When Stanley Kubrick wanted to take method acting to the next level: “Chop your legs off”
Stanley Kubrick was not one to do things half-heartedly, with an all-guns-blazing approach to filmmaking that led to meticulously crafted masterpieces that left no stone unturned throughout the creative process.
Whether it be using lenses that had only ever been used by NASA to shoot the moon in Barry Lyndon or the years-long shoot for Eyes Wide Shut, perhaps hinting towards the fact that the director knew it would be his magnum opus, the director has always opted for the most painful route in completing his vision, something that Ryan O’Neal learnt the hard way while working with him.
Before Barry Lyndon, O’Neal had never been thought of as a ‘serious’ actor – after starring in romantic dramas like What’s Up Doc and Love Story, the actor was more well-adjusted to the commercial side of the industry, something that Kubrick used to his full advantage after the shock casting of him in the lead role as Redmond Barry.
Kubrick has always made use of the talents of unexpected actors, whether it be Tom Cruise or Malcom McDowell, but perhaps O’Neal was the most shocking, starring in a satirical period drama about the exploits and ego of a man who slowly works his way up the social ranks. It was the role of a lifetime for O’Neal, dabbling in both comedy, drama and romance as he brought Redmond Barry to life in this sweeping period epic.
However, while O’Neal might have been keen to impress Kubrick and do justice to his vision, he was not as keen on the idea of doing so by permanently sawing off his limbs, with the director suggesting that he do so for one infamous scene at the end of the film after Barry has fallen from graces and lost one of his legs.
There is a shot that shows Barry climbing into a car on one leg, with the other being amputated after an infection. It’s a very realistic shot that looks exactly as though O’Neal really did just have one leg, with the actor explaining Kubrick’s initial proposal for how to shoot it. “We were trying to cast a man with one leg for the scene in the end when I’m leaving on a coach. Stanley said, ‘You should just cut off your leg. It’s all arranged, there’s an ambulance waiting and then they just take you over and it’s only 15 minutes and it’d be all fine’. I wasn’t sure if he meant it or not. ‘You want me to cut my leg off’? He said, ‘yeah, would you do that’? No, I’m not going to do that!”
When coming from Kubrick, it’s hard to know whether he was joking or not. The director was so committed to his vision that perhaps he wasn’t really joking, and passed it off as a joke to see if O’Neal was up for the challenge. Eventually, this shot was achieved by O’Neal bending his leg and holding it there so that it appeared to be amputated, reaching the desired effect and rendering Kubrick’s extreme methods rather unnecessary.
