The actor Stanley Kubrick said had the X-factor: “His work is always interesting”
Stanley Kubrick was an amateur filmmaker at best, taking on one too many servings of responsibility when he tried to make his debut feature, Fear and Desire, in 1952.
He was determined to realise the film, even if it meant stacking on every hat from cinematography to editing on his already heavy mind. Regardless of his amateur efforts, you could tell that there was real promise in the young director’s filmmaking. He positioned a fierce anti-war stance, which would come to shape later works, like Full Metal Jacket, and even if few actually saw it, several critics commented positively on the film.
Kubrick came into full bloom over the coming years with movies like Spartacus and Paths of Glory, although the peak of his technical achievements arrived in 1968, when he made 2001: A Space Odyssey, a pure masterpiece which even had people convinced that he faked Neil Armstrong’s stepping moment on the moon the following year.
He had many talents, but one of these was knowing how to cast the perfect leading actors, whether that be Peter Sellers in thirds for Dr Strangelove or James Mason in Lolita, giving a perfectly creepy portrayal of the grooming pedophilic murderer. His casting of Ryan O’Neal in Barry Lyndon might have surprised some, but can you imagine anyone else as the protagonist? And who would’ve thought that Hollywood icon Tom Cruise would be the right person to go into the kinky depths of New York’s seediest avenues?
The filmmaker could recognise a good actor when he saw one for his roles, even in the face of opposing doubters. There was one actor whom he managed to work with that none could fault, however, and he pretty much unanimously dominated the hearts of directors during the New Hollywood period, starring in some of the most successful movies of the era.
We’re talking about the Oscar-winning grinner Jack Nicholson, who helmed an era of great change for cinema that saw a new, grittier landscape for everyman characters, nihilism, and unhappy endings. Kubrick was lucky enough to direct him in 1980’s horror classic The Shining, where he played the unhinged Jack Torrance, a struggling writer whose stay at the Overlook Hotel turns violent for his family when he begins seeing ghostly visions.
“I think that he is on almost everyone’s first-choice list for any role that suits him. His work is always interesting, clearly conceived, and has the X-factor, magic,” Kubrick once said, gushing further, “Jack is particularly suited for roles which require intelligence. He is an intelligent and literate man, and these are qualities almost impossible to act. In The Shining, you believe he’s a writer, failed or otherwise.”
Certainly, Nicholson gives a convincing performance in a role that required him to give in to all inhibition, even improvising the iconic “Here’s Johnny!” line as he smashes an axe through the bathroom door to plant a menacing grin, much to the sheer horror of his wife, Wendy.
Nicholson has the power to step into any character he takes on, as if putting on their shoes literally gives him the ability to become them. That and having Kubrick so incredibly impressed are why the actor will always be known as one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars.
