The one actor Stanley Kubrick was too scared to meet: “He couldn’t face him”
History tends to remember Stanley Kubrick as existing somewhere between a perfectionist and a tyrant after the filmmaker became equal parts illustrious and infamous for the meticulous and demanding nature he sought to impose upon every cast and crew in his employ.
It’s hard to argue with the results when the vaunted auteur is rightfully celebrated as one of the greatest directors of all time with a filmography comprised largely of influential, transformative, and seminal works of cinema, but the downside was that many people didn’t have the greatest experiences of their careers when Kubrick was calling the shots.
His personality was that of someone who wouldn’t be happy with a take, scene, shot, or performance unless it lined up exactly with the imagery he had in his mind, but it turned out that he could also be a big scaredy cat. Kubrick’s shy and retiring nature was often characterised as reclusiveness, and it’s easy to see why he gained that reputation when his work consumed every fibre of his being.
Despite his formidable reputation, Kubrick once locked himself in his car during the production of Eyes Wide Shut because he couldn’t face the frenzied masses who’d gathered around the set to try and catch a glimpse of Tom Cruise, and there was even one actor he point-blank refused to meet because he was so frightened of them.
Kubrick of all people shouldn’t have had any trouble separating the artist from their art, but as Deliverance director John Boorman revealed to Little White Lies, the only reason the 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange architect didn’t cast Bill McKinney was because he was so convincing as the fearsome and sadistic mountain man in Boorman’s notorious thriller.
“Stanley called me to ask what he was like. I told him he was a marvelous guy, a tree surgeon when he’s not acting and a wonderful man, really into his meditation,” he explained. “Kubrick said it was the most terrifying scene ever put on film and that surely he’s got to have that part in him somewhere to be able to play that character. I said of course not, he’s just a marvellous actor.”
Initially overcoming his fears, Kubrick hired McKinney for Full Metal Jacket. However, when the time came for their first in-person meeting, he changed his mind. “When Bill was at Los Angeles airport, he was called over the tannoy,” Boorman said. “Kubrick didn’t want him to come; he’d recast the part because he couldn’t face him.”
Kubrick may have bricked it at the last second and snatched Full Metal Jacket away from McKinney, but it can’t be said that it didn’t work out for the best in the long run when the part of hard-nosed drill sergeant Hartman was played by R Lee Ermey instead, who gave an iconic performance and launched his entire career on the back of it.
