Why Stanley Kubrick feared for his life making ‘Barry Lyndon’: “It might have been a hoax”
There aren’t many people who would attempt a film like Barry Lyndon, with Stanley Kubrick being the perfect blend of genius and crazy to shoot a period epic using lenses that had only ever been employed by NASA to shoot the dark side of the moon.
He was the exact kind of director to squeeze decades worth of technological development into shooting a story about a truly average and un-noteworthy man, mocking the structures of the high society and the blossoming ego of Redmond Barry.
The production was one of the most talked about within Kubrick’s filmography for many reasons, with it taking place in Ireland, an island that was not known for a thriving film industry, with excitement bubbling over about a real Hollywood production happening on their doorstep. The story takes place in multiple locations and eras in Lyndon’s life, leading the crew to shoot for over eight months in England, Ireland and Germany, with plenty of buzz around the surprise casting of Ryan O’Neill in the lead role.
However, among the many wins that followed the production, the team also found themselves plagued by one threat that they perhaps didn’t see coming, with Kubrick describing the unlikely presence of the IRA while filming and the commotion that occurred between them and the crew.
Many film productions have been challenged by circumstances outside of their control, whether it be extreme weather conditions while shooting Apocalypse Now or temperamental mood swings from lead actors, with daily arguments and tantrums consuming the production of Chinatown. However, there aren’t many who can say that a military organisation infiltrated their set.
When asked to verify whether the production was targeted by the IRA, Kubrick’s producer Jan Harlan confirmed and shared the story behind this unlikely appearance, saying, “That only happened later in the production. It happened in, I think, the last 10% of the production. We’d got most of our filming done, we still had some scenes left to finish. But yeah, it was real. At least, we thought it was”.
He added: “It might have been a hoax, but we definitely didn’t want to test it. He [Kubrick] was directly threatened, and he didn’t want to test whether it was real or not. And, y’know, within 24 hours, he was gone. We had most of the film done, so it wasn’t a huge disaster for us. The story’s true.”
There aren’t many filmmakers who can say they’ve had brushes with the IRA, and thankfully, it was only a short encounter that didn’t amount to any real trouble. But even still, it’s another example of how Kubrick’s work always managed to ruffle some feathers, with his progressive and sometimes provocative stories sparking discourse and discussion among all people, especially when taking place on foreign soil.
While nothing came from this encounter, it remains another story from Kubrick’s bizarre and unparalleled career, showing the many obstacles he overcame throughout his time and adding more colour to the stories that accompany his creations.
