| By Elliot V. Kotek There is always a truth behind the cliché that provides a basis for its propagation. Despite an oeuvre containing just 13 feature films, the words "Stanley Kubrick was a genius" attained that level of wattage long ago. No matter that Kubrick's reclusion enabled another man to pose as the helmer for many years without detection, and in spite of all rumor, innuendo and speculation as to his antisocial nature, Kubrick's analysis of the impact on the human condition of violence, technology, sex and war has repeatedly broken ground in cinema. That his cinematic studies of these topics is not prominently stated in any review of his work is unfathomable, and only believable in deference to the omnipotence of Kubrick's visual acumen. To publish a posthumous Q&A respectful of Stanley Kubrick's career, we contacted Christiane Kubrick (his widow) and Jan Harlan (an executive producer on Kubrick's later films and a founder of the Stanley Kubrick Estate - one of the largest private archives in the history of film). Christiane and Jan, with others, are responsible for the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition that commenced in Frankfurt two years ago, and which will make its way to the Flanders International Film Festival-Ghent later this year. The Exhibition represents the first-ever display in a single exhibition of Kubrick's entire output, from his first short documentary Day of the Fight (1951) to Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Moving Pictures Magazine: The style shifts, from Clockwork Orange to Full Metal Jacket to Space Odyssey to Dr. Strangelove to Lolita to Eyes Wide Shut, are all so epically different in context and subject matter. Was that how he enjoyed life - attacking completely different avenues of expression?
The Stanley Kubrick Estate: It has been said quite often that Kubrick never repeated himself and quasi re-invented himself with every new film. This is only true if we look at the form or surface, but as an undercurrent there is a common denominator for all his films. His critical look at human folly, jealousy and vanity is as dominant in Paths of Glory as it is in Eyes Wide Shut. MPM: Did he ever comment on the role he thought his films played in society on society?
Kubrick Estate: His films are comments on society. He never felt that he should add any further explanation, but leave ambiguities open for viewers to come to their own conclusion. He was an optimist in daily life but very pessimistic about the destiny of mankind. MPM: Let's take a quick look at a couple of his explorations: Clockwork Orange - violence and mankind?
Kubrick Estate: We, as a species, appear to both hate and love violence. Violence seems to be part of us. We fear war and, strangely enough, there seems to be something exciting in this ghastly and destructive expression of hate. I accept this as I see it, though it remains a riddle to me. MPM: 2001: A Space Odyssey - technology and mankind? God?
Kubrick Estate: Not God, but a bow towards the unknowable, the completely unknowable force behind this endlessly wonderful and complex creation and evolution. MPM: Eyes Wide Shut and Lolita - sexuality and mankind?
Kubrick Estate: The two films are very different. Lolita focuses on a specific character, this poor man Humbert Humbert, trapped by his affliction and at the same time the only character who truly loves. Eyes Wide Shut is much wider and deals with all of us. Stanley Kubrick bought the rights to this story (Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler) in 1970 and considered it again and again over the decades before finally daring to make this film. I am so pleased that he considered this film the greatest achievement of his career. Many critics would not agree with him, but then, many critics at the time also thought that Vincent van Gogh should first learn how to paint before offering his wares for sale. MPM: When do you remember him happiest? On set? In research?
Kubrick Estate: Generally speaking, in pre-production and also during editing when things turned out as he imagined them. But the question can't be answered adequately; the moments that make us happy are too manifold. He was unhappy when things got out of control during filming or when his wife or one of the children were unhappy or ill. He was also a normal person. MPM: Did he ever comment on the Hollywood system?
Kubrick Estate: He left it and remained part of it at the same time. He lived in Europe but made films for Warner Bros. He took the best of the Hollywood system - financing and guaranteed distribution - and separated himself from what he did not like. He was a very good trustee and earned the freedom he had by being careful with the Studio's money and delivering films which were both excellent artistically and had the chance of financial success. He did not have the freedom he enjoyed just because he was a "nice guy." MPM: Did he confide in any particular directors? Did he count other filmmakers as friends?
Kubrick Estate: Yes, Steven Spielberg. MPM: Of his 13 features, did he have a favorite?
Kubrick Estate: It was always the last film. MPM: What would his next picture have been? A.I.?
Kubrick Estate: Yes. He loved this story - a dark story hidden under a fairy tale, a typical Kubrick story. Mankind has disappeared, and yet the story doesn't even say why. We developed machines to such perfection that these machines were able to sustain themselves in adverse conditions. The machines reached what we have never achieved: the absence of rivalry and jealousy. Steven Spielberg adapted the script faithfully to his own sense of story-telling; he changed the form into a Spielberg film but left the substance completely Kubrick. MPM: What consumed his thoughts in daily life?
Kubrick Estate: Depending on what we did. During filming - the work; outside filming - his family, the animals, books, books, books, tennis and football on TV. MPM: Did he re-watch any of his films?
Kubrick Estate: Only for technical reasons, to check the answer-print of a new inter-negative, for example, and this with little enthusiasm. He lived completely in the present and immediate future. MPM: Did he wish he'd done things differently?
Kubrick Estate: Often. He was his harshest critic and often wished he had not filmed a scene as he did, only to re-shoot it on another day. MPM: Did he appreciate his own work?
Kubrick Estate: I believe he did. He knew that his films were intelligent and he also knew he challenged parts of the audience by refusing to give answers to complex questions. He could not satisfy everybody but hoped to satisfy a large enough part of the audience. He was most disappointed when this was not the case, as per Barry Lyndon. MPM: For which other directors' work did he have a fondness?
Kubrick Estate: Bergman, Carlos Saura, Edgar Reitz, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, to name just a few. MPM: Why didn't he finish Wartime Lies?
Kubrick Estate: He and Warner Bros. thought the timing was bad. Steven Spielberg would have come out before us with Schindler's List, another film on the Holocaust. I also think he was easily persuaded by Warner Bros. to postpone this since the topic depressed him. MPM: Of the 'souvenirs' in his estate, did he have one thing or some things he treasured above others? Were these items that he kept in the house?
Kubrick Estate: The paintings by his wife before anything else. He loved cameras or computers, but this fell into another category and the individual items were constantly updated and replaced - except his Leicas maybe; these technical gems occupied a special place in his heart. MPM: While characters like Jack D. Ripper and Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove mark a corny sense of humor, he was often referred to as reclusive and serious. Is one more true than the other?
Kubrick Estate: He was a very serious man and extremely funny at the same time. He was not easily persuaded to go to a party or to talk to journalists or appear on TV or radio, that is true. But there was a good reason for that: He disliked small talk and superficiality and did not wish to explain his films or justify himself. At the same time, he had a big house filled with his family and friends, and on week-ends many people were there to watch the latest films in his excellent small screening room, and he or one of his daughters or I operated the projectors and changed reels. MPM: Did he have a nickname?
Kubrick Estate: SK MPM: Pets?
Kubrick Estate: Andy (Highland Terrier); Phoebe, Lola, Teddy, Lilli, Jezebel, Barnaby, Possum (all Golden Retrievers); Harvey (Scotch Terrier); Leo, Pandora, Runty, Polly, Priscilla, Jessica, Penny, Freddy (cats); Rupert, Rosie, Daisy, Puff, Fern (donkeys). MPM: Which book about Kubrick comes closest to representing who Stanley was?
Kubrick Estate: Michael Herr's book, as a personal account; and Alison Castle's book by Taschen is clearly the most comprehensive.MPM: Kubrick is often referred to as a "genius." Who did he revere as a genius (within or outside of film)?
Kubrick Estate: He thought this was a lazy term. He liked Johann Sebastian Bach's definition of genius: Ten percent talent and ninety percent hard work. There was no false modesty. Stanley knew he was talented, but he also knew that it took a lot of hard work and self-criticism to turn this talent into a film that mattered. MPM: What insights does the exhibition give?
Kubrick Estate: It shows the care and endless effort that went into Stanley Kubrick's films. For a filmmaker, a great work of art usually does not come out of the blue. This may have been different for Mozart or Picasso, but not for Kubrick. The exhibition tends to encourage students in their striving and enthuse people who are interested in the details of how one great filmmaker worked. MPM: What would you say is his legacy?
Kubrick Estate: An artistic expression of a warning to us all: We are not governed by our intellect and knowledge but by our emotions. Kubrick's film about Napoleon would have told yet another story about this entrapment. No man is safe in the emotional entanglement - and he did not exclude himself, either. With a special thank you to Jan Harlan and Christiane Kubrick, the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition will run Thursday October 5, 2006 through Sunday January 7, 2007: www.filmfestival.be/stanleykubrick | 
