Listen to a rare Stanley Kubrick interview from 1965
It doesn’t take a cinephile to recognise Stanley Kubrick’s brilliance and astounding legacy in the filmmaking world, inspiring practically every director who came after him. His obsessive attention to detail allowed him to excel at writing and directing movies, and his films were never less than magnificent and extravagant.
Kubrick started out as a photographer, but his sights were seemingly always set on something more significant: moving images. From the very beginning of his career, he established himself as an auteur, completing as much work on his films independently as possible.
His directorial debut, Fear and Desire, saw Kubrick do nearly everything, from cinematography to editing. Due to the small budget and Kubrick’s lack of filmmaking experience, the movie was far from perfect, but it suggested that he possessed a dedicated vision with plenty of potential.
That potential was soon recognised as Kubrick eventually released movies which received critical praise, such as Spartacus and Paths of Glory. As he entered the ‘60s, Kubrick demonstrated incredible range with dark comedies like Lolita and Dr Strangelove (which is also an incredible anti-war film) and the epic sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
From then on, Kubrick seemed unstoppable, releasing acclaimed movies from A Clockwork Orange to Barry Lyndon and The Shining. While Kubrick was working on 2001: A Space Odyssey, arguably the film that established him as one of cinema’s most vital figures, he gave a rare interview that allowed great insight into the mind of a visionary creative.
Talking to Jeremy Bernstein from The New Yorker in 1965, Kubrick went into detail about his career over a game of chess, using a tape recorder to capture his thoughts. The recording is available to listen to on YouTube and features his musings on filmmaking, including his transition from photography to cinema and the success of movies such as Paths of Glory, which also allowed him to meet his wife, Christiane Harlan, whom he praises.
Interestingly, he talks about Lolita in a critical way, which he adapted from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel of the same name. He argues that the movie lacks “eroticism”, explaining that he finds this “regrettable”. He cites the “incredible pressure against making the film” that he faced from many people during production as the reason for this, adding, “Although I think the film was faithful psychologically to all the characters,” the “lack of eroticism spoils some of the pleasures of it.”
Kubrick also talks about the commercial and critical success of Dr Strangelove, discussing Terry Southern’s contribution to the script, explaining that “the style of the script was similar to his sense of humour.”
Listen to the full interview below.
