Editing Stanley Kubrick (section)

== Film career ==

=== Short films (1951–1953) ===
Kubrick shared a love of film with his school friend [[Alexander Singer]], who after graduating from high school had the intention of directing a film version of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''. Through Singer, who worked in the offices of the newsreel production company, ''[[The March of Time]]'', Kubrick learned it could cost $40,000 to make a proper short film, a sum he could not afford. He had $1500 in savings and produced a few short documentaries fueled by encouragement from Singer. He began learning all he could about filmmaking on his own, calling film suppliers, laboratories, and equipment rental houses.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=23}}

Kubrick decided to make a short film documentary about boxer [[Walter Cartier]], whom he had photographed and written about for ''Look'' magazine a year earlier. He rented a camera and produced a 16-minute black-and-white documentary, ''[[Day of the Fight]]''. Kubrick found the money independently to finance it. He had considered asking [[Montgomery Clift]] to narrate it, whom he had met during a photographic session for ''Look'', but settled on CBS news veteran [[Douglas Edwards]].{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=68}} According to Paul Duncan the film was "remarkably accomplished for a first film", and used a backward tracking shot to film a scene in which Cartier and his brother walk towards the camera, a device which later became one of Kubrick's characteristic camera movements.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=25}} Vincent Cartier, Walter's brother and manager, later reflected on his observations of Kubrick during the filming. He said, "Stanley was a very stoic, impassive but imaginative type person with strong, imaginative thoughts. He commanded respect in a quiet, shy way. Whatever he wanted, you complied, he just captivated you. Anybody who worked with Stanley did just what Stanley wanted".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=23}}{{efn|Walter Cartier also said of Kubrick: "Stanley comes in prepared like a fighter for a big fight, he knows exactly what he's doing, where he's going and what he wants to accomplish. He knew the challenges and he overcame them".{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=59}}}} After a score was added by Singer's friend [[Gerald Fried]], Kubrick had spent $3900 in making it, and sold it to [[RKO Pictures|RKO-Pathé]] for $4000, which was the most the company had ever paid for a short film at the time.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=25}} Kubrick described his first effort at filmmaking as having been valuable since he believed himself to have been forced to do most of the work,{{Sfn|King|Molloy|Tzioumakis|2013|p=156}} and he later declared that the "best education in film is to make one".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=15}}

{{external media
|width=210px
|float=right
|video1={{YouTube|link=no|id=M681-jhx2Kk|title=One of Kubrick's early short films, ''Flying Padre''}}
}}
Inspired by this early success, Kubrick quit his job at ''Look'' and visited professional filmmakers in New York City, asking many detailed questions about the technical aspects of filmmaking. He stated that he was given the confidence during this period to become a filmmaker because of the number of bad films he had seen, remarking, "I don't know a goddamn thing about movies, but I know I can make a better film than that".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=13}} He began making ''[[Flying Padre]]'' (1951), a film which documents Reverend Fred Stadtmueller, who travels some 4,000 miles to visit his 11 churches. The film was originally going to be called "Sky Pilot", a pun on the slang term for a priest.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=39}} During the course of the film, the priest performs a burial service, confronts a boy bullying a girl, and makes an emergency flight to aid a sick mother and baby into an ambulance. Several of the views from and of the plane in ''Flying Padre'' are later echoed in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (1968) with the footage of the spacecraft, and a series of close-ups on the faces of people attending the funeral were most likely inspired by [[Sergei Eisenstein]]'s ''[[Battleship Potemkin]]'' (1925) and ''[[Ivan the Terrible (1944 film)|Ivan the Terrible]]'' (1944/1958).{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=25}}

''Flying Padre'' was followed by ''[[The Seafarers]]'' (1953), Kubrick's first color film, which was shot for the [[Seafarers International Union of North America|Seafarers International Union]] in June 1953. It depicted the logistics of a democratic union and focused more on the amenities of seafaring other than the act. For the cafeteria scene in the film, Kubrick chose a [[dolly shot]] to establish the life of the seafarer's community; this kind of shot would later become a signature technique. The sequence of [[Paul Hall (labor leader)|Paul Hall]], secretary-treasurer of the SIU Atlantic and gulf district, speaking to members of the union echoes scenes from Eisenstein's ''[[Strike (1925 film)|Strike]]'' (1925) and ''[[October: Ten Days That Shook the World|October]]'' (1928).{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=28}} ''Day of the Fight'', ''Flying Padre'' and ''The Seafarers'' constitute Kubrick's only surviving documentary works; some historians believe he made others.{{Sfn|Thuss|2002|p=110}}

=== Early feature work (1953–1955) ===
[[File:Fear and Desire (1952, original version).webm|thumb|thumbtime=7|''Fear and Desire'' (1953)]]
After raising $1000 showing his short films to friends and family, Kubrick found the finances to begin making his first feature film, ''[[Fear and Desire]]'' (1953), originally running with the title ''The Trap'', written by his friend [[Howard Sackler]]. Kubrick's uncle, Martin Perveler, a Los Angeles pharmacy owner, invested a further $9000 on condition that he be credited as executive producer of the film.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=26}} Kubrick assembled several actors and a small crew totaling fourteen people (five actors, five crewmen, and four others to help transport the equipment) and flew to the [[San Gabriel Mountains]] in California for a five-week, low-budget shoot.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=26}}   Later renamed ''The Shape of Fear'' before finally being named ''Fear and Desire'', it is a fictional [[allegory]] about a team of soldiers who survive a plane crash and are caught behind enemy lines in a war. During the course of the film, one of the soldiers becomes infatuated with an attractive girl in the woods and binds her to a tree. This scene and others are noted for their rapid close-ups on the faces of the cast. Kubrick had intended for ''Fear and Desire'' to be a [[silent film|silent picture]] in order to ensure low production costs; the added sounds, effects, and music ultimately brought production costs to around $53,000, exceeding the budget.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=50}} He was bailed out by producer [[Richard de Rochemont]] on the condition that he help in de Rochemont's production of a five-part television series about [[Abraham Lincoln]] on location in [[Hodgenville, Kentucky]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|pp=26–7}}

''Fear and Desire'' was a commercial failure, but garnered several positive reviews upon release. Critics such as the reviewer from ''[[The New York Times]]'' believed that Kubrick's professionalism as a photographer shone through in the picture, and that he "artistically caught glimpses of the grotesque attitudes of death, the wolfishness of hungry men, as well as their bestiality, and in one scene, the wracking effect of lust on a pitifully juvenile soldier and the pinioned girl he is guarding". [[Columbia University]] scholar [[Mark Van Doren]] was highly impressed by the scenes with the girl bound to the tree, remarking that it would live on as a "beautiful, terrifying and weird" sequence which illustrated Kubrick's immense talent and guaranteed his future success.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=27}} Kubrick himself later expressed embarrassment with ''Fear and Desire'', and attempted over the years to disown it, keeping prints of the film out of circulation.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=56}}{{efn|Kubrick called ''Fear and Desire'' a "bumbling, amateur film exercise&nbsp;... a completely inept oddity, boring and pretentious", and also referred to it as "a lousy feature, very self-conscious, easily discernible as an intellectual effort, but very roughly, and poorly, and ineffectively made".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=27}}}} During the production of the film, Kubrick accidentally almost killed his cast with poisonous gasses.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867001,00.html |title="The New Pictures," ''Time'', June 4, 1956 |date=June 4, 1956 |accessdate=May 2, 2021 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126024212/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867001,00.html |archivedate=November 26, 2010}}</ref>

Following ''Fear and Desire'', Kubrick began working on ideas for a new boxing film. Due to the commercial failure of his first feature, Kubrick avoided asking for further investments, but commenced a [[film noir]] script with Howard O. Sackler. Originally under the title ''Kiss Me, Kill Me'', and then ''The Nymph and the Maniac'', ''[[Killer's Kiss]]'' (1955) is a 67-minute film noir about a young heavyweight boxer's involvement with a woman being abused by her criminal boss. Like ''Fear and Desire'', it was privately funded by Kubrick's family and friends, with some $40,000 put forward from Bronx pharmacist Morris Bousse.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=28}} Kubrick began shooting footage in [[Times Square]], and frequently explored during the filming process, experimenting with [[cinematography]] and considering the use of unconventional angles and imagery. He initially chose to record the sound on location, but encountered difficulties with shadows from the microphone booms, restricting camera movement. His decision to drop the sound in favor of imagery was a costly one; after 12–14 weeks shooting the picture, he spent some seven months and $35,000 working on the sound.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=30}}
[[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929) directly influenced the film with the painting laughing at a character, and [[Martin Scorsese]] has, in turn, cited Kubrick's innovative shooting angles and atmospheric shots in ''Killer's Kiss'' as an influence on ''[[Raging Bull]]'' (1980).{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=32}} Actress [[Chris Chase|Irene Kane]], the star of ''Killer's Kiss'', observed: "Stanley's a fascinating character. He thinks movies should move, with a minimum of dialogue, and he's all for sex and sadism".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=63}} ''Killer's Kiss'' met with limited commercial success and made very little money in comparison with its production budget of $75,000.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=32}} Critics have praised the film's camerawork, but its acting and story are generally considered mediocre.{{sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=69|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=32}}{{efn|Kubrick himself thought of the film as an amateurish effort—a student film.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=102}} Despite this, the film historian Alexander Walker considers the film to be "oddly compelling".{{sfn|Walker|1972|p=55}}}}

=== Hollywood success and beyond (1955–1962) ===
While playing chess in Washington Square, Kubrick met producer [[James B. Harris]], who considered Kubrick "the most intelligent, most creative person I have ever come in contact with." The two formed the Harris-Kubrick Pictures Corporation in 1955.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=37}} Harris purchased the rights to [[Lionel White]]'s novel ''Clean Break'' for $10,000{{efn|Harris beat United Artists in the purchase of the rights for the film, who were interested in it as the next picture for [[Frank Sinatra]]. They eventually settled for financing $200,000 towards the production.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|pp=37–8}}}} and Kubrick wrote the script,<ref>The Killing screen credits</ref> but at Kubrick's suggestion, they hired film noir novelist [[Jim Thompson (writer)|Jim Thompson]] to write the dialog for the film—which became ''[[The Killing (film)|The Killing]]'' (1956)—about a meticulously planned racetrack robbery gone wrong. The film starred [[Sterling Hayden]], who had impressed Kubrick with his performance in ''[[The Asphalt Jungle]]'' (1950).{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=38}}

Kubrick and Harris moved to Los Angeles and signed with the [[Sam Jaffe (producer)|Jaffe Agency]] to shoot the picture, which became Kubrick's first full-length feature film shot with a professional cast and crew. The Union in Hollywood stated that Kubrick would not be permitted to be both the director and the cinematographer, resulting in the hiring of veteran cinematographer [[Lucien Ballard]]. Kubrick agreed to waive his fee for the production, which was shot in 24 days on a budget of $330,000.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=115}} He clashed with Ballard during the shooting, and on one occasion Kubrick threatened to fire Ballard following a camera dispute, despite being aged only 27 and 20 years Ballard's junior.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=38}} Hayden recalled Kubrick was "cold and detached. Very mechanical, always confident. I've worked with few directors who are that good".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=81}}

''The Killing'' failed to secure a proper release across the United States; the film made little money, and was promoted only at the last minute, as a second feature to the Western ''[[Bandido (1956 film)|Bandido!]]'' (1956). Several contemporary critics lauded the film, with a reviewer for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' comparing its camerawork to that of [[Orson Welles]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=43}} Today, critics generally consider ''The Killing'' to be among the best films of Kubrick's early career; its nonlinear narrative and clinical execution also had a major influence on later directors of [[crime film]]s, including [[Quentin Tarantino]]. [[Dore Schary]] of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (MGM) was highly impressed as well, and offered Kubrick and Harris $75,000 to write, direct, and produce a film, which ultimately became ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' (1957).{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=42}}{{efn|Kubrick and Harris had thought that the positive reception from critics had made their presence known in Hollywood, but [[Max Youngstein]] of United Artists disagreed with Schary on the merit of the film and still considered Kubrick and Harris to be "Not far from the bottom" of the pool of new talent at the time.{{Sfn|Duncan|2003|p=42}}}}

[[File:Kubrick on the set of Paths of Glory (1957 publicity photo).jpg|thumb|left|Kubrick during the filming of ''Paths of Glory'' in 1957]]
''Paths of Glory'', set during [[World War I]], is based on [[Humphrey Cobb]]'s 1935 [[Paths of Glory (Cobb novel)|antiwar novel of the same name]]. Schary was familiar with the novel, but stated that MGM would not finance another war picture, given their backing of the anti-war film ''[[The Red Badge of Courage (1951 film)|The Red Badge of Courage]]'' (1951).{{efn|Kubrick and Schary agreed to work on [[Stefan Zweig]]'s ''[[The Burning Secret]]'', and Kubrick began working on a script with novelist [[Calder Willingham]]. He refused to forget ''Paths of Glory'', and secretly began drafting a script at night with Jim Thompson.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=46}}}} After Schary was fired by MGM in a major shake-up, Kubrick and Harris managed to interest [[Kirk Douglas]] in playing Colonel Dax.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=47}}{{efn|Douglas informed United Artists that he would not do ''[[The Vikings (1958 film)|The Vikings]]'' (1958) unless they agreed to make ''Paths of Glory'' and pay $850,000 to make it. Kubrick and Harris signed a five-film deal with Douglas's Bryna Productions and accepted a fee of $20,000 and a percentage of the profits in comparison to Douglas's salary of $350,000.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=47}}}} Douglas, in turn, signed Harris-Kubrick Pictures to a three-picture co-production deal with his film production company, [[Bryna Productions]], which secured a financing and distribution deal for ''Paths of Glory'' and two subsequent films with [[United Artists]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai81unse |title=Motion Picture Daily (Jan–Mar 1957) |date=January 1957 |publisher=Quigley Publishing Company, inc. |others=MBRS Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Variety |url=http://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-01 |title=Variety (January 1957) |date=1957 |publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Variety |url=http://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-02 |title=Variety (February 1957) |date=1957 |publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref> The film, shot in [[Munich]], from March 1957,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Variety |url=http://archive.org/details/variety206-1957-03 |title=Variety (March 1957) |date=1957 |publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref> follows a French army unit ordered on an impossible mission, and follows with a war trial of three soldiers, arbitrarily chosen, for misconduct. Dax is assigned to defend the men at Court Martial. For the battle scene, Kubrick meticulously lined up six cameras one after the other along the boundary of no-man's land, with each camera capturing a specific field and numbered, and gave each of the hundreds of extras a number for the zone in which they would die.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=98}} Kubrick operated an [[Arriflex 35|Arriflex]] camera for the battle, zooming in on Douglas. ''Paths of Glory'' became Kubrick's first significant commercial success, and established him as an up-and-coming young filmmaker. Critics praised the film's unsentimental, spare, and unvarnished combat scenes and its raw, black-and-white cinematography.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=50}} Despite the praise, the Christmas release date was criticized,{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=104}} and the subject was controversial in Europe. The film was banned in France until 1974 for its "unflattering" depiction of the French military, and was censored by the Swiss Army until 1970.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=50}}

In October 1957, after ''Paths of Glory'' had its world premiere in Germany, Bryna Productions optioned Canadian church minister-turned-master-safecracker Herbert Emerson Wilsons's autobiography, ''I Stole $16,000,000'', especially for Stanley Kubrick and James B. Harris.<ref name="Newspapers.com">{{Cite web |title=Valley Times from North Hollywood, California on October 31, 1957 · 25 |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/580799431/ |accessdate=May 20, 2021 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en|archive-date=May 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520035811/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/580799431/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Variety |url=http://archive.org/details/variety208-1957-10 |title=Variety (October 1957) |date=1957 |publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref> The picture was to be the second in the co-production deal between Bryna Productions and Harris-Kubrick Pictures, which Kubrick was to write and direct, Harris to co-produce and Douglas to co-produce and star.<ref name="Newspapers.com" /> In November 1957, [[Gavin Lambert]] was signed as story editor for ''I Stole $16,000,000'', and with Kubrick, finished a script titled ''God Fearing Man'', but the picture was never filmed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California on December 1, 1957 · 124 |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/381265850/ |accessdate=May 20, 2021 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en|archive-date=May 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520035811/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/381265850/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Marlon Brando]] contacted Kubrick, asking him to direct a film adaptation of the Charles Neider western novel, ''The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones'', featuring [[Pat Garrett]] and [[Billy the Kid]].{{Sfn|Duncan|2003|p=50}}{{efn|This is disputed by Carlo Fiore, who has claimed that Brando had not heard of Kubrick initially and that it was he who arranged a dinner meeting between Brando and Kubrick.{{Sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=109–110}}}} Brando was impressed, saying "Stanley is unusually perceptive, and delicately attuned to people. He has an adroit intellect, and is a creative thinker—not a repeater, not a fact-gatherer. He digests what he learns and brings to a new project an original point of view and a reserved passion".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=53}} The two worked on a script for six months, begun by a then unknown [[Sam Peckinpah]]. Many disputes broke out over the project, and in the end, Kubrick distanced himself from what would become ''[[One-Eyed Jacks]]'' (1961).{{efn|According to biographer John Baxter, Kubrick was furious with Brando's casting of [[France Nuyen]], and when Kubrick had confessed to still "not knowing what the picture was about", Brando snapped "I'll tell you what it's about. It's about $300,000 that I've already paid [[Karl Malden]]".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=119}} Kubrick was then reported to have been fired and accepted a parting fee of $100,000,{{sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=120|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=53}} though a 1960 ''Entertainment Weekly'' article claims he quit as director, and that Kubrick had been quoted as saying "Brando wanted to direct the movie".<ref>{{cite news |last=Ginna |first=Robert Emmett |title=The Odyssey Begins |newspaper=Entertainment Weekly |year=1960}}</ref> Kubrick's biographer LoBrutto states that for contractual reasons, Kubrick was not able to cite the real reason, but issued a statement saying that he had resigned "with deep regret because of my respect and admiration for one of the world's foremost artists".{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=164}}}}

[[File:Kubrick & Curtis on the set of Spartacus (1960 publicity photo).jpg|thumb|Kubrick and [[Tony Curtis]] on the set of ''Spartacus'' in 1960]]
In February 1959, Kubrick received a phone call from Kirk Douglas asking him to direct ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (1960), based on the historical [[Spartacus]] and the [[Third Servile War]]. Douglas had acquired the rights to the novel by [[Howard Fast]] and [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] screenwriter [[Dalton Trumbo]] began penning the script.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=59}} It was produced by Douglas, who also starred as Spartacus, and cast [[Laurence Olivier]] as his foe, the Roman general and politician [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]]. Douglas hired Kubrick for a reported $150,000 fee to take over direction soon after he fired director [[Anthony Mann]].{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=130}} Kubrick had, at 31, already directed four feature films, and this became his largest by far, with a cast of over 10,000 and a budget of $6 million.{{efn|''Spartacus'' eventually cost a reported $12 million to produce and earned only $14.6 million.{{sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=151|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=59}}}} At the time, this was the most expensive film ever made in America, and Kubrick became the youngest director in Hollywood history to make an epic.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=2}} It was the first time that Kubrick filmed using the anamorphic 35&nbsp;mm horizontal [[Super Technirama 70|Super Technirama]] process to achieve ultra-high definition, which allowed him to capture large panoramic scenes, including one with 8,000 trained soldiers from Spain representing the Roman army.{{efn|The battle scenes of ''Spartacus'' were shot over six weeks in Spain in mid-1959. Biographer John Baxter has criticized some of the battle scenes, describing them as "awkwardly directed, with some clumsy stunt action and a plethora of improbable horse falls".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=140}}}}

Disputes broke out during the filming of ''Spartacus''. Kubrick complained about not having full creative control over the artistic aspects, insisting on improvising extensively during the production.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=62}}{{efn|A problematic production in that Kubrick wanted to shoot at a slow pace of two camera set-ups a day, but the studio insisted that he do 32; a compromise of eight had to be made.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=3}} Stills cameraman [[William Read Woodfield]] questioned the casting and acting abilities of some of the actors such as [[Timothy Carey]],{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=99}} and cinematographer [[Russell Metty]] disagreed with Kubrick's use of light, threatening to quit, but later muting his criticisms after winning the Oscar for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=61}}}} Kubrick and Douglas were also at odds over the script, with Kubrick angering Douglas when he cut all but two of his lines from the opening 30 minutes.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=135}} Despite the on-set troubles, ''Spartacus'' took $14.6 million at the box office in its first run.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=62}} The film established Kubrick as a major director, receiving six Academy Award nominations and winning four; it ultimately convinced him that if so much could be made of such a problematic production, he could achieve anything.{{Sfn|Baxter|1997|p=149}} ''Spartacus'' also marked the end of the working relationship between Kubrick and Douglas.{{efn|According to biographer Baxter, Douglas continued to resent Kubrick's domination during production, remarking, "He'll be a fine director some day, if he falls flat on his face just once. It might teach him how to compromise".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=151}} Douglas later stated: "You don't have to be a nice person to be extremely talented. You can be a shit and be talented and, conversely, you can be the nicest guy in the world and not have any talent. Stanley Kubrick is a talented shit."{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=193}}}}

=== Collaboration with Peter Sellers (1962–1964) ===
==== ''Lolita'' ====
{{multiple image
 | align =
 | total_width = 230
 | image1 = Sue Lyon (Portrait by Kubrick for Lolita - L-66).jpg
 | alt1 = Close-up black-and-white portrait photo of a smiling young woman with long blonde hair in a studio, brightly illuminated by set lights
 | image2 = Sue Lyon (Portrait by Kubrick for Lolita - alt).jpg
 | alt2 = A similar portrait of the same woman in profile
 | footer = Two portrait photographs—both taken by Kubrick—of [[Sue Lyon]], who played the role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze in ''[[Lolita (1962 film)|Lolita]]''
}}
Kubrick and Harris decided to start production of Kubrick's next film ''[[Lolita (1962 film)|Lolita]]'' (1962) in England, due to clauses placed on the contract by producers [[Warner Bros.]] that gave them complete control over the film, and the fact that the [[Eady Levy|Eady plan]] permitted producers to write off the costs if 80% of the crew were British. Instead, they signed a $1 million deal with [[Eliot Hyman]]'s [[Associated Artists Productions]], and a clause which gave them the artistic freedom that they desired.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=76}} ''Lolita'', Kubrick's first attempt at [[black comedy]], was an adaptation of the [[Lolita|novel of the same name]] by [[Vladimir Nabokov]], the story of a middle-aged college professor becoming infatuated with a 12-year-old girl. Stylistically, ''Lolita'', starring [[Peter Sellers]], [[James Mason]], [[Shelley Winters]], and [[Sue Lyon]], was a transitional film for Kubrick, "marking the turning point from a naturalistic cinema&nbsp;... to the surrealism of the later films", according to film critic [[Gene Youngblood]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/836-lolita |title=Lolita |publisher=Criterion.com |last=Youngblood |first=Gene |date=September 24, 1992 |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824085752/http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/836-lolita |archivedate=August 24, 2014}}</ref> Kubrick was impressed by the range of actor Peter Sellers and gave him one of his first opportunities to improvise wildly during shooting, while filming him with three cameras.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|pp=204–205}}{{efn|The two got on during production, displaying many similarities; both left school prematurely, played jazz drums, and shared a fascination with photography.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=154}} Sellers would later claim that "Kubrick is a god as far as I'm concerned".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=185}}}}

Kubrick shot ''Lolita'' over 88 days on a $2 million budget at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]], between October 1960 and March 1961.{{Sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1pp=157, 161|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=80}} Kubrick often clashed with Shelley Winters, whom he found "very difficult" and demanding, and nearly fired at one point.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=209}} Because of its provocative story, ''Lolita'' was Kubrick's first film to generate controversy; he was ultimately forced to comply with censors and remove much of the erotic element of the relationship between Mason's Humbert and Lyon's Lolita which had been evident in Nabokov's novel.{{Sfnm|1a1=LoBrutto|1y=1999|1p=225|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=77}} The film was not a major critical or commercial success, earning $3.7 million at the box office on its opening run.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=80}}{{efn|Kubrick and Harris had proved they could adapt a highly controversial novel without studio interference. The moderate earnings allowed them to set up companies in Switzerland to take advantage of low taxes on their profits and give them financial security for life.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=80}}}} ''Lolita'' has since become critically acclaimed.<ref name="Lolita">{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1012611-lolita/ |title=Lolita |website=Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822191218/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1012611-lolita |archivedate=August 22, 2015}}</ref>

==== ''Dr. Strangelove'' ====
[[File:Kubrick on the set of Dr. Strangelove (1963 publicity photo, SLK.124.32).jpg|thumb|Kubrick during the production of ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' in 1963]]
Kubrick's next project was ''[[Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]]'' (1964), another satirical black comedy. Kubrick became preoccupied with the issue of [[nuclear war]] as the [[Cold War]] unfolded in the 1950s, and even considered moving to Australia because he feared that New York City might be a likely target for the Russians. He studied over 40 military and political research books on the subject and eventually reached the conclusion that "nobody really knew anything and the whole situation was absurd".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=87}}

After buying the rights to the novel ''[[Red Alert (novel)|Red Alert]]'', Kubrick collaborated with its author, [[Peter George (author)|Peter George]], on the script. It was originally written as a serious political thriller, but Kubrick decided that a "serious treatment" of the subject would not be believable, and thought that some of its most salient points would be fodder for comedy.{{sfn|Walker|1972|p=29}} Kubrick's longtime producer and friend, [[James B. Harris]], thought the film should be serious, and the two parted ways, amicably, over this disagreement—Harris going on to produce and direct the serious cold-war thriller ''[[The Bedford Incident]].''<ref name="in_the_trenches_spring2013_dga_org">Feeney, F. X. (interviewing [[James B. Harris|Harris, James B.]] ): [https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1302-Spring-2013/James-Harris-on-Stanley-Kubrick.aspx "In the Trenches with Stanley Kubrick,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227043243/https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1302-Spring-2013/James-Harris-on-Stanley-Kubrick.aspx |date=December 27, 2020 }} Spring 2013, ''[[DGA Quarterly]],'' [[Directors Guild of America]], retrieved December 8, 2020</ref><ref name="profile_of_harris_mubi_com">Prime, Samuel B. (interviewing [[James B. Harris|Harris, James B.]] ): [https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-other-side-of-the-booth-a-profile-of-james-b-harris-in-present-day-los-angeles "The Other Side of the Booth: A Profile of James B. Harris in Present Day Los Angeles,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227043142/https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-other-side-of-the-booth-a-profile-of-james-b-harris-in-present-day-los-angeles |date=December 27, 2020 }} November 13, 2017, ''[[MUBI]],''retrieved December 8, 2020</ref><ref name="bedford_incident_review_radiotimes_com">Freedman, Peter: review: ''[https://www.radiotimes.com/film/ndk7p/the-bedford-incident/ The Bedford Incident] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227043146/https://www.radiotimes.com/film/ndk7p/the-bedford-incident/ |date=December 27, 2020 }},'' retrieved December 8, 2020</ref>  Kubrick and ''Red Alert'' author George then reworked the script as a satire (provisionally titled "The Delicate Balance of Terror") in which the plot of ''Red Alert'' was situated as a film-within-a-film made by an alien intelligence, but this idea was also abandoned, and Kubrick decided to make the film as "an outrageous black comedy".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Development – Scripts |url=https://archives.arts.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=SK/11/1 |accessdate=July 28, 2021 |website=archives.arts.ac.uk|archive-date=July 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728103811/https://archives.arts.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=SK/11/1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Just before filming began, Kubrick hired noted journalist and satirical author [[Terry Southern]] to transform the script into its final form, a black comedy, loaded with sexual innuendo,{{sfn|Duncan|2003|pp=87–9}} becoming a film which showed Kubrick's talents as a "unique kind of absurdist" according to the film scholar Abrams.{{sfn|Abrams|2007|p=30}} Southern made major contributions to the final script, and was co-credited (above Peter George) in the film's opening titles; his perceived role in the writing later led to a public rift between Kubrick and Peter George, who subsequently complained in a letter to ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine that Southern's intense but relatively brief (November 16 to December 28, 1962) involvement with the project was being given undue prominence in the media, while his own role as the author of the film's source novel, and his ten-month stint as the script's co-writer, were being downplayed – a perception Kubrick evidently did little to address.<ref>Hill, Lee (2001). ''A Grand Guy: The Life and Art of Terry Southern'', Bloomsbury. London, pp. 124–125. {{ISBN|0747547335}}</ref>

Kubrick found that ''Dr. Strangelove'', a $2 million production which employed what became the "first important visual effects crew in the world",{{Sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=191|2a1=LoBrutto|2y=1999|2p=233}} would be impossible to make in the U.S. for various technical and political reasons, forcing him to move production to England. It was shot in 15 weeks, ending in April 1963, after which Kubrick spent eight months editing it.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=91}} Peter Sellers again agreed to work with Kubrick, and ended up playing three different roles in the film.{{Efn|Footage of Sellers playing four different roles was shot by Kubrick: "an RAF captain on secondment to Burpelson Air Force Base as adjutant to Sterling Hayden's crazed General Ripper; the inept President of the United States; his sinister German security adviser; and the Texan pilot of the rogue B52 bomber", but the scene with him as a Texan pilot was excluded from the final version.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=177}}}}

Upon release, the film stirred up much controversy and mixed opinions. ''The New York Times'' film critic [[Bosley Crowther]] worried that it was a "discredit and even contempt for our whole defense establishment&nbsp;... the most shattering sick joke I've ever come across",{{sfn|Kercher|2010|pp= 340–341}} while [[Robert Brustein]] of ''Out of This World'' in a February 1970 article called it a "[[juvenalian]] satire".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=91}} Kubrick responded to the criticism, stating: "A satirist is someone who has a very skeptical view of human nature, but who still has the optimism to make some sort of a joke out of it. However brutal that joke might be".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-stanley-kubrick-lacma-20121028-story.html |title=2012: A Stanley Kubrick Odyssey at LACMA |work=Los Angeles Times |last=Ng |first=David |date=October 26, 2012 |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150604145233/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-stanley-kubrick-lacma-20121028-story.html |archivedate=June 4, 2015}}</ref> Today, the film is considered to be one of the sharpest comedy films ever made, and holds a near-perfect 98% rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 91 reviews {{As of|2020|11|lc=yes}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dr_strangelove/ |title=Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) |website=Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150820234059/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dr_strangelove |archivedate=August 20, 2015}}</ref> It was named the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies|39th-greatest American film]] and [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs|third-greatest American comedy film]] of all time by the [[American Film Institute]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx |title=AFI's 100 GREATEST AMERICAN FILMS OF ALL TIME |publisher=American Film Institute |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818175815/http://www.afi.com/100Years/movies10.aspx |archivedate=August 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |title=AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time |publisher=American Film Institute |accessdate=August 17, 2015|url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116134020/http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |archivedate=November 16, 2015}}</ref> and in 2010, it was named the sixth-best comedy film of all time by ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/18/dr-strangelove-kubrick-comedy |title=Dr Strangelove: No 6 best comedy film of all time |work=The Guardian |last=Patterson |first=John |date=October 18, 2010 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807135457/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/18/dr-strangelove-kubrick-comedy |archivedate=August 7, 2015}}</ref>

=== Science fiction (1965–1971) ===
==== ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' ====
Kubrick spent five years developing his next film, ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (1968), having been highly impressed with science fiction writer [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s novel ''[[Childhood's End]]'', about a superior alien race who assist mankind in eliminating their old selves. After meeting Clarke in New York City in April 1964, Kubrick made the suggestion to work on his 1948 short story "[[The Sentinel (short story)|The Sentinel]]", in which a monolith  found on the Moon alerts aliens of mankind.{{sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=205|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=105}} That year, Clarke began writing the novel ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and collaborated with Kubrick on a screenplay. The film's theme, the birthing of one intelligence by another, is developed in two parallel intersecting stories on two different time scales. One depicts evolutionary transitions between various stages of man, from ape to "star child", as man is reborn into a new existence, each step shepherded by an enigmatic alien intelligence seen only in its artifacts: a series of seemingly indestructible eons-old black monoliths. In space, the enemy is a supercomputer known as [[HAL 9000|HAL]] who runs the spaceship, a character which novelist [[Clancy Sigal]] described as being "far, far more human, more humorous and conceivably decent than anything else that may emerge from this far-seeing enterprise".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=208}}{{efn|Several commentators have speculated that HAL is a slur on IBM, with the letters alphabetically falling before it, and point out that Kubrick inspected the IBM 7090 during ''Dr Strangelove''. Both Kubrick and Clarke denied this, and insist that HAL means "Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=214–5}}}}

Kubrick intensively researched for the film, paying particular attention to accuracy and detail in what the future might look like. He was granted permission by [[NASA]] to observe the spacecraft being used in the [[Ranger 9]] mission for accuracy.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=113}} Filming commenced on December 29, 1965, with the excavation of the monolith on the moon,{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=117}} and footage was shot in [[Namib Desert]] in early 1967, with the ape scenes completed later that year. The special effects team continued working until the end of the year to complete the film, taking the cost to $10.5 million.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=117}} ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' was conceived as a [[Cinerama]] spectacle and was photographed in [[Super Panavision 70]], giving the viewer a "dazzling mix of imagination and science" through ground-breaking effects, which earned Kubrick his only personal Oscar, an [[Academy Award for Visual Effects]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=117}}{{Efn|Biographer John Baxter quotes Ken Adam as saying that Kubrick was not responsible for most of the effects, and that Wally Veevers was the man behind about 85% of them in film. Baxter notes that none of the film's technical team resented Kubrick taking sole credit, as "it was Kubrick's vision which appeared on the screen".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=224, 235}}}} Kubrick said of the concept of the film in an interview with ''[[Rolling Stone]]'': "On the deepest psychological level, the film's plot symbolized the search for God, and finally postulates what is little less than a scientific definition of God. The film revolves around this metaphysical conception, and the realistic hardware and the documentary feelings about everything were necessary in order to undermine your built-in resistance to the poetical concept".{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=313}}

Upon release in 1968, ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' was not an immediate hit among critics, who faulted its lack of dialog, slow pacing, and seemingly impenetrable storyline.{{sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=231|2a1=LoBrutto|2y=1999|2p=314}} The film appeared to defy genre convention, much unlike any science-fiction movie before it,{{sfn|Schneider|2012|p=492}} and clearly different from any of Kubrick's earlier works. Kubrick was particularly outraged by a scathing review from [[Pauline Kael]], who called it "the biggest amateur movie of them all", with Kubrick doing "really every dumb thing he ever wanted to do".{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=312}} Despite mixed contemporary critical reviews, ''2001'' gradually gained popularity and earned $31 million worldwide by the end of 1972.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=117}}{{efn|This made the film one of the five most successful MGM films at the time along with ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone With the Wind]]'' (1939), ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939), and ''[[Doctor Zhivago (film)|Doctor Zhivago]]'' (1965).{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=316}}}} Today, it is widely considered to be one of [[List of films considered the best|the greatest and most influential films ever made]] and is a staple on All Time Top 10 lists.<ref name="BFITop10">[[#BFITop10|British Film Institute]]. Online at: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110513073130/http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/critics.html BFI Critic's Top Ten Poll].</ref><ref name="AFITop10">[[#AFITop10|American Film Institute.]] Online: [http://www.afi.com/10top10/scifi.html AFI's 10 Top 10] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312075056/http://www.afi.com/10TOP10/scifi.html |date=March 12, 2012 }}</ref> Baxter describes the film as "one of the most admired and discussed creations in the history of cinema",{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=220}} and [[Steven Spielberg]] has referred to it as "the big bang of his film making generation".{{sfn|Carr|2002|p=1}} For biographer Vincent LoBrutto it "positioned Stanley Kubrick as a pure artist ranked among the masters of cinema".{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=320}} The film marked Kubrick's first use of classical music. [[Roger Ebert]] writes: "Although Kubrick originally commissioned an original score from [[Alex North]], he used classical recordings as a temporary track while editing the film, and they worked so well that he kept them. This was a crucial decision. North's score, which is available on a recording, is a good job of film composition, but would have been wrong for ''2001'' because, like all scores, it attempts to underline the action -- to give us emotional cues. The classical music chosen by Kubrick exists outside the action. It uplifts. It wants to be sublime; it brings a seriousness and transcendence to the visuals", citing Kubrick's use of  [[Johann Strauss II]]'s "[[The Blue Danube]]" and [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Also sprach Zarathustra]]''.<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Great Movies: 2001: A Space Odyssey| work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]| date=March 27, 1997| url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968}}</ref>

==== ''A Clockwork Orange'' ====
[[File:HermanRockingMachinebyFiona.jpg|thumb|left|An example of the erotica from ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' (1971)]]

After completing ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', Kubrick searched for a project that he could film quickly on a more modest budget. He settled on ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' (1971) at the end of 1969, an exploration of violence and experimental rehabilitation by law enforcement authorities, based around the character of [[Alex (A Clockwork Orange)|Alex]] (portrayed by [[Malcolm McDowell]]). Kubrick had received a copy of [[Anthony Burgess]]'s [[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|novel of the same name]] from Terry Southern while they were working on ''Dr. Strangelove'', but had rejected it on the grounds that [[Nadsat]],{{Efn|The name is derived from the Russian suffix for "teen"}} a street language for young teenagers, was too difficult to comprehend. The decision to make a film about the degeneration of youth reflected contemporary concerns in 1969; the [[New Hollywood]] movement was creating a great number of films that depicted the sexuality and rebelliousness of young people.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=243}} ''A Clockwork Orange'' was shot over 1970–1971 on a budget of £2 million.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=129}} Kubrick abandoned his use of CinemaScope in filming, deciding that the 1.66:1 widescreen format was, in the words of Baxter, an "acceptable compromise between spectacle and intimacy", and favored his "rigorously symmetrical framing", which "increased the beauty of his compositions".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=252}} The film heavily features "pop erotica" of the period, including a large white plastic set of male genitals, decor which Kubrick had intended to give it a "slightly futuristic" look.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=250, 254}} McDowell's role in [[Lindsay Anderson]]'s ''[[if....]]'' (1968) was crucial to his casting as Alex,{{efn|Kubrick had been impressed with his ability to "shift from schoolboy innocence to insolence and, if needed, violence".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=246–7}}}} and Kubrick professed that he probably would not have made the film if McDowell had been unavailable.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=247}} The film marked Kubrick's first collaboration with [[Wendy Carlos]], who provided electronic renditions of [[Henry Purcell]]'s ''[[Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary]]'' and [[Beethoven]]'s "[[Ode to Joy]]".<ref>{{cite news| title='She made music jump into 3D': Wendy Carlos, the reclusive synth genius| last=Rogers| first=Jude| date=November 11, 2020| work=The Guardian| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/11/she-made-music-jump-into-3d-wendy-carlos-the-reclusive-synth-genius}}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Stanley Kubrick - WB promo.jpg|right|thumb|Kubrick in a publicity photo for ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', 1971]] -->
Because of its depiction of teenage violence, ''A Clockwork Orange'' became one of the most controversial films of its time, and part of an ongoing debate about violence and its glorification in cinema. It received an [[X rating]], or certificate, in both the UK and US, on its release just before Christmas 1971, though many critics saw much of the violence depicted in the film as satirical, and less violent than ''[[Straw Dogs (1971 film)|Straw Dogs]]'', which had been released a month earlier.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=255, 264–65}} Kubrick personally pulled the film from release in the United Kingdom after receiving death threats following a series of copycat crimes based on the film; it was thus completely unavailable legally in the UK until after Kubrick's death, and not re-released until 2000.{{Sfn|Webster|2010|p=86}}{{Efn|Despite this, Kubrick disagreed with many of the scathing press reports in British media in the early 1970s that the film could transform a person into a criminal, and argued that "violent crime is invariably committed by people with a long record of anti-social behavior".{{Sfn|Ciment|1980|pp=162–63}}}} [[John Trevelyan (censor)|John Trevelyan]], the censor of the film, personally considered ''A Clockwork Orange'' to be "perhaps the most brilliant piece of cinematic art I've ever seen," and believed it to present an "intellectual argument rather than a sadistic spectacle" in its depiction of violence, but acknowledged that many would not agree.{{Sfn|Baxter|1997|p=265}} Negative media hype over the film notwithstanding, ''A Clockwork Orange'' received four Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editing, and was named by the [[New York Film Critics Circle]] as the Best Film of 1971.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=270}} After [[William Friedkin]] won Best Director for ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]]'' that year, he told the press: "Speaking personally, I think Stanley Kubrick is the best American film-maker of the year. In fact, not just this year, but the best, period."{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=271}}

=== Period and horror filming (1972–1980) ===
==== ''Barry Lyndon'' ====
''[[Barry Lyndon]]'' (1975) is an adaptation of [[William Makepeace Thackeray]]'s ''[[The Luck of Barry Lyndon]]'', a [[picaresque novel]] about the adventures of an 18th-century Irish rogue and social climber. [[John Calley]] of Warner Bros. agreed in 1972 to invest $2.5 million into the film, on condition that Kubrick approach major Hollywood stars, to ensure success.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=280}} Like previous films, Kubrick and his art department conducted an enormous amount of research on the 18th century. Extensive photographs were taken of locations and artwork in particular, and paintings were meticulously replicated from works of the great masters of the period in the film.{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=381}}{{Efn|Kubrick told Ciment, "I created a picture file of thousands of drawings and paintings for every type of reference that we could have wanted. I think I destroyed every art book you could buy in a bookshop."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-cm-stanley-kubrick-lacma-paintings-pictures-photogallery.html |last=Ng |first=David |title=Stanley Kubrick's art world influences |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 2, 2012 |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418175731/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-cm-stanley-kubrick-lacma-paintings-pictures-photogallery.html |archivedate=April 18, 2015}}</ref>}} The film was shot on location in Ireland, beginning in the autumn of 1973, at a cost of $11 million with a cast and crew of 170.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=157}} The decision to shoot in Ireland stemmed from the fact that it still retained many buildings from the 18th century period which England lacked.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=283–4}} The production was problematic from the start, plagued with heavy rain and [[The Troubles|political strife involving Northern Ireland]] at the time.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=286}} After Kubrick received death threats from the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] in 1974 due to the shooting scenes with English soldiers, he fled Ireland with his family on a ferry from [[Dún Laoghaire]] under an assumed identity and resumed filming in England.{{sfnm|1a1=Baxter|1y=1997|1p=289|2a1=Duncan|2y=2003|2p=153}}
[[File:William Hogarth 035.jpg|thumb|left|[[William Hogarth]]'s ''The Country Dance'' (c. 1745) illustrates the type of interior scene that Kubrick sought to emulate with ''Barry Lyndon''.]]
Baxter notes that ''Barry Lyndon'' was the film which made Kubrick notorious for paying scrupulous attention to detail, often demanding twenty or thirty retakes of the same scene to perfect his art.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=288}} Often considered to be his most authentic-looking picture,{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=145}} the cinematography and lighting techniques that Kubrick and cinematographer [[John Alcott]] used in ''Barry Lyndon'' were highly innovative. Interior scenes were shot with a specially adapted high-speed f/0.7 [[Carl Zeiss AG|Zeiss]] camera lens originally developed for NASA to be used in satellite photography. The lenses allowed many scenes to be lit only with candlelight, creating two-dimensional, diffused-light images reminiscent of 18th-century paintings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm |title=Two Special Lenses for ''Barry Lyndon'' |author=DiGiulio, El |publisher=American Cinematographer |accessdate=March 5, 2011 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510082012/http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm |archivedate=May 10, 2011}}</ref> Cinematographer [[Allen Daviau]] states that the method gives the audience a way of seeing the characters and scenes as they would have been seen by people at the time.<ref name=camera>{{cite web |url=http://fstoppers.com/video/stanley-kubrick-films-natural-candlelight-insane-f07-lens-5049 |title=Stanley Kubrick Films Natural Candlelight With Insane f/0.7 Lens |publisher=Fstoppers.com |last=Hall |first=Patrick |date=October 7, 2012 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003061726/http://fstoppers.com/video/stanley-kubrick-films-natural-candlelight-insane-f07-lens-5049 |archivedate=October 3, 2015}}</ref> Many of the fight scenes were shot with a hand-held camera to produce a "sense of documentary realism and immediacy".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=151}}

''Barry Lyndon'' found a great audience in France, but was a box office failure, grossing just $9.5 million in the American market, not even close to the $30 million Warner Bros. needed to generate a profit.{{Sfn|Baxter|1997|p=295}} The pace and length of ''Barry Lyndon'' at three hours put off many American critics and audiences, but the film was nominated for seven [[Academy Awards]] and won four, including Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Musical Score, more than any other Kubrick film. As with most of Kubrick's films, ''Barry Lyndon''{{'}}s reputation has grown through the years and it is now considered to be one of his best, particularly among filmmakers and critics. Numerous polls, such as ''[[The Village Voice]]'' (1999),<ref>{{cite web |title=100 Best Films of the 20th Century: Village Voice Critics' Poll |url=http://www.filmsite.org/villvoice.html |publisher=Village Voice Media, Inc. |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613044825/http://www.filmsite.org/villvoice.html |archivedate=June 13, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' (2002),<ref>{{cite web |title=Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics-long.html |publisher=British Film Institute |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102071617/http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics-long.html |archivedate=January 2, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' (2005),<ref>{{cite news |last=Schickel |first=Richard |title=All-TIME 100 Movies: Barry Lyndon |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2005/02/12/all-time-100-movies/?slide=barry-lyndon-1975 |work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=February 12, 2005 |access-date=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630231341/http://entertainment.time.com/2005/02/12/all-time-100-movies/?slide=barry-lyndon-1975 |archive-date=June 30, 2015}}</ref> have rated it as one of the greatest films ever made. {{As of|2019|3}}, it has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 64 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/barry_lyndon/ |title=Barry Lyndon (1975) |website=Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=March 11, 2019 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814034659/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/barry_lyndon/ |archivedate=August 14, 2015}}</ref> Ebert referred to it as "one of the most beautiful films ever made&nbsp;... certainly in every frame a Kubrick film: technically awesome, emotionally distant, remorseless in its doubt of human goodness".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-lyndon-1975 |title=Barry Lyndon |publisher=RogerEbert.com |author=Ebert, Roger |date=September 9, 2009 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822193703/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-lyndon-1975 |archivedate=August 22, 2015}}</ref>

==== ''The Shining'' ====
[[File:Ahwahnee Hotel - Great Lounge.jpg|thumb|Several of the interiors of [[Ahwahnee Hotel]] were used as templates for the sets of the Overlook Hotel.]]
''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'', released in 1980, was adapted from the [[The Shining (novel)|novel of the same name]] by [[Stephen King]]. The film stars [[Jack Nicholson]] as a writer who takes a job as a winter caretaker of an isolated hotel in the [[Rocky Mountains]]. He spends the winter there with his wife, played by [[Shelley Duvall]], and their young son, who displays [[paranormal]] abilities. During their stay, they confront both Jack's descent into madness and apparent supernatural horrors lurking in the hotel. Kubrick gave his actors freedom to extend the script and even improvise on occasion, and as a result, Nicholson was responsible for the 'Here's Johnny!' line and the scene in which he's sitting at the typewriter and unleashes his anger upon his wife.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|pp=433–45}} Kubrick often demanded up to 70 or 80 retakes of the same scene. Duvall, whom Kubrick intentionally isolated and argued with, was forced to perform the exhausting baseball bat scene 127 times.<ref>{{cite web |author=Looper Staff |publisher=Looper.com |title=Roles that Drove Actors Over the Edge, Shelly Duvall: The Shining |url=http://www.looper.com/1970/roles-drove-actors-edge/ |accessdate=November 3, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031120718/http://www.looper.com/1970/roles-drove-actors-edge/ |archivedate=October 31, 2015}}</ref> The bar scene with the ghostly bartender was shot 36 times, while the kitchen scene between the characters of Danny ([[Danny Lloyd]]) and Halloran ([[Scatman Crothers]]) ran to 148 takes.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|pp=430–1}} The aerial shots of the Overlook Hotel were shot at [[Timberline Lodge]] on [[Mount Hood]] in Oregon, while the interiors of the hotel were shot at Elstree Studios in England between May 1978 and April 1979.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=166}} Cardboard models were made of all of the sets of the film, and the lighting of them was a massive undertaking, which took four months of electrical wiring.{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=418}} Kubrick made extensive use of the newly invented [[Steadicam]], a weight-balanced camera support, which allowed for smooth hand-held camera movement in scenes where a conventional camera track was impractical. According to [[Garrett Brown]], Steadicam's inventor, it was the first picture to use its full potential.{{sfn|Webster|2010|p=221}} ''The Shining'' was not the only horror film to which Kubrick had been linked; he had turned down the directing of both ''[[The Exorcist (film)|The Exorcist]]'' (1973) and ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]'' (1977), despite once saying in 1966 to a friend that he had long desired to "make the world's scariest movie, involving a series of episodes that would play upon the nightmare fears of the audience".{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=302}} Kubrick worked again with Carlos, who provided an electronic version of the ''[[Dies Irae#Music|Dies Irae]]'' segment from [[Hector Berlioz]]'s "[[Symphonie fantastique]]".

Five days after release on May 23, 1980, Kubrick ordered the deletion of a final scene, in which the hotel manager Ullman ([[Barry Nelson (actor)|Barry Nelson]]) visits Wendy (Shelley Duvall) in hospital, believing it unnecessary after witnessing the audience excitement in cinemas at the film's climax.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=451}} ''The Shining'' opened to strong box office takings, earning $1 million on the first weekend and earning $30.9 million in America by the end of the year.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=166}} The original critical response was mixed, and King detested the film and disliked Kubrick.{{Sfn|Gilmour|2008|p=67}} ''The Shining'' is now considered to be a horror classic,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3674926/Stanley-Kubrick-A-retrospective.html?image=15 |title=A Stanley Kubrick retrospective |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307023316/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3674926/Stanley-Kubrick-A-retrospective.html?image=15 |archivedate=March 7, 2014}}</ref> and the American Film Institute [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills|ranked]] it as the 29th greatest thriller film of all time in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/100Years/thrills.aspx |title=AFI's 100 Years&nbsp;... 100 Thrills |publisher=American Film Institute |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611142759/http://www.afi.com/100Years/thrills.aspx |archivedate=June 11, 2016}}</ref>

=== Later work and final years (1981–1999) ===
==== ''Full Metal Jacket'' ====
Kubrick met author [[Michael Herr]] through mutual friend David Cornwell (novelist [[John le Carré]]) in 1980, and became interested in his book [[Dispatches (book)|''Dispatches'']], about the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=170}} Herr had recently written [[Martin Sheen]]'s narration for ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' (1979). Kubrick was also intrigued by [[Gustav Hasford]]'s Vietnam War novel ''[[The Short-Timers]].'' With the vision in mind to shoot what would become ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' (1987), Kubrick began working with both Herr and Hasford separately on a script. He eventually found Hasford's novel to be "brutally honest" and decided to shoot a film which closely follows the novel.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=170}} All of the film was shot at a cost of $17 million within a 30-mile radius of his house between August 1985 and September 1986, later than scheduled as Kubrick shut down production for five months following a near-fatal accident with a jeep involving [[Lee Ermey]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=175}} A derelict gasworks in [[Beckton]] in the [[London Docklands]] area posed as the ruined city of [[Huế]],{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=341}} which makes the film visually very different from other Vietnam War films. Around 200 palm trees were imported via 40-foot trailers by road from North Africa, at a cost of £1000 a tree, and thousands of plastic plants were ordered from Hong Kong to provide foliage for the film.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=471}} Kubrick explained he made the film look realistic by using natural light, and achieved a "newsreel effect" by making the Steadicam shots less steady,{{Sfn|Ciment|1980|p=246}} which reviewers and commentators thought contributed to the bleakness and seriousness of the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0030.html |title=Regarding Full Metal Jacket |publisher=The Kubrick Site |accessdate=March 5, 2011 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603233024/http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0030.html |archivedate=June 3, 2011}}</ref>

According to critic [[Michel Ciment]], the film contained some of Kubrick's trademark characteristics, such as his selection of ironic music, portrayals of men being dehumanized, and attention to extreme detail to achieve realism. In a later scene, United States Marines patrol the ruins of an abandoned and destroyed city singing the theme song to the [[Mickey Mouse Club]] as a sardonic counterpoint.{{sfn|Webster|2010|p=135}} The film opened strongly in June 1987, taking over $30 million in the first 50 days alone,{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=354}} but critically it was overshadowed by the success of [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]'', released a year earlier.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=179}} Co-star [[Matthew Modine]] stated one of Kubrick's favorite reviews read: "The first half of ''FMJ'' is brilliant. Then the film degenerates into a masterpiece."<ref name="Modine1">{{cite web |url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/full-metal-jackets-matthew-modine-on-working-with-kubrick-and-movie-conspiracy-theories-6485969 |title=''Full Metal Jacket''{{'}}s Matthew Modine on Working With Kubrick and Movie Conspiracy Theories |work=Miami New Times |last=Morgenstern |first=Hans |date=April 8, 2013 |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402062140/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/full-metal-jackets-matthew-modine-on-working-with-kubrick-and-movie-conspiracy-theories-6485969 |archivedate=April 2, 2015}}</ref> Ebert was not particularly impressed with it, awarding it a mediocre 2.5 out of 4. He concluded: "Stanley Kubrick's ''Full Metal Jacket'' is more like a book of short stories than a novel", a "strangely shapeless film from the man whose work usually imposes a ferociously consistent vision on his material".<ref>{{cite web |author=Ebert, Roger |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/full-metal-jacket-1987 |title=Full Metal Jacket |publisher=Rogerebert.com |date=June 26, 1987 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806071252/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/full-metal-jacket-1987 |archivedate=August 6, 2015}}</ref>

==== ''Eyes Wide Shut'' ====

Kubrick's final film was ''[[Eyes Wide Shut]]'' (1999), starring [[Tom Cruise]] and [[Nicole Kidman]] as a Manhattan couple on a sexual odyssey. Tom Cruise portrays a doctor who witnesses a bizarre masked quasireligious orgiastic ritual at a country mansion, a discovery which later threatens his life. The story is based on [[Arthur Schnitzler]]'s 1926 Freudian novella ''Traumnovelle'' (''[[Dream Story]]'' in English), which Kubrick relocated from turn-of-the-century Vienna to New York City in the 1990s. Kubrick said of the novel: "A difficult book to describe—what good book isn't. It explores the sexual ambivalence of a happy marriage and tries to equate the importance of sexual dreams and might-have-beens with reality. All of Schnitzler's work is psychologically brilliant".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=181}} Kubrick was almost 70, but worked relentlessly for 15 months to get the film out by its planned release date of July 16, 1999. He commenced a script with [[Frederic Raphael]],{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=151}} and worked 18 hours a day, while maintaining complete confidentiality about the film.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=363}}

''Eyes Wide Shut'', like ''Lolita'' and ''A Clockwork Orange'' before it, faced censorship before release. Kubrick sent an unfinished preview copy to the stars and producers a few months before release, but his sudden death on March 7, 1999, came a few days after he finished editing. He never saw the final version released to the public,{{Sfn|Ciment|1980|p=311}} but he did see the preview of the film with Warner Bros., Cruise, and Kidman, and had reportedly told Warner executive Julian Senior that it was his "best film ever".{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=184}} At the time, critical opinion of the film was mixed, and it was viewed less favorably than most of Kubrick's films. Ebert awarded it 3.5 out of 4 stars, comparing the structure to a thriller and writing that it is "like an erotic daydream about chances missed and opportunities avoided", and thought that Kubrick's use of lighting at Christmas made the film "all a little garish, like an urban sideshow".<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/eyes-wide-shut-1999 |title=Eyes Wide Shut |publisher=RogerEbert.com |date=July 16, 1999 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150802051007/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/eyes-wide-shut-1999 |archivedate=August 2, 2015}}</ref> [[Stephen Hunter]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' disliked the film, writing that it "is actually sad, rather than bad. It feels creaky, ancient, hopelessly out of touch, infatuated with the hot taboos of his youth and unable to connect with that twisty thing contemporary sexuality has become."<ref>{{cite web |author=Hunter, Stephen |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/eyeswideshuthunter.htm |title=Kubrick's Sleepy 'Eyes Wide Shut' |work=The Washington Post |date=July 16, 1999 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927160725/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/eyeswideshuthunter.htm |archivedate=September 27, 2015}}</ref>

=== Unfinished and unrealized projects ===
{{Main|Stanley Kubrick's unrealized projects}}

==== ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' ====
[[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Director Steven Spielberg.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Steven Spielberg]] (pictured in 1994), whom Kubrick approached in 1995 to direct the 2001 film ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'']]

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Kubrick collaborated with [[Brian Aldiss]] on expanding his short story "[[Supertoys Last All Summer Long]]" into a three-act film. It was a futuristic fairy tale about a robot that resembles and behaves as a child, and his efforts to become a 'real boy' in a manner similar to [[Pinocchio]]. Kubrick approached [[Steven Spielberg]] in 1995 with the AI script with the possibility of Steven Spielberg directing it and Kubrick producing it.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=179}} Kubrick reportedly held long telephone discussions with Spielberg regarding the film, and, according to Spielberg, at one point stated that the subject matter was closer to Spielberg's sensibilities than his.<ref name="AIReview">[[#AIReview|Myers (no date).]] Online at: [http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=67 A.I.(review)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114143204/http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=67 |date=January 14, 2010 }}</ref>

Following Kubrick's sudden death in 1999, Spielberg took the drafts and notes left by Kubrick and his writers and composed a new screenplay based on an earlier 90-page story treatment by [[Ian Watson (author)|Ian Watson]] written under Kubrick's supervision and specifications.<ref name="Speilberg">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/arts/24LYMA.html?pagewanted=all |title=Spielberg's Journey Into a Darkness of the Heart |work=The New York Times |date=June 24, 2001 |accessdate=October 2, 2015 |author=Lyman, Rick |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011183935/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/arts/24LYMA.html?pagewanted=all |archivedate=October 11, 2015}}</ref> In association with what remained of Kubrick's production unit, he directed the film ''[[A.I. Artificial Intelligence]]'' (2001)<ref name="Speilberg" /><ref name="VarietyAI">{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2001/film/features/a-i-artificial-intelligence-1117799373/ |title=A.I. Artificial Intelligence |work=Variety |date=May 15, 2001 |accessdate=October 2, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003073722/http://variety.com/2001/film/features/a-i-artificial-intelligence-1117799373/ |archivedate=October 3, 2015}}</ref> which was produced by Kubrick's longtime producer (and brother-in-law) [[Jan Harlan]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Kenneth |last=Plume |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/06/28/interview-with-producer-jan-harlan |title=Interview with Producer Jan Harlan |website=[[IGN]] |date=June 28, 2001 |accessdate=October 2, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006185902/http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/06/28/interview-with-producer-jan-harlan |archivedate=October 6, 2015}}</ref> Sets, costumes, and art direction were based on the works of conceptual artist [[Chris Baker (artist)|Chris Baker]], who had also done much of his work under Kubrick's supervision.{{sfn|Kolker|2011|p=330}}

Spielberg was able to function autonomously in Kubrick's absence, but said he felt "inhibited to honor him", and followed Kubrick's visual schema with as much fidelity as he could. Spielberg, who once referred to Kubrick as "the greatest master I ever served", now with production underway, admitted, "I felt like I was being coached by a ghost."{{sfn|McBride|2012|pp=479–481}} The film was released in June 2001. It contains a posthumous production credit for Stanley Kubrick at the beginning and the brief dedication "For Stanley Kubrick" at the end. [[John Williams]]'s score contains many allusions to pieces heard in other Kubrick films.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/2001/Aug01/Artificial_Intelligence.html |title=John WILLIAMS: A.I. Artificial Intelligence : Film Music CD Reviews- August 2001 MusicWeb(UK) |publisher=Musicweb-international.com |accessdate=March 7, 2010 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704202251/http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/2001/Aug01/Artificial_Intelligence.html |archivedate=July 4, 2008}}</ref>

==== ''Napoleon'' ====
[[File:Script development (8649756320).jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A script in a binder. It contains dialog between Napoleon and Joseph.|The script from Kubrick's unrealized project ''Napoleon'']]
Following ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', Kubrick planned to make a film about the life of [[Napoleon]]. Fascinated by the French leader's life and "self-destruction",{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=122}} Kubrick spent a great deal of time planning the film's development and conducted about two years of research into Napoleon's life, reading several hundred books and gaining access to his personal memoirs and commentaries. He tried to see every film about Napoleon and found none of them appealing, including [[Abel Gance]]'s [[Napoléon (1927 film)|1927 film]] which is generally considered to be a masterpiece, but for Kubrick, a "really terrible" movie.{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=323}} LoBrutto states that Napoleon was an ideal subject for Kubrick, embracing Kubrick's "passion for control, power, obsession, strategy, and the military", while Napoleon's psychological intensity and depth, logistical genius and war, sex, and the evil nature of man were all ingredients which deeply appealed to Kubrick.{{sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=322}}

Kubrick drafted a screenplay in 1961, and envisaged making a "grandiose" epic, with up to 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. He intended hiring the armed forces of an entire country to make the film, as he considered Napoleonic battles to be "so beautiful, like vast lethal ballets", with an "aesthetic brilliance that doesn't require a military mind to appreciate". He wanted them replicated as authentically as possible on screen.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=236–7}} Kubrick sent research teams to scout for locations across Europe, and commissioned screenwriter and director [[Andrew Birkin]], one of his young assistants on ''2001'', to the [[Isle of Elba]], [[Slavkov u Brna|Austerlitz]], and [[Waterloo, Belgium|Waterloo]], taking thousands of pictures for his later perusal. Kubrick approached numerous stars to play leading roles, including [[Audrey Hepburn]] for [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Empress Josephine]], a part which she could not accept due to semiretirement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cinetropolis.net/the-great-unmade-not-tonight-josephine-kubricks-napoleon/ |title=The Great Unmade? Not Tonight, Josephine: Kubrick's Napoleon |publisher=Cinetropolis.net |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708044630/http://cinetropolis.net/the-great-unmade-not-tonight-josephine-kubricks-napoleon/ |archivedate=July 8, 2014}}</ref>
British actors [[David Hemmings]] and [[Ian Holm]] were considered for the lead role of Napoleon, before [[Jack Nicholson]] was cast.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=240}} The film was well into preproduction and ready to begin filming in 1969 when MGM canceled the project. Numerous reasons have been cited for the abandonment of the project, including its projected cost, a change of ownership at MGM,{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=122}} and the poor reception that the 1970 Soviet film about Napoleon, ''[[Waterloo (1970 film)|Waterloo]]'', received. In 2011, [[Taschen]] published the book ''Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made'', a large volume compilation of literature and source documents from Kubrick, such as scene photo ideas and copies of letters Kubrick wrote and received. In March 2013, Steven Spielberg, who previously collaborated with Kubrick on ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' and is a passionate admirer of his work, announced that he would be developing ''Napoleon'' as a TV miniseries based on Kubrick's original screenplay.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2013/tv/news/hbo-eying-spielbergs-napoleon-mini-based-on-kubrick-script-1200888422/ |title=HBO Eyeing Spielberg's Napoleon based on Kubrick script |work=Variety |year=2013 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907125029/http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/hbo-eying-spielbergs-napoleon-mini-based-on-kubrick-script-1200888422/ |archivedate=September 7, 2015}}</ref>

==== Other projects ====
In the 1950s, Kubrick and Harris developed a sitcom starring [[Ernie Kovacs]] and a film adaption of the book ''I Stole $16,000,000'', but nothing came of them.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=50}} Tony Frewin, an assistant who worked with the director for a long period of time, revealed in a 2013 ''Atlantic'' article: "[Kubrick] was limitlessly interested in anything to do with Nazis and desperately wanted to make a film on the subject." Kubrick had intended to make a film about {{ill|Dietrich Schulz-Köhn|de}}, a Nazi officer who used the pen name "Dr. Jazz" to write reviews of German music scenes during the Nazi era. Kubrick had been given a copy of the Mike Zwerin book ''Swing Under the Nazis'' after he had finished production on ''Full Metal Jacket'', the front cover of which featured a photograph of Schulz-Köhn. A screenplay was never completed and Kubrick's adaptation was never initiated.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stanley Kubrick's Unmade Film About Jazz in the Third Reich |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/03/stanley-kubricks-unmade-film-about-jazz-in-the-third-reich/274225/ |work=The Atlantic |accessdate=March 26, 2013 |author=Hughes, James |date=March 25, 2013 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326084141/http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/03/stanley-kubricks-unmade-film-about-jazz-in-the-third-reich/274225/ |archivedate=March 26, 2013}}</ref> The unfinished ''Aryan Papers'', based on [[Louis Begley]]'s debut novel ''[[Wartime Lies]]'', was a factor in the abandonment of the project. Work on ''Aryan Papers'' depressed Kubrick enormously, and he eventually decided that Steven Spielberg's ''[[Schindler's List]]'' (1993) covered much of the same material.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=179}}

According to biographer [[John Baxter (author)|John Baxter]], Kubrick had shown an interest in directing a [[pornographic film]] based on a satirical novel written by Terry Southern, titled ''[[Blue Movie (novel)|Blue Movie]]'', about a director who makes Hollywood's first big-budget porn film. Baxter claims that Kubrick concluded he did not have the patience or temperament to become involved in the porn industry, and Southern stated that Kubrick was "too ultra conservative" towards sexuality to have gone ahead with it, but liked the idea.{{sfn|Baxter|1997|pp=195, 248}} Kubrick was unable to direct a film of Umberto Eco's ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]'' as Eco had given his publisher instructions to never sell the film rights to any of his books after his dissatisfaction with the film version of ''[[The Name of the Rose]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Film Review |year=2000 |publisher=Orpheus Pub. |page=11}}</ref> Also, when the film rights to [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien's]] ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' were sold to United Artists, [[the Beatles]] approached Kubrick to direct them in a film adaptation, but Kubrick was unwilling to produce a film based on a very popular book.{{Sfn|Robb|Simpson|2013|p=4104}}