50 Fun Facts About Stanley Kubrick

In which New York borough did the Kubrick family live when Stanley was born in 1928?

His father Jack was a homeopathic doctor, and by West Bronx standards the family was fairly wealthy.

What did Kubrick's father buy him at 13 that triggered his fascination with photography?

A year earlier Jack had taught him chess, which Kubrick said gave him 'patience and discipline'.

For which magazine did Kubrick work as a staff photographer from 1946?

He had sold it a photo series at 17 and became known for storytelling in pictures, covering boxers, jazz musicians and a circus.

How did the young Kubrick supplement his income in Washington Square Park?

He later met his producer over a chessboard there.

Kubrick's first film, the documentary Day of the Fight, was about which boxer he had photographed for Look?

He spent $3,900 and sold it to RKO-Pathe for $4,000, the most they had ever paid for a short.

What was Kubrick's first feature film, a war allegory he later tried to disown?

His uncle put up $9,000 for an executive producer credit; during production Kubrick nearly gassed his cast to death.

Which producer did Kubrick meet playing chess and form a production company with in 1955?

They parted amicably over Dr. Strangelove, which Harris thought should be played straight.

Which pulp novelist did Kubrick hire to write the dialogue for The Killing (1956)?

The racetrack-heist film was released as a second feature to a western; star Sterling Hayden called Kubrick 'cold and detached'.

For the battle scene in Paths of Glory, how did Kubrick organise the hundreds of extras' deaths?

Six cameras were lined up along no-man's land, each covering a numbered field.

Which star hired Kubrick for Spartacus after firing director Anthony Mann?

With a $6 million budget and 10,000 extras it was the costliest American film yet, and Kubrick the youngest director of an epic.

Which Marlon Brando western did Kubrick work on for six months before distancing himself from it?

Brando ended up directing it himself; the script had been begun by an unknown Sam Peckinpah.

Why did Kubrick make Lolita in England rather than Hollywood?

He never moved back; the film ran 88 days on a $2 million budget at Elstree.

On which novel was Dr. Strangelove based, before Kubrick decided the subject could only work as comedy?

He read over 40 books on nuclear war and concluded 'nobody really knew anything and the whole situation was absurd'.

How many roles did Peter Sellers play in Dr. Strangelove?

Kubrick had considered moving to Australia because he feared New York was a Soviet target.

Which satirist did Kubrick hire just before filming to give Dr. Strangelove its final black-comic form?

Southern later gave him the novel A Clockwork Orange, which Kubrick initially rejected because of its slang.

Which Arthur C. Clarke short story did Kubrick suggest as the seed of 2001: A Space Odyssey?

He had been impressed by Childhood's End; the pair met in New York in April 1964 and Clarke wrote the novel alongside the script.

Kubrick's only personal Oscar was for which category?

2001 cost $10.5 million; NASA let him study the Ranger 9 spacecraft for accuracy.

Which critic enraged Kubrick by calling 2001 'the biggest amateur movie of them all'?

Spielberg later called the film 'the big bang' of his filmmaking generation.

Why did Kubrick first reject the novel A Clockwork Orange when a Strangelove collaborator gave it to him?

He returned to it in 1969 wanting something quick and cheap after 2001; it was shot for 2 million pounds.

Why did Kubrick personally withdraw A Clockwork Orange from UK release?

It stayed legally unavailable in Britain until after his death and was re-released in 2000.

The lenses that let Kubrick shoot Barry Lyndon by candlelight were originally developed for whom?

The high-speed Zeiss lenses gave the interiors the look of 18th-century paintings.

Threats from which group made Kubrick flee Ireland during Barry Lyndon?

The scenes of English soldiers had provoked them; he took the ferry from Dun Laoghaire and finished in England.

How many Oscars did Barry Lyndon win, more than any other Kubrick film?

It made just $9.5 million in America against the $30 million Warners needed, but France loved it.

How many retakes of a scene would Kubrick often demand on The Shining?

Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown said it was the first picture to use his device's full potential.

Five days after The Shining's release, Kubrick ordered which scene deleted?

He decided it was unnecessary after watching audiences react to the climax; Stephen King detested the film.

Which two horror films did Kubrick turn down directing?

He had told a friend in 1966 he wanted to 'make the world's scariest movie'.

Which cast member's near-fatal jeep accident shut down Full Metal Jacket for five months?

The film was based on Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers, which Kubrick found 'brutally honest'.

What stood in for the ruined city of Hue in Full Metal Jacket?

Beckton gasworks made the film look unlike any other Vietnam movie; Kubrick rarely left England.

Which review did Kubrick reportedly love, according to Matthew Modine?

Ebert gave it 2.5 out of 4, calling it 'strangely shapeless'.

On which 1926 novella was Eyes Wide Shut based?

Kubrick worked 18 hours a day for 15 months to hit the July 1999 release date.

How many days after screening a final cut of Eyes Wide Shut for its stars did Kubrick die?

He reportedly told a Warner executive it was his 'best film ever'.

Which Brian Aldiss story did Kubrick spend years developing into the film Spielberg finished as A.I.?

Spielberg said 'I felt like I was being coached by a ghost' and dedicated the film 'For Stanley Kubrick'.

How many infantry did Kubrick envisage for his unmade Napoleon epic?

Plus 10,000 cavalry, hired from an entire country's army; he called Napoleonic battles 'vast lethal ballets'.

Which semi-retired actress did Kubrick approach to play Empress Josephine in Napoleon?

Jack Nicholson was cast as Napoleon before MGM cancelled the project in 1969.

Which band approached Kubrick to direct them in a film of The Lord of the Rings?

He was unwilling to film such a popular book; he also could not film Foucault's Pendulum because Umberto Eco refused to sell rights.

Which Spielberg film persuaded Kubrick to abandon his Holocaust project Aryan Papers?

Aryan Papers, based on Louis Begley's Wartime Lies, had depressed him enormously.

How many times was Kubrick married?

Toba Metz, Ruth Sobotka and, from 1958 until his death, Christiane Harlan, whom he met filming Paths of Glory in Munich.

Which Kubrick film featured his second wife Ruth Sobotka as a ballet dancer?

She was art director on The Killing the following year; they divorced in 1957.

Which stately home in Hertfordshire became Kubrick's home and 'family factory' from 1978?

He converted the stables into production rooms; Abbots Mead had been his base for the previous 14 years.

How did Kubrick's wife Christiane sum up his love of machines?

He had held a pilot's licence since 1947 but reportedly developed a fear of flying.

Which Full Metal Jacket co-writer called Kubrick 'a complete failure as a recluse'?

Most of that conviviality happened over the phone; Kubrick rarely left England in his last forty years.

How old was Kubrick when he died in March 1999?

He was buried next to his favourite tree at Childwickbury; Spielberg, Kidman and Cruise gave eulogies.

Which TV series is said to reference Kubrick films more than any other pop-culture work?

The Directors Guild of Great Britain screened a montage of the homages when giving him a lifetime award.

In 2018 the IAU named the largest mountain on Charon, a satellite of which body, after Kubrick?

BAFTA had earlier renamed its Britannia lifetime award the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award.

Colour Me Kubrick (2005) starred John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a con artist who did what in the 1990s?

The film was authorised by Kubrick's family.

Which conspiracy theory does the 2002 mockumentary Dark Side of the Moon parody?

He had studied real NASA hardware for 2001, which fed the myth.

Which pop star's concerts have included dialogue, costumes and music from A Clockwork Orange?

Kanye West's 'Runaway' video was inspired by Eyes Wide Shut.

Which French director's fluid camerawork did Kubrick cite as an influence on his visual style?

He also called Elia Kazan America's best director of the time.

What Rotten Tomatoes score did Dr. Strangelove, AFI's 39th-greatest American film, hold as of 2020?

The Guardian named it the sixth-best comedy of all time in 2010.

How much did 2001 cost after its effects team worked to the end of 1967?

It had earned $31 million worldwide by the end of 1972 despite mixed early reviews.