James Cameron names his favourite Stanley Kubrick movies
When Stanley Kubrick died in 1999, the film world felt a crushing loss, with many movie fans believing that the world wouldn’t see anything quite like him ever again.
He is the Mozart of film, a meticulous, singular genius who planned every one of his films to the last detail. Working across many different genres, including horror, comedy and science-fiction, with such respective movies as The Shining, Dr Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey, despite his broad themes and styles, every film he made carried an undeniable Kubrick feel. The distinctive, beautiful cinematography filled with wide shots and meticulous compositions, rich and layered screenplays, detailed sets, and a total lack of faith in humanity delivered with the safety blanket of some pitch-black humour.
Kubrick was a highly unusual man who was highly dedicated and focused on his passion for filmmaking, so it’s hardly surprising that we’ve never seen a filmmaker since who has been able to match his artistry; still, some share a few similarities.
These directors include the likes of David Fincher, a famous perfectionist who demands a ridiculous number of takes, and Paul Thomas Anderson, another meticulous, artistic jack of all trades who’s worked across many genres. However, the group also contains James Cameron, the master of the box office, who knows how to pull off a good old sci-fi epic, too.
Just like Kubrick, Cameron is a ludicrously ambitious filmmaker who is constantly pushing the boundaries of cinema, crafting some of the most captivating films in Hollywood history. He is a driven perfectionist with a remarkable level of control over his vast, record-shattering epics. One look at the Avatar project and it is impossible not to admire the sheer level of craft that went into them, including world-building with detailed comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien more than justified.
Cameron himself has certainly made no secret of his adoration for Kubrick, and two of Kubrick’s feature films appear in Cameron’s top five favourite movies. One is 2001: A Space Odyssey, and considering how much Cameron has worked in the sci-fi genre, this is certainly no surprise. As well as being a monolithic cinematic masterpiece, 2001 has a lot in common with Cameron’s own output, being a groundbreaking, ambitious, detailed spectacle.
Cameron’s second pick is maybe a little more unexpected; it’s Kubrick’s pitch-black comedy, Dr Strangelove. Cameron’s work has very little in common with that particular film, but it’s still an understandable selection, with the movie being an excellent satire on governmental politics and the leaders of savage war.
To round out Cameron’s top five favourites, he included The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather and Taxi Driver. As well as being one of the greatest blockbuster filmmakers of them all, it’s clear that the director carries a keen eye for the finer details of cinematic mastery.
