Stanley Kubrick revealed the most crucial aspect of his work: “Good research is an absolute necessity”
One of film and television’s favourite clichés is the board covered in names, dates, newspaper clippings, and important events all connected with assorted pieces of different coloured string, which isn’t too different from the way Stanley Kubrick researched his movies.
Meticulousness and perfectionism were two of the operative words throughout his career, with Kubrick never embarking on a production he wasn’t completely prepared for. Even when he was in the thick of it and cameras were rolling, a shot wasn’t in the can until he got one that he liked, regardless of how many takes it required.
It wasn’t an approach that everybody agreed with, even if the actors left exhausted by his methods, they would have known precisely what they were getting into. It bordered on the obsessive at points, with Kubrick even comparing himself to an investigator who tracked down every lead and ensured no stone was left unturned ahead of cracking the case, which in his case was a feature.
That attention to detail caused several potential films to fall by the wayside, with Napoleon being the most famous example. Whether it was period pieces, war dramas, or sci-fi, Kubrick wouldn’t even contemplate calling action or even setting foot on set unless he knew he was as ready as he could be.
When asked by Michael Ciment if he viewed himself as either a detective or reporter during pre-production, Kubrick favoured one more than the other. “I suppose you could say it is a bit like being a detective,” he admitted. “On Barry Lyndon, I accumulated a very large picture file of drawings and paintings taken from art books.”
Those files included “clothes, furniture, hand props, architecture, vehicles,” and anything else he felt necessary to include, but it was all part of the process. “Good research is an absolute necessity and I enjoy doing it,” Kubrick offered, before underlining why investing himself into every single fibre of a movie he hadn’t yet made was something worth doing.
“You have an important reason to study a subject in much greater depth than you would ever have done otherwise, and then you have the satisfaction of putting the knowledge to immediate good use,” was the maestro’s mantra, and it was one he continued to espouse right through to his swansong Eyes Wide Shut.
As a whole, Kubrick saw his painstaking research as “time very well spent,” regardless of whether it took him months or years. It’s obviously not for everyone, but seeing as how that mindset allowed him to craft several of the greatest films ever made and endeared him to the generations who followed in his wake as one of the finest talents to ever pick up the megaphone, it was time very well spent indeed.
