How chess helped Stanley Kubrick make his movies: “The discipline required to evaluate”
Probably one of the few timeless games in existence, chess has been described as an art form by some of its masters, while others have tried to understand its complexity by incorporating scientific approaches. Every player has their own style, which is often a reflection of the patterns that their thought processes take. One artist who was undoubtedly inspired by the simultaneously magical and cruel world of chess was Stanley Kubrick.
Known for his sprawling masterpieces, which redefined 20th-century filmmaking in more ways than one, Kubrick changed the way we conceived the medium forever. From his reconfiguration of the sci-fi genre through 2001: A Space Odyssey to his experiments with horror contained in The Shining, the American auteur plowed his way through every challenge he took on and emerged on the other side hailed as a true visionary.
In addition to his unique ideas about cinema, a key factor that helped him during the arduous productions of his projects was his background as a chess player. Kubrick’s love for chess is definitely no secret, having been referenced in works like his 1956 noir The Killing. Before he even made his start as a director, he actually earned some of his income by playing the game for money in Washington Square Park and entering tournaments in New York.
During an interview, the filmmaker opened up about the deep impact the game had on his way of thinking and problem-solving. According to Kubrick, the most important quality that chess helped him develop was patience. Instead of acting on impulses and going for the instantaneous methods, he learned to take a step back and look at the entire position before making his move.
Kubrick explained: “When you’re making a film you have to make most of your decisions on the run, and there is a tendency to always shoot from the hip. It takes more discipline than you might imagine to think, even for 30 seconds, in the noisy, confusing, high-pressure atmosphere of a film set. But a few seconds’ thought can often prevent a serious mistake being made about something that looks good at first glance. With respect to films, chess is more useful preventing you from making mistakes than giving you ideas.”
While some legendary figures like Marcel Duchamp have cited chess as a source of artistic inspiration, Kubrick was much more interested in the methodologies that structure thought processes in chess. In fact, he often tested the capabilities of his actors by challenging them to a game of chess in order to understand how they thought.
When asked about Dr. Strangelove and The Shining, Kubrick added: “I played a few games with Tony Burton, one of the actors in the film. He’s a very good chess player. It was very near the end of the picture, and things had gotten to a fairly simple stage. I played quite a lot with George C. Scott during the making of Dr. Strangelove. George is a good player, too, but if I recall correctly he didn’t win many games from me. This gave me a certain edge with him on everything else. If you fancy yourself as a good chess player, you have an inordinate respect for people who can beat you.”
Kubrick himself admitted that he was not at the level of some of the masters he competed against in the tournaments he entered, but chess remained a lifelong hobby for the revered filmmaker, who often returned to it to better understand himself.
