The only actor brave enough to stand up to Stanley Kubrick: “You don’t have to do this”
The best directors have always been those who know exactly what they want to achieve with their latest film before a single frame has been shot. There aren’t many who planned more meticulously than Stanley Kubrick, which ensured he wasn’t always the easiest person to deal with on set.
Any filmmaker who turns up for their first day with the entire movie visualised in their head is already a couple of steps ahead of the game, but the obvious downside was that Kubrick developed a tendency to work his cast and crew into the ground so that the end result would match his imagination.
The most infamous instance was Shelley Duvall’s harrowing experience in The Shining, with the auteur driving her to breaking point with his demanding nature. Jack Nicholson was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and even bowed to Kubrick’s whims, knowing that it was destined to deliver greatness.
Malcolm McDowell was another famous collaborator who didn’t always speak positively of his time collaborating with Kubrick on a timeless picture, but there was one Hollywood stalwart who, quite frankly, wouldn’t put up with his shit. It made sense when the actor was the bigger and more powerful name of the two when they first partnered up, and in the years that followed, it would be an understatement to hear tales of anyone daring to put the director in his place.
1957’s war drama Paths of Glory was Kubrick’s fourth feature or third for anyone who followed his lead and pretended that Fear and Desire didn’t exist. Meanwhile, Kirk Douglas was a three-time Academy Award-nominated A-lister and a burgeoning producer, placing him at least one rung above Kubrick on the industry ladder.
Paths of Glory co-star Richard Anderson recalled how Douglas’ no-nonsense approach kept Kubrick in line and fostered a deep-lying mutual respect between the two that would come in handy when they reunited for another fractious production in 1960’s Spartacus.
“One time, when Kirk Douglas blew up at him on the set, Stanley said, ‘Jeez, Kirk, you don’t have do this in front of everybody, do you?'” Anderson told The New York Times. “But he admired Kirk. He said, ‘My god, this guy always knows his lines’. Stanley is very psychological to get what he wants.”
For most of his career, the prospect of an actor berating Kubrick in front of everyone is nigh-on unthinkable. Clearly, Douglas didn’t give a shit, which was fair when he was the more valuable of the two in Hollywood’s eyes in the ’50s.
The director appreciated performers who gave their all to his movies, which is exactly what he got from his Paths of Glory leading man, even if he’d rather not be chewed out in front of everyone from the ensemble cast to the key grip.
