Stanley Kubrick only ever allowed two actors to improvise on his set: “Actors are essentially emotion-producing instruments”
Known as the ultimate perfectionist within the industry, Stanley Kubrick represented a unique kind of filmmaking that was built through meticulously executed productions and grandiose artistic visions. It was both a blessing and a curse for all involved.
Hailed by many as one of the greatest auteurs of all time due to the seemingly endless impact of opuses such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon, Kubrick’s relentless pursuit of perfection helped him cement his place in history, but it also helped to cause friction on set and with studio executives.
While Kubrick’s perfectionism definitely helped him realise the true potential of the cinematic medium, it also caused a lot of conflicts. Over the years, he developed a reputation for being an infamous taskmaster, which resulted in disputes with several colleagues, ranging from Shelley Duvall’s traumatic experience in The Shining to Harvey Keitel’s departure from Eyes Wide Shut.
For better or worse, Kubrick was known by many as a Tinseltown tyrant. Famously, once losing his cool with a British set for taking so many tea breaks, Kubrick would also create scale models of all his sets so he could figure out how to light them properly. It was a duality that would leave some of his employees feeling shunned, or worse. His demand for complete control didn’t necessarily suit actors who wanted more freedom in their creative interpretations, which, as time went by, became more frequent.
During a conversation with Joseph Glemis, Kubrick once said: “The director’s job is to know what emotional statement he wants a character to convey in his scene or his line and to exercise taste and judgment in helping the actor give his best possible performance. By knowing the actor’s personality and gauging his strengths and weaknesses, a director can help him to overcome specific problems and realise his potential. But I think this aspect of directing is generally overemphasised. The director’s taste and imagination play a much more crucial role in the making of a film.”
To conduct yourself with this in mind, it is a wonder that Kubrick ever allowed his actors the chance to breathe out of time with the rhythm of the scene. Despite his authoritarian stance on an actor’s role, there were specific instances when Kubrick was so overwhelmed by an actor’s talent that he actually allowed them to improvise.
The most famous example is Peter Sellers’ performance in Dr. Strangelove where he played three different roles, demonstrating his brilliance in each and every scene. Although Kubrick was a stickler for perfect preparation and multiple takes, Sellers proved him wrong. The comic actor wqould flourish in the roles and set the standard for performance.
Kubrick revealed: “I find that you can’t rehearse effectively unless you have the physical reality of the set to work with. Unfortunately, sets are practically never ready until the last moment before you start shooting, and this significantly cuts down on your rehearsal time. Some actors, of course, need rehearsals more than others”.
Adding: “Actors are essentially emotion-producing instruments, and some are always tuned and ready, while others will reach a fantastic pitch on one take and never equal it again, no matter how hard they try. In Strangelove, for example, George Scott could do his scenes equally well, take after take, whereas Peter Sellers was always incredibly good on one take, which was never equalled.”
In addition to Sellers’ unparalleled work in Dr. Strangelove, there was one other actor who managed to transcend Kubrick’s framework. Initially, the filmmaker was going to write the dialogue for Lee Ermey’s Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, but what he saw completely blew his mind. Drawing on his own experiences in the Vietnam War, Ermey was allowed to improvise most of his lines, which resulted in undeniable cinematic magic.
Emery and Sellers both demonstrated a sense of comedic timing that Kubrick may well have been incapable of accurately adapting for the script, but both excelled in their areas. Sellers, the unhinged deliveries and wild performances, and Emery the powerhouse insults that shape the scenes, both create pure and unstoppable brilliance.
