Buzz
Stanley Kubrick is undeniably one of the most influential filmmakers in history. Known for his relentless pursuit of perfection, Kubrick often required his cast and crew to endure countless hours of reshoots. In one memorable instance, he demanded that the legendary Adolphe Menjou perform a single scene 17 times. Menjou, overwhelmed with frustration, lashed out at Kubrick, insulting his directorial abilities and even his family. After the tirade, Kubrick coolly responded, “Alright, let’s give it another try.”
Kubrick, who avoided the limelight, retreated from Hollywood's glitz and glamour in 1978 to live in the quiet English countryside. Despite his seclusion, American studios continued to support his bold projects. His films received praise for their technical precision, intricate choreography, and, above all, their uncompromising vision. Whether addressing the absurdity of nuclear war or telling the chilling story of a spaceship's AI trying to eliminate its crew, Kubrick’s films spanned genres, all while delving into the darker facets of humanity—reflecting his own pessimistic view of the world.
The secrets behind Kubrick's films often proved just as captivating as the films themselves. Now, let's take a closer look at 10 fascinating behind-the-scenes tales from the late director’s remarkable career.
10. The Scene That Resulted in an Eye Injury
A Clockwork Orange chronicles the twisted escapades of Alex DeLarge and his gang of 'droogs.' After a spree of crime, Alex is caught and, at the request of the Ministry of the Interior, undergoes a controversial rehabilitation. In one of the film’s most unforgettable moments, the delinquent is strapped to a chair with his eyelids forcibly held open. A psychiatrist then administers the Ludovico Technique, a fictional method where the subject is made to watch disturbing, violent footage until they are physically sickened by it.
Kubrick pushed Malcolm McDowell, the actor portraying Alex, to endure having eyelid clamps attached for this harrowing scene. Despite McDowell’s objections, Kubrick insisted, and an eye doctor was brought in to numb the actor’s eyes and attach the clamps. Unfortunately, the metal hooks would slip off McDowell’s eyelids, causing scratches to his corneas. The full extent of the damage was only clear to McDowell once the anesthetic wore off. "I was in so much pain I was banging my head against a wall," he recalled.
McDowell requested 2.5 percent of the film’s box office earnings as part of his contract. Kubrick reportedly informed him that Warner Brothers had denied the request. It wasn’t until later that McDowell learned the truth: "[W]hen I was invited to meet the studio heads, they said: ‘You’re going to be a very rich young man on the 2.5% we gave Stanley for you.’ I knew he would never pay me."
9. The Shining Traumatized Shelley Duvall
Kubrick was infamous for his ability to push actors to their limits, demanding multiple retakes in order to capture the perfect shot. One scene from The Shining, where young Danny discovers his telepathic abilities, holds the Guinness World Record for the most takes for a scene with dialogue, with an astonishing 148 reshoots.
Shelley Duvall’s experience was arguably the most difficult. Duvall portrayed Wendy Torrence, the distressed housewife relentlessly pursued by her mentally unstable husband through the eerie halls of the Overlook Hotel. In one intense scene, Wendy fights back with a baseball bat, desperately swinging it toward his deranged face. The emotion in her performance was raw and real, largely due to Kubrick’s relentless insistence on reshoot after reshoot. Cameraman Garrett Brown revealed that the scene was shot around 35 to 45 times.
Kubrick isolated Duvall during production, instructing the crew to avoid offering her encouragement or praise. The young actress was kept at a distance from the rest of the cast. Years after filming, Duvall described her time working with Kubrick as a living nightmare. She remarked, "[I]f he hadn’t done everything with force and cruelty, then I guess it wouldn’t have turned out to be as it was."
In a more recent conversation with Dr. Phil, Duvall shared that she had been battling mental health issues at the time of filming. The 71-year-old actress also discussed her beliefs in shapeshifters, alien implants, and the Bermuda Triangle. Kubrick’s daughter criticized the interview, accusing it of being exploitative and a cheap form of sensationalism.
8. The $750,000 Rotating Set of A Space Odyssey
Even today, 2001: A Space Odyssey stands as a pinnacle of technical achievement in cinema. Released in 1968, the film was made without the help of modern computer graphics, a challenge Kubrick tackled by assembling a team capable of achieving feats never seen before in the film industry. Collaborating with renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick not only adapted the material for the big screen but co-wrote an entire novel titled 2001: A Space Odyssey. As the novel developed, Kubrick began to bring the story to life as a film.
Clarke persuaded Kubrick to consult with leading aerospace contractors and spacecraft specialists. He also collaborated with major companies such as IBM, Pan Am, and General Motors to design the futuristic technologies featured in the film. A prime example is the mock videophone created by Bell System (now AT&T). NASA also played a key role, providing the crew with a wealth of hardware and technical documents to ensure authenticity.
A significant portion of A Space Odyssey takes place aboard the Discovery One space station. The station's crew quarters are depicted as continuously spinning, generating centrifugal force to simulate gravity. Kubrick gives the impression that the characters can run along the station's walls by filming them in this spinning environment. To create this illusion, Vickers-Armstrong Engineering was enlisted. The company spent $750,000 constructing a massive 38-foot rotating wheel. Chairs, computer consoles, and stasis pods were secured to the inside of the wheel. As the wheel spun, the actors walked in sync with its motion, making it appear as though they were traversing the station's walls and ceiling. In reality, the set was rotating around the actors.
7. Kubrick Played Mind Games with Tom Cruise on Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes Wide Shut explores the unraveling marriage of Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman), a New York couple facing a crisis. Bill’s paranoia intensifies after Alice confesses she once considered leaving him for another man. As filming progressed, Kubrick subjected Cruise and Kidman to his own form of psychoanalysis, probing their personal relationship for sensitive details, all while assuring them that their confessions would remain private. Kidman explained, “Tom would hear things that he didn’t want to hear… It was honest, and brutally honest at times.”
Kubrick filmed an elaborate dream sequence where Kidman’s character engages in sexual acts with a naval officer. Although the scene lasts just one minute, it took a full six days to shoot. Cruise was kept off set during this time while Kidman filmed numerous explicit positions. She was also instructed not to discuss the scene with Cruise afterward, in an attempt to avoid raising his concerns.
Eyes Wide Shut earned a place in the Guinness World Records for the longest continuous film shoot, with production stretching over a remarkable 400 days. This achievement is not surprising, considering Kubrick made Tom Cruise perform more than 90 takes of a simple door walkthrough.
6. Dr. Strangelove Contained a Grain of Truth
Dr. Strangelove begins with the unstable General Jack D. Ripper, who authorizes a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, citing a bizarre conspiracy theory involving communist plots to poison the American water supply with fluoride, supposedly to corrupt the nation's 'precious bodily fluids.' The U.S. President, portrayed by Peter Sellers, spends much of the movie trying to reverse the reckless actions of this rogue general, all while trying to avert a global catastrophe.
The film opens with an intriguing disclaimer: 'It is the stated position of the U.S. Air Force that their safeguards would prevent the occurrence of such events as depicted in this film.' This suggests that the filmmakers were privy to knowledge that the audience had yet to discover.
During the 1950s, President Eisenhower devised emergency plans in case of a nuclear attack from the Soviets. Fearing that a retaliatory strike would be impossible if he were unreachable or incapacitated, the administration established a failsafe. Under this plan, certain high-ranking officers had the authority to launch nuclear weapons, but only if 'the urgency of time and circumstances clearly does not permit a specific decision by the President, or other person empowered to act in his stead.'
When John F. Kennedy took office after Eisenhower, he was shocked to discover that nuclear weapons were scattered across Europe, with many lacking security locks and being overseen by non-American military personnel. NATO-controlled warheads were secured promptly, but the U.S. Department of Defense opposed adding locks to their own nuclear devices. The concern was that communists could disable the locks and hinder retaliation efforts.
In the creation of Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick consulted British R.A.F. pilot Peter George, whose novel Red Alert greatly influenced the film. The novel was so insightful that it was read by the U.S. Secretary of Defense and Pentagon officials. Yet, it wasn't until the 1970s that the U.S. nuclear arsenal was equipped with coded locks, and it is widely rumored that for two decades, the code used was '00000000,' a claim the U.S. Air Force denies.
5. The IRA Interrupted Barry Lyndon’s Production
Stanley Kubrick began filming Barry Lyndon, a period drama set in the 18th century, in 1971. The story follows an Irishman, Barry, who joins the British Army, and much of the film was shot in Ireland, featuring British Redcoats. This storyline did not sit well with an Irish paramilitary group.
Filming in Ireland began in 1973, amid significant unrest. A deep divide had emerged between those wanting Northern Ireland to stay within the UK and those pushing for an independent Ireland. With the British Army deployed to keep peace, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) saw this as a provocation and launched several attacks against British targets.
As shown in Barry Lyndon, during the 18th century, much of Ireland was under British dominance. With this historical backdrop and the film's strong focus on the British Army, the Kubrick family found themselves marked by the IRA. In January 1974, a crew member received an alarming call from British security forces. An agent informed them that the IRA had issued an ultimatum to Kubrick: leave Ireland within 24 hours or face severe repercussions. Kubrick evacuated in just 12 hours.
Ryan O’Neal, the actor portraying Barry Lyndon, recalls finding Kubrick hiding in his dressing room. ‘I went in, and Kubrick shouted, ‘Get down!’ because there was a window,’ O’Neal recalled. ‘I asked, ‘What, are they going to shoot me? I’m not even English!’ Kubrick insisted, ‘Get down, get down!’ He was extremely serious about it, and that marked the end of our time in Ireland.’
4. Full Metal Jacket Was Truly Hazardous
The dramatic ending of Full Metal Jacket involves a fierce firefight between U.S. Marines and the Viet Cong in Hue, Vietnam. However, this climactic scene was actually filmed at an abandoned gasworks in Britain. Kubrick had parts of the complex destroyed for the shoot, adding palm trees and billboards to enhance the setting's post-apocalyptic feel. Unbeknownst to many on set, the area surrounding Beckton Gas Works was contaminated with harmful asbestos.
Matthew Modine, who played Private ‘Joker’ Davis, recently shared his memories: ‘We’d sit down for a cup of tea and a pastry in the morning, and when a film truck passed, dust would fall everywhere. We’d just drink the tea and eat the pastry, not thinking much of the dust. Asbestos was all over the place from the demolished buildings.’
Actor Adam Baldwin, best known for playing 'Animal Mother,' backed up his co-star’s claims, recounting how Kubrick forced them to crawl through asbestos and coal. Baldwin suggested that Kubrick prioritized the film's visual aesthetics over the well-being of the cast.
3. The Shining’s Alternate Conclusion
Before The Shining hit theaters in 1980, the studio held a test screening. The audience was baffled by the film's confusing ending, which led Warner Bros to request a revision. As a result, Kubrick altered the finale.
In one of the most iconic moments in film history, Jack Torrence succumbs to the cold in the Overlook Hotel’s maze of hedges. Kubrick’s initial cut, however, went further by showing what happens to Jack's family. It shifts to a hospital reception, where Danny plays Snakes and Ladders with a nurse. The manager of the Overlook, Stuart Ullman, appears, carrying flowers and discussing the bizarre events: '[The police have] thoroughly examined the scene, but found no trace of anything unusual. Mrs. Torrence, while I understand how you must feel, it's not surprising that someone would imagine such things after experiencing what you’ve been through.'
Ullman then urges Wendy to stay at his Los Angeles home, an invitation she agrees to. Just before he leaves, he tosses a tennis ball to Danny—the same ball that an unseen presence had rolled to the boy earlier in the Overlook Hotel.
2. The Actor Who Orchestrated His Own Kidnapping
Paths of Glory marked Kubrick's fourth venture into filmmaking. The World War I drama dives into the brutal reality of trench warfare between the French and German forces. A French general, seeking a promotion, orders his troops to capture a German fortification known as Anthill. When the soldiers refuse the clearly suicidal mission, the general retaliates by putting three of them on trial for cowardice.
One of those sentenced to court-martial was Private Maurice Ferol, portrayed by American actor Timothy Carey. The film's producer, James B. Harris, later revealed that Carey was challenging to manage, harboring resentment toward his more prominent co-star, Kirk Douglas. Kubrick used this animosity to his advantage while shooting.
In a 2015 interview, the producer shared that Carey had even staged his own kidnapping. He recalled receiving an early-morning call from Munich police, claiming that Tim had been found abandoned on the roadside, bound and claiming he’d been kidnapped. Initially, the police suspected the studio was involved in the stunt. They took Carey to the studio and presented him with a statement to sign. He refused to sign, prompting Harris to fire him on the spot.
1. The Homoerotic Scene in Spartacus Was Cut
The original version of Spartacus featured a provocative scene between the Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) and his slave, Antoninus (Tony Curtis). Set in a Roman bathhouse, Crassus subtly suggests that he expects Antoninus to fulfill his sexual desires. He asks, "Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral and the eating of snails to be immoral?" and adds, "It is all a matter of taste. And taste is not the same as appetite and, therefore, not a question of morals, is it?" Crassus then states, "My tastes include both snails and oysters."
The National Legion of Decency was less than thrilled with this scene. Established in 1933, this now-defunct organization collaborated with Hollywood to ensure films met the Catholic Church’s moral standards. The studio proposed altering the line from "snails and oysters" to "truffles and artichokes," but Kirk Douglas, the film's executive producer, rejected the change. As a result, Universal decided to completely cut the scene.
The bathhouse scene wasn’t reinstated until 1991, long after the Legion had dissolved. A team of editors combed through Universal’s archives, discovering the missing footage among 2,000 canisters. However, the clip lacked its original audio. To remedy this, Universal brought Tony Curtis into the studio to re-record his lines. But the bigger challenge was that Laurence Olivier had passed away years earlier. Fortunately, Anthony Hopkins was able to deliver a convincing Olivier impression, and his voice was used in place of the late actor’s.
