[ Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures ]

Review by The Observer:

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures , was a reverent three-parter, narrated by Tom Cruise (though not very well - there's something immensely grating about that nasal tone and his oddly clunky inflections) and featuring cameos by many of Kubrick's A-list employees, from a very grizzled Jack Nicholson (who these days looks more and more like an impressionist 'doing' Jack Nicholson) to Malcolm McDowell and the former Mrs Cruise, the increasingly lovely and luminous Nicole Kidman.

It turns out, of course, that Stan wasn't remotely the mad, reclusive genius of popular myth at all, but a happy, gregarious family man, a soppy, animal-loving sort of genius with a devoted and supportive circle of friends and collaborators, which, of course, is yet more evidence to support my earlier theory.

Still, there were a few unreconciled gaps in the narrative: though the stills and older footage revealed a smil ing, laughing, back-slapping Stan, this was also a man who could wield a Super-8 like a sword, making home movies of his kids as though he were directing the crowd scenes in Spartacus . 'I remember thinking, even as a child, "I'm sure you're not supposed to be talking to me like this,"' recalled his daughter Anya, while practically all his actors found themselves on a journey they would never want to repeat ('For such a charming man, he could do some pretty cruel things,' revealed Shelley Duvall of her year spent making The Shining ). Still, the extraordinary clips from Paths of Glory right up to Full Metal Jacket just made me want to watch all the movies again, preferably right now and back-to-back. What a tragedy he left us with his only dud.

Transcipt of Malcolm's part:

On Stanley Kubrick: I love him one minute and in the next minute I hate him - I could kill him.

On Alexander DeLarge: There are certain parts that you have in a career that nobody else could do - that you are born to play. That is one of the parts.

On Stanley Kubrick's style of directing: I remember saying to him once: "Well, look Stanley, how do you direct ? What's your style ?" And he said : "I really don't know. I never know what I want but I DO know what I don't want."

On working on A Clockwork Orange: I don't think I really ever had that much fun on a job. I mean I worked with other great directors - certainly Lindsay Anderson, but the actual fun of doing the work which was of course in the character of Alex too - he was a wicked son of a bitch but the great thing Stanley and I had in common was a wicked sense of humour.

On the narration: I did two weeks of narration. It was like the purest kind of film making. You know, just a Sennheiser-microphon and a nagra, that was all you have. No operator, just Stanley pushing the button. That was it. It was highly concentrated, so I'd say: "Well, I gotta stretch my legs." and he'd say "ping pong" He was always trying to beat me which he never did - not at ping pong. Chess - another matter. Anyway, so we have fun, we come back, we do another piece - the voice over works very well.
So about ... maybe six months later my agent said: "Oh, by the way, Malcolm, you have two weeks of voice over you haven't been paid for yet." And I went: "Oooh. Well, I'm going out to see Stanley this afternoon and I'll mention it to him." So as I was leaving I think I said: "Oh, by the way, Stanley, my agent informed me that I haven't been paid for the two weeks narration."
He had a slide ruler in his pocket and he took the slide ruler out, he went like this (mimics) and he went: "I pay you for a week." - "A week ?"
He goes: "Yep. The other week was ping pong."

On his relationship with Stanley Kubrick: We became very very close. I, of course, thought that this was a great friendship and I expected to be part of his life and I didn't understand -at the time- being a young actor and not having done very many films so being somewhat inexperient. You know, the way of a film life is: intense relationship, seperate, intense relationship, seperate. So I was expecting the relationship to carry on in some form but he cut it. He really didn't want to know. It was over for him.
I think the other thing is this: Some of the things that I said about him which were perhaps unfair - maybe it was a cry out to say: "Stanley, pick up the phone and call me !" And, of course, he never did.

Interview from documentation Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. Copyright remains with the publication cited. No infringement of rights is meant or implied.
Transcribed by padawan for www.malcolmmcdowell.org.

 

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