Stanley Kubrick’s favourite Steven Spielberg movies
Known for his unparalleled contributions to cinema through masterpieces like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick left a gaping hole in Hollywood when he died a quarter of a century ago. In the realm of filmmaking, as in any creative endeavour, achieving greatness requires a blend of perfectionism, determination, and passion, traits that Kubrick possessed in abundance.
Of these qualities, Kubrick was particularly renowned for his unwavering commitment to perfectionism. While many filmmakers are blessed with creative fluency, Kubrick’s approach was distinguished by its meticulousness and precision, characteristics often deemed at odds with the inherently subjective nature of art. Kubrick’s methods were as structured and methodical as they were innovative, defying traditional norms and setting new standards for cinematic excellence.
As an astute cinephile, Kubrick set off in the 1950s inspired by some of the finest directors of Hollywood’s Golden Era, including Orson Welles, Jean Cocteau and Charlie Chaplin. After establishing himself as a consistent and prolific auteur through the 1960s, he was regarded as one of the vital inspiring forces behind the New Hollywood era, as championed by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
Although Kubrick inspired all of these subsequently prominent directors, he continued to observe the varied approaches of his peers and sought to incorporate new approaches into his ever-developing style.
Although he very seldom discussed his favourite films or fellow directors, Kubrick left us with a master list of 93 movies he considered the greatest of all time as curated via several reputable sources. The Criterion Collection compiled the list with the help of Kubrick’s daughter, Katharina Kubrick-Hobbs.
The list contained an array of movies from the Golden Age right up to the 1990s. Featuring prominently on the list were selections by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola and Max Ophuls. Kubrick also saved space to mention two Spielberg classics: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET the Extra-terrestrial.
Notably, both movies are prominent submissions in Spielberg’s sci-fi/fantasy catalogue. Ostensibly, these movies spoke to Kubrick’s taste for star-bound imagination, as conveyed in his 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, it appears that Kubrick wasn’t so allured by Spielberg’s more tangible, sobering projects.
According to Frederic Raphael, Kubrick’s co-writer on the Eyes Wide Shut project, Kubrick took issue with Spielberg’s 1993 Holocaust masterpiece Schindler’s List. “Think that was about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn’t it? The Holocaust is about six million people who get killed. Schindler’s List was about six hundred people who don’t,” Raphael once quoted Kubrick as saying.
After reading these relayed comments in Raphael’s memoir Eyes Wide Open, Spielberg cast doubt on their validity. “I didn’t recognise the voice of Stanley in that article,” he said. Meanwhile, Kubrick’s wife, Christiane, also publicly denounced the biography as unreliable.
Watch the trailer for ET the Extra-Terrestrial below.
