WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the deep dive, the place where we 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:04.240 pull together all the sources, the articles, 00:00:04.419 --> 00:00:06.179 the research, your notes to give you, you know, 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:07.860 not just the essential facts, but those little 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:10.380 insights that really make you feel like you get 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:13.750 it. And today. We are really getting into it. 00:00:13.769 --> 00:00:16.670 We're doing a deep dive on Stanley Kubrick. Right. 00:00:16.769 --> 00:00:18.449 A name that, I mean, when you think of cinematic 00:00:18.449 --> 00:00:21.449 perfection or maybe obsession. He's the name 00:00:21.449 --> 00:00:23.629 that comes up. And we have, I mean, a mountain 00:00:23.629 --> 00:00:25.350 of material to go through. We're looking at his 00:00:25.350 --> 00:00:28.850 whole life, really, from this young photographer 00:00:28.850 --> 00:00:31.769 all the way to, well, one of the most demanding 00:00:31.769 --> 00:00:33.859 directors ever. And that's our mission here for 00:00:33.859 --> 00:00:36.759 us and for you. We want to unpack how this self 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:39.420 -taught guy managed to get, I mean, almost total 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:41.640 artistic control in a system that's designed 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:44.979 to prevent that. Exactly. And how that meticulous, 00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:48.600 some would say obsessive approach led to these 00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:52.119 masterpieces that are just, they're so controversial 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:54.979 and they completely transcend whatever genre 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:56.659 he was working in. We're not just looking at 00:00:56.659 --> 00:00:58.619 the films themselves. It's the system he built 00:00:58.619 --> 00:01:01.039 to make them, the method. It's such a remarkable 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.539 story because Kubrick becomes this, you know, 00:01:03.539 --> 00:01:05.959 towering figure in the post -war film world. 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:08.340 But he does it by basically escaping the Hollywood 00:01:08.340 --> 00:01:11.319 model entirely. He was a master at adapting these 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.620 really difficult novels. So difficult. Nabokov, 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:18.219 Anthony Burgess, Stephen King. And he jumped 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:20.879 from genre to genre. Crime noir, then a historical 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.219 epic, then sci -fi, then horror. And the key 00:01:24.219 --> 00:01:26.659 thing, the thing that almost no one else ever 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:29.900 managed, was getting that complete artistic freedom 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:32.859 while still having major studios pay for it. 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:34.560 That's the holy grail, isn't it? That combination 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:36.879 of total independence and, you know, massive 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:40.500 financial backing. It's just so rare. And it's 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:42.260 what allowed him to be such a perfectionist. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:44.200 So his hallmarks are pretty much legend at this 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.819 point. Oh, absolutely. The intense, almost clinical 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:49.980 attention to detail. The groundbreaking cinematography, 00:01:50.099 --> 00:01:52.799 that sort of detached, cold perspective he brought 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:55.599 to these huge human struggles. And the dark humor. 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:57.659 You can't forget the humor. The biting humor, 00:01:57.780 --> 00:01:59.900 yeah, that he weaves through even his most serious 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:02.620 films. It's always there. And if we want to get 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:04.840 to the root of all this, you know, his whole 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:07.040 method, we can't even start with a movie camera. 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:10.460 We have to go way back. Way back to his hobbies. 00:02:10.659 --> 00:02:13.719 I mean, his path was so unconventional. He basically 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:17.020 drops out of any kind of serious higher education. 00:02:17.469 --> 00:02:20.550 So his real schooling was what he did in his 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:23.449 spare time. Completely. First, there was chess. 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:26.009 He was obsessed with it, played for money in 00:02:26.009 --> 00:02:27.889 Washington Square Park all the time. And he said 00:02:27.889 --> 00:02:29.909 that taught him patience, right? Patience and 00:02:29.909 --> 00:02:32.830 discipline. He said it taught him to think several 00:02:32.830 --> 00:02:34.909 moves ahead, to see the whole board, which is, 00:02:34.949 --> 00:02:37.009 I mean, what a perfect analogy for directing 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:39.229 a film. It's the perfect analogy. And the second 00:02:39.229 --> 00:02:41.469 thing, of course, was photography. Photography 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:43.250 was everything. It wasn't just, you know, something 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:46.090 that influenced his visual style. It was his 00:02:46.090 --> 00:02:49.120 first job. It's where he learned composition, 00:02:49.539 --> 00:02:53.099 lighting, the power of a single image. So you 00:02:53.099 --> 00:02:55.639 take the patience from chess and the visual discipline 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:57.740 from photography. And you've got the entire foundation 00:02:57.740 --> 00:02:59.960 for his whole career right there. OK, so let's 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:02.400 dig into that. That foundational period, which 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:05.780 starts a long, long way from a Hollywood film 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:08.460 set. Right. Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:12.020 in 1928, but he was raised in the Bronx. His 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:14.939 family was Jewish, though he wasn't. raised religious. 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:18.139 His dad was a homeopathic doctor. And what's 00:03:18.139 --> 00:03:20.460 so fascinating about his youth is this incredible 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:23.520 disconnect. The intellectual tension, yeah. The 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.060 sources are really clear on this. He had an above 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:30.360 average IQ, clearly a gifted mind. But he was 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.360 a terrible student. Awful. A D -plus average. 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:36.520 He was just profoundly bored by the whole thing. 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:38.979 So it wasn't that he wasn't interested in learning. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:42.180 He just hated schooling. Exactly. His real education 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:44.819 was happening in the dark. He'd skip class all 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:46.639 the time to go sit in movie theaters and watch 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.759 double features. And he was pretty scathing about 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:50.900 the American school system later in life. Oh, 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:52.680 yeah. He said it was just fundamentally broken 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:55.300 because it was all about rote memorization. It 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:57.780 didn't encourage curiosity or critical thinking, 00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:00.250 which is all he cared about. So the classroom 00:04:00.250 --> 00:04:02.750 fails him, but his father steps in with something 00:04:02.750 --> 00:04:05.110 that changes everything, a piece of technology. 00:04:05.449 --> 00:04:07.870 The Graflex camera. His father buys him one when 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:10.669 he's 13. And this wasn't just a toy. No, this 00:04:10.669 --> 00:04:13.449 was a serious piece of gear. And it was an immediate 00:04:13.449 --> 00:04:16.490 obsession. It just triggered this lifelong passion 00:04:16.490 --> 00:04:20.110 for photography. He had a neighbor with a darkroom, 00:04:20.189 --> 00:04:23.170 and he and this kid, Marvin Traub, would just 00:04:23.170 --> 00:04:26.519 spend hours in there. you know, learning the 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:28.740 whole process. And they were out on the streets 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:32.360 looking for subjects, developing that eye. Actively 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:34.680 looking. And he was already studying the master's. 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:37.139 He was really influenced by the photojournalist 00:04:37.139 --> 00:04:39.980 Ouija, Archipelag. The guy who shot all that 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:42.620 gritty New York crime stuff. The raw, visceral, 00:04:42.779 --> 00:04:45.740 nighttime city life. And here's a great little 00:04:45.740 --> 00:04:48.759 piece of foreshadowing decades later when Kubrick 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:51.639 is a world -famous director making Dr. Strangelove. 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:54.379 He hires Weegee. He hires Weegee as a special 00:04:54.379 --> 00:04:56.680 stills photographer for the set. It just shows 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:58.980 you how deep that early influence ran. So his 00:04:58.980 --> 00:05:01.019 grades are terrible. He can't get into a normal 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:03.160 day college. He does some evening classes for 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:05.240 a bit. But his mind is already somewhere else. 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:07.420 He's totally focused on trying to make a living 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:10.339 with his camera. And in 1945, it happens. He 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:12.660 sells his first photo series to Look magazine. 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:15.519 That's his big break. That's his entry into the 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:18.379 professional world. And by 1946, he's a full 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:20.500 -time staff photographer. He's, what, 18 years 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:23.009 old? Just a kid. And he's already known for not 00:05:23.009 --> 00:05:25.189 just taking photos, but telling stories with 00:05:25.189 --> 00:05:27.629 them. The perfect example is that first series 00:05:27.629 --> 00:05:30.370 he published, A Short Story from a Movie Balcony. 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:33.480 What's so revealing about that? The whole thing 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:35.579 was staged. It looks like a candid moment of 00:05:35.579 --> 00:05:38.319 a guy getting slapped and reacting. But Kubrick 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.100 set the whole thing up. He was already directing. 00:05:40.100 --> 00:05:42.220 He was manipulating reality to get the shot he 00:05:42.220 --> 00:05:45.060 wanted. Moving from just documenting to composing? 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:47.420 Exactly. You see the same thing in another project 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:49.639 where he had to take pictures of people in a 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:52.240 dental office waiting room just capturing these 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.220 little moments of human anxiety in this really 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:57.899 mundane setting. Which feels very much like a 00:05:57.899 --> 00:05:59.939 shot from one of his later films. It connects 00:05:59.939 --> 00:06:02.600 directly. to those long, uncomfortable close 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:06.540 -ups. And all this time he's at... Look, he's 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:10.060 also just devouring films at the Museum of Modern 00:06:10.060 --> 00:06:12.680 Art. He gets obsessed with the French director 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:16.279 Max Ophuls. What was it about Ophuls' style that 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:19.339 grabbed him? The camera movement. It was so fluid 00:06:19.339 --> 00:06:22.139 and complex. He said it felt like Ophuls' camera 00:06:22.139 --> 00:06:24.600 could go through every wall and every floor, 00:06:24.779 --> 00:06:27.310 just tracking the characters seamlessly. He was 00:06:27.310 --> 00:06:30.629 also studying actors, too. He admired Elia Kazan. 00:06:30.730 --> 00:06:33.290 Yeah, he said Kazan could work miracles with 00:06:33.290 --> 00:06:35.689 actors. He understood that the performance and 00:06:35.689 --> 00:06:38.250 the camera had to be in perfect sync. So all 00:06:38.250 --> 00:06:40.490 this absorbing of technique, it leads him to 00:06:40.490 --> 00:06:43.069 this critical decision. He just decides to teach 00:06:43.069 --> 00:06:45.310 himself how to make movies. He read every book 00:06:45.310 --> 00:06:47.730 he could find, even the really dense stuff from 00:06:47.730 --> 00:06:50.129 Soviet filmmakers like Eisenstein, and basically 00:06:50.129 --> 00:06:52.990 just concluded the best education in film is 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:55.819 to make one. I love that confidence. He apparently 00:06:55.819 --> 00:06:58.180 got it not from watching masterpieces, but from 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:01.220 watching bad movies. Yes. He'd see a bad film 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:02.920 and think, I don't know a goddamn thing about 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:04.720 movies, but I know I can make a better film than 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.620 that. It's that mix of, you know, sharp judgment 00:07:07.620 --> 00:07:10.740 and just total self -belief. So he takes action, 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:13.279 he uses his savings, gets some independent money, 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:15.660 and makes a short documentary. Day of the Fight, 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:18.860 1951. It's about a boxer named Walter Cartier. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:22.170 It cost him about $3 ,900 to make. And he sells 00:07:22.170 --> 00:07:26.110 it to Archaeopathy for $4 ,000. He made a $100 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:28.910 profit on his very first film. Wait, a profit 00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:31.850 on his first try? A small one, yeah. But selling 00:07:31.850 --> 00:07:34.449 a short for that much money back then was a record. 00:07:34.589 --> 00:07:37.649 It was a huge success for a first -timer. And 00:07:37.649 --> 00:07:39.709 it already has one of his signature moves, that 00:07:39.709 --> 00:07:42.230 backward tracking shot. So he immediately quits 00:07:42.230 --> 00:07:44.449 his job at Look. Immediately. He's a full -time 00:07:44.449 --> 00:07:46.610 director now. He follows up with two more shorts 00:07:46.610 --> 00:07:49.939 pretty quickly. Flying Padre. Which has these 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:52.579 shots from a plane that feel weirdly like 2001. 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:56.139 They really do. And then The Seafarers in 1953, 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.129 which was his first color film. And The Seafarers 00:07:59.129 --> 00:08:01.389 is important because it shows his technical ambition 00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:03.930 growing. You can see it right there. It has this 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:07.589 early, really smooth dolly shot that establishes 00:08:07.589 --> 00:08:09.350 a whole community. It's the beginning of the 00:08:09.350 --> 00:08:11.610 tracking shots that would define his entire career. 00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:13.810 He's teaching himself the language of cinematic 00:08:13.810 --> 00:08:16.670 movement. But then comes the jump to a full feature 00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:19.750 film, which is a huge leap. A huge leap, and 00:08:19.750 --> 00:08:22.449 it's funded by his family. His uncle, a pharmacist, 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:25.290 gives him $9 ,000 to make Fear and Desire in 00:08:25.290 --> 00:08:29.300 1953. It's this war allegory shot on a tiny budget. 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:33.240 Tiny. About $53 ,000, which he still managed 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.600 to go over budget on. So he learned that lesson 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:38.259 early. And the critics at the time, they actually 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:40.299 liked it. They praised the camera work. Right. 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:42.379 Yeah. They saw artistic glimpses of something 00:08:42.379 --> 00:08:44.899 new. But as soon as he got more experience. And 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:47.399 he hated it. He absolutely disowned it. Called 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:50.679 it a bumbling amateur film exercise. He spent 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:53.799 years trying to buy up and destroy every copy. 00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:56.779 It's just the first perfect example of his impossibly 00:08:56.779 --> 00:08:59.139 high standards. So his next one, Killer's Kiss 00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:03.679 from 1955, he funded himself. A film noir. And 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.559 he's still doing everything. Directing, producing, 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:09.580 editing, cinematography. He's just experimenting 00:09:09.580 --> 00:09:11.779 like crazy with camera angles. And the interesting 00:09:11.779 --> 00:09:13.960 thing is the schedule. He shot it really fast, 00:09:14.019 --> 00:09:16.259 but then spent months on the sound and editing. 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:18.860 Seven months. It tells you that from the very 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:21.019 beginning, he believed the film was truly made 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:23.100 in post -production. That's where the control 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.259 was. And it pays off. People notice the camera 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:27.080 work. Martin Scorsese later said it was a big 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:30.220 influence on Raging Bull. It was. So this whole 00:09:30.220 --> 00:09:32.980 early period, it proves he can do two things. 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:36.600 He can execute these complex visuals and he can 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:39.059 make money. And that gets him ready for the big 00:09:39.059 --> 00:09:42.100 show, Hollywood. Which brings us to this next 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.559 phase, where he starts building the professional 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.340 machine he needs to make his vision a reality. 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:51.179 And it all starts so perfectly over a game of 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:54.070 chess. In Washington Square Park. He meets a 00:09:54.070 --> 00:09:56.690 young producer named James B. Harris. And Harris 00:09:56.690 --> 00:09:59.509 is just blown away by him. Immediately. He called 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:01.889 Kubrick the most intelligent, most creative person 00:10:01.889 --> 00:10:04.710 I have ever come in contact with. So in 1955, 00:10:04.950 --> 00:10:07.169 they form Harris -Kubrick Pictures. Their first 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:10.090 project is The Killing in 1956. It's a racetrack 00:10:10.090 --> 00:10:12.309 heist film. And this is his first time with a 00:10:12.309 --> 00:10:14.389 fully professional crew, which immediately causes 00:10:14.389 --> 00:10:17.029 problems. Big problems. He wanted to shoot it 00:10:17.029 --> 00:10:19.429 himself, but the union rules wouldn't let him. 00:10:19.590 --> 00:10:21.830 So we have to hire a veteran cinematographer, 00:10:22.049 --> 00:10:25.279 Lucene Ballard. And Kubrick is, what, 27 at this 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:28.100 point? And he immediately gets into a fight with 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:30.019 this guy who's been in the business for decades, 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:32.980 threatening to fire him over where to put the 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:38.259 camera. It wasn't ego. It was just NK. He believed 00:10:38.259 --> 00:10:40.779 his vision was the right one, period. And they 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:43.769 shot it incredibly fast on a tight budget. 24 00:10:43.769 --> 00:10:47.269 days for $330 ,000. It didn't do well at the 00:10:47.269 --> 00:10:49.549 box office initially, but his reputation just 00:10:49.549 --> 00:10:51.789 grew and grew. Because of that nonlinear story. 00:10:52.009 --> 00:10:54.190 Right. Flashing back and forth. Yeah. People 00:10:54.190 --> 00:10:56.850 compared it to Orson Welles. Yeah. And now, you 00:10:56.850 --> 00:10:58.610 know, it's seen as this huge influence. Quentin 00:10:58.610 --> 00:11:00.789 Tarantino always talks about it. And the killing 00:11:00.789 --> 00:11:03.950 gets the attention of MGM, which leads them to 00:11:03.950 --> 00:11:06.889 their first big studio picture, the anti -war 00:11:06.889 --> 00:11:11.250 film Paths of Glory. 1957. Stars Kirk Douglas. 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:14.570 This is Kubrick's first real commercial and critical 00:11:14.570 --> 00:11:17.490 hit. But because of this scathing attack on the 00:11:17.490 --> 00:11:20.250 French military during World War I, it was instantly 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:22.450 controversial in Europe. It was banned in France 00:11:22.450 --> 00:11:25.929 for years, wasn't it? Banned until 1974. The 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:27.429 French government thought it was an unflattering 00:11:27.429 --> 00:11:30.110 depiction of their military. The Swiss Army censored 00:11:30.110 --> 00:11:32.429 it, too. But the production itself tells you 00:11:32.429 --> 00:11:35.110 everything about his method. That famous battle 00:11:35.110 --> 00:11:37.929 scene. It's just an unbelievable piece of orchestration. 00:11:38.090 --> 00:11:41.250 He sets up six cameras in no man's land. And 00:11:41.250 --> 00:11:44.570 then he gives every single extra a number for 00:11:44.570 --> 00:11:47.090 a zone where they're supposed to die. So what 00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:49.509 looks like total chaos is actually choreographed 00:11:49.509 --> 00:11:51.789 down to the last man. That level of control, 00:11:51.889 --> 00:11:53.889 though, that puts him on a collision course with 00:11:53.889 --> 00:11:56.210 the Hollywood machine. A total collision course. 00:11:56.970 --> 00:11:58.990 Kirk Douglas was impressed with Paths of Glory, 00:11:59.250 --> 00:12:01.629 so he hires Kubrick to take over as director 00:12:01.629 --> 00:12:04.049 on Spartacus. Which was this massive production 00:12:04.049 --> 00:12:07.009 already in trouble. A completely different animal. 00:12:07.110 --> 00:12:11.389 A $6 million budget, 10 ,000 cast members. Kubrick's 00:12:11.389 --> 00:12:14.049 only 31. He's the youngest director to ever helm 00:12:14.049 --> 00:12:16.450 an epic like this. And the clash with Douglas, 00:12:16.690 --> 00:12:19.529 who was the star and the producer, is just legendary. 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:22.370 They fought over everything. The script, creative 00:12:22.370 --> 00:12:24.669 control, and especially the pace. The studio 00:12:24.669 --> 00:12:27.230 system was built for speed. Right. They wanted, 00:12:27.330 --> 00:12:30.649 what was it, 32 camera setups a day? 32, which 00:12:30.649 --> 00:12:33.029 is just an insane number. And Cooper comes in 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:36.009 and says, no, I need to do two. Two. You can 00:12:36.009 --> 00:12:38.929 just imagine the studio executives' heads exploding. 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:41.909 They eventually compromised on eight, but the 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:46.230 tension was just, it was toxic. Douglas later 00:12:46.230 --> 00:12:49.289 called him a talented shit, said he regretted 00:12:49.289 --> 00:12:51.730 hiring him. He also apparently cut most of Douglas' 00:12:51.870 --> 00:12:53.490 lines from the first half hour of the movie. 00:12:53.590 --> 00:12:56.879 He did. Yet, despite all that fighting, the film 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:00.639 was a huge success, won four Oscars, and for 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:03.240 Kubrick it proved something. If he could survive 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.679 that, he could survive anything. But he knew 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.419 he could never work that way again. Ever again. 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:09.700 And that leads to the most important decision 00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:12.120 of his entire career. He moves to England in 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:15.120 1961 and basically never comes back. And the 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.480 initial reason was financial, right? Yeah, it 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.480 was a mix of things. He had to shoot Lolita in 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:22.080 the UK because of some contract stuff. But he 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.679 also took advantage of something called the E 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.200 .D. Plan. It was this great tax break you could 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:28.649 get if most of your crew was British. So his 00:13:28.649 --> 00:13:30.929 meticulous, high -retake style suddenly became 00:13:30.929 --> 00:13:33.230 much cheaper to do in the U .K. Exactly. It was 00:13:33.230 --> 00:13:35.450 a smart financial move. But it was also about 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:38.409 escaping the Hollywood system and, weirdly, his 00:13:38.409 --> 00:13:41.070 growing fear of crime in New York. So in England, 00:13:41.289 --> 00:13:44.149 he creates his own little kingdom. His fortress 00:13:44.149 --> 00:13:47.909 of solitude. He basically turns his home, Childwickbury 00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:51.830 Manor, into a studio. Writing, research, editing, 00:13:51.990 --> 00:13:54.509 all under one roof. And that's where he gets 00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:57.049 the total absolute control he always wanted. 00:13:57.169 --> 00:14:00.509 His first film there is Lolita in 1962, which 00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:03.429 is a major shift in style for him. It's his first 00:14:03.429 --> 00:14:06.629 black comedy. It's this transitional film into 00:14:06.629 --> 00:14:09.230 the more surreal psychological stuff he'd do 00:14:09.230 --> 00:14:11.029 later. And he had to deal with the censors because 00:14:11.029 --> 00:14:13.950 of the subject matter. Oh, yeah. He had to strip 00:14:13.950 --> 00:14:16.009 out almost all the erotic stuff so it becomes 00:14:16.009 --> 00:14:18.490 this comedy about obsession rather than anything 00:14:18.490 --> 00:14:20.529 explicit. But this is where he discovers Peter 00:14:20.529 --> 00:14:22.490 Sellers. And he falls in love with him. He loved 00:14:22.490 --> 00:14:24.809 Sellers' range. And he actually encouraged him 00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:27.929 to improvise wildly. He'd set up three cameras 00:14:27.929 --> 00:14:29.769 just to make sure he caught every little thing 00:14:29.769 --> 00:14:32.029 Sellers did. Which is the opposite of the control 00:14:32.029 --> 00:14:34.809 freak reputation. It is. And that collaboration 00:14:34.809 --> 00:14:38.629 leads directly to Dr. Strangelove. The 1964 masterpiece. 00:14:39.129 --> 00:14:41.470 He'd become completely preoccupied with the threat 00:14:41.470 --> 00:14:44.149 of nuclear war. He started out wanting to make 00:14:44.149 --> 00:14:47.429 a serious thriller based on this book, Red Alert. 00:14:47.690 --> 00:14:49.610 But the more he researched it, the more absurd 00:14:49.610 --> 00:14:52.789 he found it. He found the whole idea of mutually 00:14:52.789 --> 00:14:56.110 assured destruction so fundamentally ridiculous 00:14:56.110 --> 00:14:58.649 that he realized a serious movie would actually 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:00.970 be less believable than a comedy. So he just 00:15:00.970 --> 00:15:03.909 flips the whole thing on its head, turns it into 00:15:03.909 --> 00:15:07.590 this outrageous black comedy full of sexual innuendo. 00:15:07.590 --> 00:15:10.129 Co -written with the great satirist Terry Southern. 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:12.210 And Sellers, of course, plays three different 00:15:12.210 --> 00:15:14.450 roles. The film was a shock when it came out. 00:15:14.529 --> 00:15:16.490 A huge shock. People thought it was revolutionary, 00:15:16.529 --> 00:15:19.350 but it got some really harsh reviews, too. One 00:15:19.350 --> 00:15:22.470 critic called it a shattering, sick joke. But 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:24.649 it quickly became recognized for what it is, 00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:27.629 a comedy masterpiece. It proved Kubrick could 00:15:27.629 --> 00:15:29.909 take the most serious subject imaginable and 00:15:29.909 --> 00:15:31.990 turn it into something completely unique. And 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:33.750 that really brings us into the period where he 00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:37.299 becomes this. this technical god of cinema it 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:39.600 it starts with his whole philosophy of directing 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.059 yeah he only wanted to make films that mattered 00:15:42.059 --> 00:15:44.700 he was obsessed with substance and form being 00:15:44.700 --> 00:15:47.480 equally important and he wanted his films to 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:50.100 appeal to every kind of viewer he believed in 00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:53.000 communicating subconsciously he loved enigmas 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.639 and allegories he thought that making a direct 00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:58.480 statement was just less powerful than letting 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:00.000 the audience find the meaning for themselves. 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:02.899 He wanted the film to be an experience that hits 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:05.220 you on a deeper subconscious level. Which leads 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:07.879 to that style that people often call cold or 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:11.419 detached. It's very deliberate. He's not interested 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:13.740 in specific character emotions as much as he 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:16.480 is in these universal themes. You know, inherited 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.919 evil, the birth of intelligence. You're watching 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:21.059 humanity under a microscope. But that's a risk, 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:23.440 right? That coldness can push an audience away. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.220 Some people feel that way about Barry Lyndon 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:28.159 or even to... 2001? It's a valid criticism, but 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:31.059 for him, the technical perfection was the emotional 00:16:31.059 --> 00:16:33.639 connection. The world had to be so perfectly 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:36.000 rendered for the big ideas to land properly. 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:40.139 And the absolute peak of that idea is 2001, A 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:42.139 Space Odyssey. Which took five years to make. 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:44.860 Five years. The theme is just immense. It's the 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:48.000 birth of intelligence from ape to this star child, 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.960 all guided by these silent black monoliths. And 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:55.139 the research was insane. Staggering. He was talking 00:16:55.139 --> 00:16:57.860 to NASA scientists. He observed a NASA mission, 00:16:58.039 --> 00:17:00.799 all to make sure the physics and the look of 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.559 the spacecraft were completely accurate. He wanted 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.980 total realism. which made the unreal parts, like 00:17:06.980 --> 00:17:10.099 the monoliths, feel even more powerful. And to 00:17:10.099 --> 00:17:11.980 get that realism, he had to basically invent 00:17:11.980 --> 00:17:15.180 new technology. He did. The visual effects were 00:17:15.180 --> 00:17:17.859 groundbreaking. That slit -scan photography for 00:17:17.859 --> 00:17:20.279 the Stargate sequence, no one had ever seen anything 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:22.420 like that. And the front -screen projection for 00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:25.099 the Dawn of Man scenes looked so seamless. He 00:17:25.099 --> 00:17:27.619 won his only personal Oscar for that, for visual 00:17:27.619 --> 00:17:29.799 effects. Which is crazy when you think about 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:32.500 it. But maybe the biggest artistic leap was the 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:34.849 music. He had a full score commissioned from 00:17:34.849 --> 00:17:37.210 a composer, Alex North. And he just threw it 00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:39.049 out. Threw the whole thing out. He felt it was 00:17:39.049 --> 00:17:41.230 too conventional, too emotionally manipulative. 00:17:41.250 --> 00:17:42.970 He wanted the music to feel like it was coming 00:17:42.970 --> 00:17:46.150 from outside the story. So he switched to existing 00:17:46.150 --> 00:17:49.250 classical pieces. Which is how we all now associate 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:53.009 Richard Strauss's also Sprech Zarathustra with 00:17:53.009 --> 00:17:56.250 space. He made that piece iconic. But he also 00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:58.950 introduced audiences to really challenging modern 00:17:58.950 --> 00:18:02.460 composers like Gheorghe Leggetti. That eerie, 00:18:02.539 --> 00:18:05.160 buzzing music. It's called micropolyphony. It's 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:08.660 this dense, shifting sound that's really unsettling. 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:11.940 It was the perfect sound for the cold, terrifying 00:18:11.940 --> 00:18:15.059 indifference of space. It was a genius move. 00:18:15.380 --> 00:18:17.619 So after five years in the future, he goes all 00:18:17.619 --> 00:18:20.200 the way into the past with Barry Lyndon. 1975. 00:18:20.779 --> 00:18:23.700 An 18th century drama that became famous for 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:26.579 his insane attention to historical detail. He 00:18:26.579 --> 00:18:30.099 was demanding. 20, 30, sometimes way more retakes 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:32.220 for a single shot. And this is where we get to 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.759 that amazing technical nugget. He wanted to shoot 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.119 scenes lit only by candlelight. To make it look 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:39.460 like an 18th century painting. But that was basically 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:41.240 impossible with the film and lenses they had. 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:44.240 So he finds a solution. A crazy solution. He 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.480 gets his hands on this special high -speed f 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:48.940 .7 lens made by Zeiss. And where did this lens 00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:51.319 come from? It was developed by NASA. For taking 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:53.220 pictures of the dark side of the moon. For spy 00:18:53.220 --> 00:18:55.680 satellites. He took space age military grade 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.940 technology and used it to make a period drama. 00:18:58.099 --> 00:19:00.500 That is just unbelievable. It's why the film 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:03.400 looks so authentic. But shooting with that lens 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:06.460 is incredibly difficult. The depth of field is 00:19:06.460 --> 00:19:09.200 so thin that if an actor moves an inch, they're 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.279 out of focus. And the production was apparently 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.200 chaotic. He had to flee Ireland because of death 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:16.440 threats from the IRA. Yeah, he was creating this 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:19.400 perfectly controlled world on set. while dealing 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:22.200 with real political danger outside. It's an incredible 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:24.799 contrast. After the 18th century, he jumps to 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.859 modern horror with The Shining. 1980. Filmed 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:30.579 almost entirely in England on these massive sets 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:33.019 they built to look like the Overlook Hotel. And 00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:35.059 this is where he pioneers another piece of technology, 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:38.420 the Steadicam. He wasn't the first to use it, 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:40.579 but he was the first to really understand what 00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:44.339 it could do. He used it to get those fluid, gliding, 00:19:44.339 --> 00:19:47.980 tracking shots. Danny on his tricycle, the chase 00:19:47.980 --> 00:19:49.759 in the maze. Makes you feel like you're a ghost 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:51.559 floating through the hotel. The inventor of the 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:53.680 Steadicam said Kubrick was the first director 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:56.680 who truly got its psychological potential. It 00:19:56.680 --> 00:19:59.799 created this sense of relentless, smooth pursuit 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:02.880 that's so unsettling. And of course, the stories 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:05.619 about what he demanded from the actors on that 00:20:05.619 --> 00:20:08.920 film are legendary. He pushed them to their absolute 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:12.220 limit. Shelley Duvall said she felt abused by 00:20:12.220 --> 00:20:14.819 the process. She had to do that baseball bat 00:20:14.819 --> 00:20:20.059 scene 127 times. 127. Another scene went to 148 00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:22.559 takes. The theory is he was deliberately trying 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.900 to exhaust her, to strip away the acting and 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:27.559 get to a place of raw, genuine terror. It's a 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:30.700 method that is both brilliant and, frankly, terrifying. 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:33.400 It absolutely is. He was using psychological 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:35.930 pressure as a directorial tool. So let's talk 00:20:35.930 --> 00:20:38.150 more about that method, specifically the mystery 00:20:38.150 --> 00:20:40.730 of the multiple takes, because there was a philosophy 00:20:40.730 --> 00:20:42.829 behind it, right? It wasn't just sadism. There 00:20:42.829 --> 00:20:44.930 was. I mean, his whole reputation is built on 00:20:44.930 --> 00:20:48.430 those stories of 50, 80, over 100 takes. And 00:20:48.430 --> 00:20:50.690 his stated goal was to get the actors to stop 00:20:50.690 --> 00:20:54.049 thinking about the performance, to exhaust their 00:20:54.049 --> 00:20:56.109 conscious mind and get them to a deeper, more 00:20:56.109 --> 00:20:58.470 instinctual place. But he also said that the 00:20:58.470 --> 00:21:00.670 really high take counts usually only happened 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:03.069 when actors showed up unprepared. That's the 00:21:03.069 --> 00:21:05.809 key qualifier. He said, you cannot act without 00:21:05.809 --> 00:21:07.890 knowing dialogue. If they're struggling with 00:21:07.890 --> 00:21:10.329 the words, they can't get to the emotion. So 00:21:10.329 --> 00:21:12.650 the endless retakes were often a consequence 00:21:12.650 --> 00:21:15.349 of an actor not being ready. And the best example 00:21:15.349 --> 00:21:17.890 that proves this is Arlie Ermey on Full Metal 00:21:17.890 --> 00:21:20.650 Jacket. The perfect example. Ermey, who played 00:21:20.650 --> 00:21:23.450 the drill instructor, would nail his scenes in 00:21:23.450 --> 00:21:26.150 just two or three takes. And why was that? Because 00:21:26.150 --> 00:21:28.650 he was that character. He was a real drill instructor. 00:21:28.890 --> 00:21:32.190 He had said those lines with that intensity for 00:21:32.190 --> 00:21:34.920 years. Kubrick said it was like Ermey was already 00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:37.259 an actor because he has such total command of 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:39.460 the material. So it shows he was willing to be 00:21:39.460 --> 00:21:42.700 collaborative, even allow improvisation if the 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:45.460 actor was fully prepared. Exactly. He let Peter 00:21:45.460 --> 00:21:47.880 Sellers go wild. He loved it when Jack Nicholson 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:51.940 came up with the here's Johnny line. He wanted 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.359 actors who could break the rules, but only after 00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:56.660 they had mastered them. What about his technical 00:21:56.660 --> 00:21:59.359 control on set? He famously didn't put camera 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:01.539 directions in the script. Which is so strange 00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:03.579 for a control freak, right? But it's because 00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:06.420 he developed the visuals during rehearsal. He'd 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:09.180 watch the actors block out a scene and then decide 00:22:09.180 --> 00:22:11.359 where the camera should go, what lens to use. 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:14.079 It was an organic process. But once he decided, 00:22:14.299 --> 00:22:16.759 that was it. That was it. His cinematographer, 00:22:16.859 --> 00:22:19.420 John Alcott, called him the nearest thing to 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:22.680 genius I've ever worked with. But his real passion. 00:22:23.099 --> 00:22:25.519 The part of filmmaking he said was truly unique 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.019 was the editing. He thought the film could be 00:22:28.019 --> 00:22:30.160 made or broken in the editing room. Completely. 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:32.519 He would work seven days a week, 18 hours a day, 00:22:32.579 --> 00:22:35.059 just cutting. He knew that in post -production, 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.619 he could reshape everything. The performances, 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:39.579 the rhythm, the entire meaning of the scene. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:41.960 And that obsession extended to the sound, to 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:44.349 the music. The story about the dual scene in 00:22:44.349 --> 00:22:47.470 Barry Lyndon is just incredible. He spent 42 00:22:47.470 --> 00:22:50.910 working days just listening to 17th and 18th 00:22:50.910 --> 00:22:53.930 century music to find the perfect piece. 42 days 00:22:53.930 --> 00:22:56.589 for one scene's music. That's the definition 00:22:56.589 --> 00:22:59.069 of obsession. And that refusal to compromise 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:01.599 continued right to the end of his career. He 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.000 makes a Vietnam War film, Full Metal Jacket. 00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:06.559 And shoots the whole thing within 30 miles of 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.599 his house in England. He imported palm trees. 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.000 200 palm trees from North Africa. He transformed 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.640 a derelict gasworks in London into the war -torn 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:18.440 city of Who. It was just this massive act of 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:20.400 engineering. He could build any world he wanted, 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:22.799 wherever he was. And he even played with his 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.940 own style. He made the Steadicam shots in that 00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:28.019 film intentionally shaky. Yeah, to get that newsreel 00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:30.680 effect, he would break his own rules if the story 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:32.819 demanded it. And then his final film, Eyes Wide 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:36.039 Shut. 1999. He worked on it relentlessly for 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:39.480 15 months, 18 hours a day, in total secrecy. 00:23:39.579 --> 00:23:42.299 And then just days after he showed the final 00:23:42.299 --> 00:23:44.240 cut to his family and to Tom Cruise and Nicole 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:47.160 Kidman, he died. A sudden heart attack. He never 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:49.140 saw it released to the public. It's such a tragic 00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:52.819 but also weirdly fitting end for a man whose 00:23:52.819 --> 00:23:55.900 control over his work was absolute right up to 00:23:55.900 --> 00:23:57.700 the very last minute. And then there's this whole 00:23:57.700 --> 00:23:59.880 shadow career, right? The great movies he never 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:01.880 made. Which are almost as famous as the ones 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:04.900 he did make, starting with Napoleon. After 2001, 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:08.259 he spent two years researching Napoleon's life. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.319 He was planning this enormous epic. He wanted 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:15.099 40 ,000 infantry and 10 ,000 cavalry. He was 00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:17.640 literally planning to rent an entire country's 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:20.339 army, probably Romania's, to stage the battles. 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:23.299 Yeah. He had every single day of Napoleon's life 00:24:23.299 --> 00:24:25.960 cataloged. So why didn't it happen? It was just 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:28.079 too expensive. And then another Napoleon film. 00:24:28.490 --> 00:24:30.670 Waterloo came out and flopped at the box office 00:24:30.670 --> 00:24:33.250 and the studio got cold feet and canceled it. 00:24:33.289 --> 00:24:36.210 But the script was so detailed that Steven Spielberg 00:24:36.210 --> 00:24:39.190 is now turning it into a mini series. Which tells 00:24:39.190 --> 00:24:41.910 you how complete his preparation was. Then you 00:24:41.910 --> 00:24:44.130 have AI artificial intelligence. He worked on 00:24:44.130 --> 00:24:46.029 that for years, but then he gave it to Spielberg. 00:24:46.150 --> 00:24:49.869 He did. In 1995, he told Spielberg that the story. 00:24:50.329 --> 00:24:52.630 which is kind of a dark fairy tale was closer 00:24:52.630 --> 00:24:55.150 to spielberg sensibilities and spielberg directed 00:24:55.150 --> 00:24:57.309 it after kubrick died he did he said it felt 00:24:57.309 --> 00:24:59.730 like he was being coached by a ghost it's this 00:24:59.730 --> 00:25:02.930 incredible final collaboration between two masters 00:25:02.930 --> 00:25:04.569 and then there's the one that just seems impossible 00:25:04.569 --> 00:25:06.710 the beatles asked him to direct the lord of the 00:25:06.710 --> 00:25:10.789 rings and he said no his reason was that he didn't 00:25:10.789 --> 00:25:12.789 want to make a film based on a book that was 00:25:12.789 --> 00:25:14.509 already so popular and beloved he was always 00:25:14.509 --> 00:25:17.109 looking for challenge something unexpected his 00:25:17.109 --> 00:25:20.559 legacy is just The film historian Robert Kolker 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:23.519 said his films were more intellectually rigorous 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:25.799 than the work of any other American filmmaker. 00:25:26.619 --> 00:25:29.720 And you feel that. And the generations of directors 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:32.559 he influenced, though. Scorsese, Christopher 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:36.539 Nolan, David Fincher. Spielberg called 2001 the 00:25:36.539 --> 00:25:38.640 big bang for their generation of filmmakers. 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:41.240 And his influence is everywhere in pop culture. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:43.940 The sources say that The Simpsons has more references 00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:46.640 to Kubrick's films than to any other single thing. 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:49.319 Which is amazing. And the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:51.480 Award is now named after him. Yeah. He just built 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.200 this incredible body of work by constantly refusing 00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:56.700 to repeat himself, always creating these complex, 00:25:56.779 --> 00:25:59.140 intelligent films. So what does this all mean 00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:02.259 for you, the well -informed listener? We've traced 00:26:02.259 --> 00:26:04.680 Stanley Kubrick's extraordinary self -taught 00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:06.819 journey from a Bronx photographer who honed his 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:09.880 patience through chess to a cinematic master 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:12.460 who demanded and achieved a singular artistic 00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:15.339 vision. He pushed technical boundaries in every 00:26:15.339 --> 00:26:17.660 single film, whether that was repurposing a NASA 00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:19.799 -developed lens for candlelight filming in Barry 00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:22.359 Lyndon, pioneering the fluid Steadicam in The 00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:25.200 Shining, or introducing challenging modern classical 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:28.460 music in 2001. His greatest trick was acquiring 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:30.880 major Hollywood financial backing while operating 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.539 outside its creative control, allowing him to 00:26:33.539 --> 00:26:35.839 be the ultimate sovereign of his cinematic universe. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.539 He was an artist who chose films that mattered, 00:26:38.660 --> 00:26:41.140 treating genre not as a stylistic restriction, 00:26:41.339 --> 00:26:43.819 but as a vessel for examining the universal, 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.230 often dark, elements of human nature. His dedication 00:26:48.230 --> 00:26:50.970 to exhaustive research, his mastery of the editing 00:26:50.970 --> 00:26:53.470 room, and his firm belief that the audience should 00:26:53.470 --> 00:26:56.109 discover the meaning for themselves is why his 00:26:56.109 --> 00:26:58.630 films remain so endlessly fascinating and intellectually 00:26:58.630 --> 00:27:01.250 rigorous, compelling us to return to them decades 00:27:01.250 --> 00:27:05.130 later. He never stopped learning, refining, and 00:27:05.130 --> 00:27:08.109 utilizing the absolute best, most cutting -edge 00:27:08.109 --> 00:27:10.339 technology available. Here's a final thought 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.500 for you to consider. Kubrick's entire career 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:15.059 was driven by his commitment to maximizing technical 00:27:15.059 --> 00:27:17.779 perfection and control, ensuring he could render 00:27:17.779 --> 00:27:19.980 the world exactly as he saw them in his head. 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:22.619 Considering his obsession with everything from 00:27:22.619 --> 00:27:25.000 satellite lenses to stabilized camera rigs and 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:27.380 the final moments of editing, what single piece 00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:29.960 of technology, unavailable during his lifetime, 00:27:30.140 --> 00:27:31.940 think about the pace, the control, the immediate 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:34.579 feedback it might offer, would have most fascinated 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:36.819 and revolutionized the way he made films today? 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.680 Think about that commitment to total visual control 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:41.880 and what tool he'd be using to exert it now. 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:44.799 A fascinating question about a man who was always 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:48.160 chasing the next technological edge. That's it 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:49.900 for this deep dive. We'll see you next time.