways comfortable around most parts of a movie set. Alexander Walker stated that he was one of the "very few film directors competent to instruct their lighting photographers in the precise effect they want." This is perhaps another reason why his style is so recognizable at a glance.
Many critics believed that, first and foremost, he was a visual filmmaker, which is a somewhat reductive term, because aren’t they all? Indeed, part of his reputation may come from the fact that actors actually get interviewed, while most film journalists don’t spend a lot of time talking to the crew on any particular set.
He himself believed that a film's visuals were the easiest part for himself, which is quite a humbling thought, that one of the premier directors of our time, with a recognizable, still legendary visual style thought this was downright simple. Partially, this stemmed from the fact that he was very knowledgeable about filmmaking and wasn’t concerned with “getting his hands dirty” by personally directing camera placement, lighting, and even the choice of lenses.
