The special effects master “deeply affected” by Stanley Kubrick
It would be something of an understatement to say that there is a seductive aesthetic and narrative quality to the works of Stanley Kubrick. Widely admired as one of the greatest movie directors of all time, and with good reason: to gaze upon a Kubrick film is to look upon a genuine masterpiece of filmmaking genius.
Perhaps what’s most impressive about Kubrick’s filmography is the fact that he seemed to be comfortable taking the directorial reins in whatever genre he had attempted. With Spartacus, he mastered the sword and sandals historical drama, while Dr. Strangelove saw the director turn his attention to the realm of satirical comedy, even while focusing on the nuclear threat of the Cold War.
Elsewhere, Kubrick had taken on the science fiction world with 2001: A Space Odyssey, horror with The Shining and the Vietnam War with Full Metal Jacket. Quite simply, there was no task of filmmaking that the New York City-born director couldn’t handle, and he drew the admiration of many of his peers and collaborators throughout the entirety of his career.
However, there were a handful of those in the film industry who had somewhat conflicting views about Kubrick, those who understood his genius but learned that his methods were sometimes difficult to deal with. Special effects master Douglas Trumbull had worked with Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, but also created pieces for Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.
During an interview with Filmmaker, Trumbull once noted, “I sometimes say I was seduced, sometimes I say I was distorted, or sometimes that I was deeply affected by working with Stanley Kubrick. I was a young impressionable moviemaker and my first movie was with Stanley Kubrick.”
He added: “I said, ‘If this is what movies are like then I want to do this all my life.’ Then I found out that his attention to detail and manner of working wasn’t the norm.” Indeed, Kubrick’s striking attention to detail inevitably led to some of the greatest works of cinema of all time, but equally drove some of his actors and collaborators up the wall.
The special effects on 2001: A Space Odyssey remain some of the best of any movie ever made and it all came down to the working relationship between Trumbull and Kubrick, as well as the director’s love for technological innovation. “He was so up on the technology, more than any director I’ve ever met,” Trumbull admitted. “He was more astute and determined to understand everything, every lens, every camera.”
Interestingly, even though Trumbull said that he was seduced by Kubrick and found a great and unique joy in working with him, he once said that he was not deserving of his Academy Award for ‘Best Special Effects’ for 2001, telling THR, “Kubrick did not create the visual effects. He directed them. There was a certain level of inappropriateness to taking that Oscar.”
Even more tragic for Trumbull, though, was the fact that that award was Kubrick’s only Oscar, especially considering the fact that special effects were not exactly the director’s forte. Still, Kubrick’s reputation as a master director will forever be unscathed, and he frequently mesmerised and seduced his audience members throughout his life and continues to do so from beyond the grave.
