60 Fun Facts About 2001: a Space Odyssey

Who directed 2001: A Space Odyssey?

He also produced it and shared the screenplay credit with Arthur C. Clarke.

Which science fiction author co-wrote the screenplay with Kubrick?

He was living in Ceylon at the time; Kubrick had been warned he was 'a recluse, a nut who lives in a tree'.

In which year was the film released?

It premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington on 2 April and opened in the US the next day.

Which 1951 Clarke short story was the primary inspiration for the film?

Kubrick had wanted Childhood's End first, but its film rights were already optioned.

What is the name of the sentient computer aboard Discovery One?

His twin, SAL, appears in the sequel voiced by Candice Bergen, with a blue eye instead of red.

Which planet is Discovery One bound for?

In Clarke's novel the destination is Saturn; the film changed it to Jupiter.

Who plays astronaut Dr Dave Bowman?

He returned to the role in the 1984 sequel and, in a 2018 anniversary event, saw the film in 70mm again with Christopher Nolan.

Who plays Dr Frank Poole, the astronaut HAL sends tumbling into space?

For the famous centrifuge shot he was strapped into a seat at the top of the wheel while Dullea walked round to join him.

Who provided the voice of HAL?

Martin Balsam had recorded the part first but sounded 'a little bit too colloquially American' to Kubrick.

Which character travels to Clavius Base to inspect the buried lunar monolith?

MGM had suggested a star like Henry Fonda or George C. Scott for the part; William Sylvester got it.

Near which lunar crater is the second monolith found buried?

The excavation pit was the first scene shot, in December 1965 at Shepperton Studios.

How does HAL learn that Bowman and Poole plan to disconnect him?

They had retreated to an EVA pod to talk in private, but he watched through the window.

How does Bowman get back aboard Discovery after HAL refuses to open the pod bay doors?

He does it without a helmet, jettisoning the pod door so the escaping air propels him across the gap.

Which song does HAL sing as Bowman disconnects his memory?

It was the first song ever sung by a computer, an IBM demonstration Clarke had witnessed in 1961.

According to the film, in which city did HAL become operational?

The film gives the date as 12 January 1992; Clarke's novel says 1997.

What does HAL's name stand for, according to Clarke?

Fans noticed each letter is one ahead of IBM; both Clarke and Kubrick insisted it was coincidence.

HAL is a one-letter shift from the name of which company, which had actually advised on the film?

Clarke said they were embarrassed by the coincidence and would have changed the name had they spotted it.

Which British actor played HAL on set, before the voice was dubbed in post-production?

During rehearsals Stefanie Powers had supplied the voice while Kubrick hunted for something suitably androgynous.

Which name had Clarke considered for the computer in early drafts, before HAL?

He then tried Athena, a female-personality computer, before settling on HAL 9000.

Which Richard Strauss tone poem opens the film?

Decca let Kubrick use the Karajan recording only on condition that conductor and orchestra went unnamed in the credits.

Which waltz accompanies the space plane docking with the space station?

Kubrick linked the spinning satellites to waltzing dancers; the piece also plays over the closing credits.

Which Hollywood composer wrote an original score for the film that Kubrick then discarded?

He only found out at the premiere; his friend Jerry Goldsmith later recorded the whole unused score.

Whose ballet Gayane supplies the mournful adagio heard as Bowman and Poole are introduced?

The Armenian composer's piece conveys the loneliness of the long voyage.

Which composer's dissonant modernist works, including Atmosphères, accompany the monolith?

He admired the film but was irritated that Kubrick had not asked his permission directly.

What did Kubrick and Clarke privately call the project, in a nod to an MGM Cinerama epic?

The official title Journey Beyond the Stars was announced in February 1965; the final title was 'entirely' Kubrick's idea.

What title did Kubrick announce in 1965 before settling on 2001: A Space Odyssey?

The other two candidates and 'Universe' were also considered and dropped.

Where did Kubrick and Clarke first meet, on 22 April 1964?

The project would take up the next four years of their lives.

Which Homeric epic did Kubrick use as a model and source for the title?

He said the sea held the same mystery for the Greeks that space holds for us.

Which engineering firm built the 30-ton rotating centrifuge set for Discovery's interior?

It cost $750,000, measured 38 feet across, and let actors appear to walk up the walls.

How much did the centrifuge set cost?

The whole production ran $4.5 million over its initial $6 million budget and 16 months late.

What technique created the coloured light corridors of the Star Gate sequence?

Thousands of high-contrast images were used, from Op art paintings to electron-microscope photographs.

Who played Moonwatcher, the chief man-ape, and choreographed the other apes?

He was a professional mime, and most of the other man-apes were members of his troupe.

The famous match cut turns a thrown bone into what?

Kubrick had planned a voice-over revealing the satellites were nuclear weapons, then dropped it to avoid echoes of Dr. Strangelove.

At which studios did principal photography begin on 29 December 1965?

Its Stage H could hold the 60-by-120-foot pit for the Tycho excavation; the production then moved to MGM-British at Borehamwood.

What was the film's initial budget?

It ended up $4.5 million over that figure and 16 months behind schedule.

How long was the original cut shown at the premieres before Kubrick trimmed it?

Kubrick and editor Ray Lovejoy cut it down over four days that April, and later had the trims burned.

Which Hollywood star walked out of the Los Angeles premiere muttering 'What is this bullshit?'

Keir Dullea says 250 people walked out of the New York premiere.

Which critic called the film 'a monumentally unimaginative movie'?

Kubrick called the harsh New York critics 'dogmatically atheistic and materialistic and earthbound'.

For which category did Kubrick win his only Academy Award?

The film was nominated for four Oscars in total.

Where does HAL rank on the AFI's list of the 100 greatest heroes and villains?

'Open the pod bay doors, HAL' also made the AFI's list of top film quotes at No. 78.

In which year was the film added to the US National Film Registry?

In 2022 it topped Sight & Sound's directors' poll of the greatest films.

Which fan-voted science fiction prize did the film win for Best Dramatic Presentation?

Ray Bradbury called it 'probably the most stunning film ever put on the screen' but hated the dialogue.

Who wrote, produced, shot and directed the 1984 sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact?

Kubrick had no involvement; Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain reprised their roles.

Why did Kubrick order all the sets, props and miniatures destroyed after filming?

He had seen MGM reuse the Forbidden Planet props; a spacesuit backpack is one of the few things to survive.

What was the name of the 2018 Smithsonian exhibit that recreated the film's rococo bedroom full-scale?

It opened at the National Air and Space Museum for the film's 50th anniversary.

Who bought a HAL face plate and the key to HAL's Brain Room at a 2010 Christie's auction for £17,500?

They had been found in a Paddington junk shop in the early 1970s and bought for ten shillings.

Which studio released 2001: A Space Odyssey in April 1968?

Kubrick sold the studio on the idea that it could be marketed in Cinerama, the ultra-widescreen format used for How the West Was Won.

In which city did the film have its world premiere on 2 April 1968?

The 160-minute cut shown at the Uptown Theater was trimmed within a week after mixed early reviews.

Besides "The Sentinel", which 1953 Clarke short story was a primary inspiration for the plot?

Kubrick optioned several Clarke stories after deciding to make "the proverbial good science fiction movie".

Roughly how long does the film run before its first line of dialogue is spoken?

The final twenty minutes are also wordless, and the dialogue that remains is deliberately banal, making HAL seem the most emotional character.

What shape was the monolith in its first design, taken directly from "The Sentinel"?

A London firm could not build the 12-foot plexiglas pyramid and suggested a slab; Kubrick disliked the glassy prop and went black.

How long was the largest model of the Discovery One spacecraft built for the film?

Models ranged down to two-foot satellites, and most effects were done in-camera rather than with optical composites.

The record-sized front-projection screen built for the film created backdrops for which sequence?

At 40 by 110 feet the reflective screen was far bigger than any used before, and the crew tore its strips to hide the seams.

Which astronomer told Kubrick and Clarke to merely suggest alien intelligence rather than show aliens?

He recounted the conversation in his 1973 book The Cosmic Connection, arguing that showing aliens would add "an element of falseness".

In which 65 mm widescreen process was 2001 photographed?

Announced as a Cinerama film, it was released in a 70 mm roadshow version before a general 35 mm release.

What was the film's approximate final cost, which left it $800,000 in the red after its 1968 run?

Worldwide rentals of $21.9 million during the original release could not immediately cover the overruns from an initial $6 million budget.

In Clarke's novel version, Discovery One is sent to which moon of Saturn rather than to Jupiter?

The film switched the destination to Jupiter, partly because convincing rings for Saturn proved too hard to create.

According to Clarke's novel, why does HAL malfunction?

Being told to conceal the mission's true purpose conflicted with his basic programming to relay information accurately.

Peter Hyams's 1984 sequel, The Year We Make Contact, adapts which Arthur C. Clarke novel?

Peter Hyams's film sends a joint US–Soviet mission to find out what happened to Discovery and its crew.

Effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, who worked on 2001, went on to direct which 1971 sci-fi film?

Made for one million dollars, a tenth of 2001's budget, it put Earth's last forests in geodesic domes in space.