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Fw: Thought you might like to read this




-----Original Message-----
From: joann.berson@ac.com <joann.berson@ac.com>
To: candy_emma@sprynet.com <candy_emma@sprynet.com>
Date: Monday, March 08, 1999 12:55 PM
Subject: Thought you might like to read this


>                        stanley kubrick:  1929-1999
>
>Enter Comments Here:
>   may he rest in peace.
>   some of his great films include:
>
>   the killing       1956
>   paths of glory    1958
>   spartucus         1960
>   lolita       1962
>   dr. strangelove   1964
>   2001:             1968
>   a clockwork orange     1971
>   the shining       1980
>   full metal jacket      1987
>
>   from the web:
>Stanley Kubrick was born on July 26, 1928 in the Bronx, New York City.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>By age 13 he had developed passions for jazz drumming, chess, and
>photography.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Sold photos to Look magazine while still a student at William Taft High
>School, where
>his activities included band and the school newspaper, the Taft Review.
>Graduated
>high school in 1946 with a 67 average. Couldn't get into college because of
> low grades
>and an influx of returning WWII veterans.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>At 17 years of age he landed a job at Look magazine as a photographer.
>Worked there
>for several years, traveling all over America.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>All of that traveling opened his eyes to the world and Kubrick developed a
>thirst for knowledge.
>He enrolled as a non-matriculating student at Columbia University and
>monitored classes
>taught by Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, and Moses Hadas.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Attended the Museum of Modern Art film showings as often as they changed
>the program.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Played chess for money at the Marshal and Manhattan clubs and in Washington
> Square park in Greenwich Village.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>1951 - 1960
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1951 at 23 years of age, Kubrick used his savings to finance his first
>film, a 16 minute documentary short
>about boxer Walter Cartier, who had been the subject of one of his Look
>photo assignments. Taught to use
> the equipment by the man who rented it to him, Kubrick anted as director,
>cinematographer, editor, and
>sound man. Day of the Fight was bought by RKO for its This is America
>series and played at the Paramount
>Theatre in New York, netting young Kubrick a small profit.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Quit his job at Look to purse filmmaking full time.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>RKO advanced him money to make a documentary short for their Pathe
>Screenliner series. Called Flying
>Padre, the 9 minute film was about Father Fred Stadtmueller, a priest who
>flew around his 400 mile New Mexico
>parish in a Piper Cub. Kubrick once again anted as director,
>cinematographer, editor, and sound man.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1953 was commissioned by the Atlantic and Gulf Coast District of the
>Seafarers International Union to
>direct and photograph a 30 minute industrial documentary called The
>Seafarers. It was Kubrick's first film in color.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1953 he raised $13,000 from his relatives to finance his first feature
>length film Fear and Desire.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1955 he raised $40,000 from friends and relatives and shot his second
>feature, Killer's Kiss.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1956 Kubrick hooked up with budding producer James B. Harris and went to
> Hollywood to make his first
>studio picture, The Killing, based on a novel, with a budget of $320,000,
>and a cast of notable Hollywood character actors.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>After The Killing, Kubrick/Harris were signed by Dore Share, the head of
>production at MGM, to develop properties.
>Kubrick and novelist Calder Willingham prepared a script based on a Stefan
>Zweig story called The Burning Secret.
> The project was never made.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Next Kubrick and Willingham along with Jim Thompson wrote an adaptation of
>Humphrey Cobb's novel
>Paths of Glory. Every studio turned the project down until Kirk Douglas
>agreed to star. The resulting film proved
>to be Kubrick's first classic, and is often regarded as one of the best
>films about war ever made.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Kubrick spent the next year or two in development hell, creating scripts
>which he couldn't get produced,
>including one for Kirk Douglas called I Stole 16 Million Dollars, about
>safecracker Herbert Emmerson
>Wilson, and another about Mosby's Rangers, a southern guerilla force in the
> American Civil war. He
>spent six months in preproduction with Marlon Brando for One Eyed Jacks, a
>film Brando eventually
>decided to direct himself.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1959, Kirk Douglas was producing Spartacus. The original director
>Anthony Mann was fired after
>only two weeks of production and Douglas offered Kubrick the job, which he
>accepted. The film was
> Kubrick's first hit and garnered some Academy Award attention.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>1961 - 1970
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Next, Kubrick/Harris made Lolita, based on Vladimir Nabokov's controversial
> novel. They had bought
> the rights to the book in 1958, for a reported $150,000. For a number of
>financial and legal reasons the
>film was shot in England. In the late 60s Kubrick moved to England
>permanently and has made all of his
>subsequent films there.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>After Lolita, James B. Harris and Kubrick ended their partnership. Harris
>went on to become a director
>and Kubrick took over producing his own films again.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>A fascination with the "delicate balance of terror" of the cold war lead
>Kubrick to the novel Red Alert which
> he adapted into a nightmare comedy called Dr. Strangelove. This time
>Kubrick had a hit on his hands and
> the film received much critical acclaim including Oscar nominations for
>Kubrick as coauthor, director, and producer.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Following the success of Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick hired noted
>science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke
>to develop an original scenario about man's encounter with extraterrestrial
> intelligence. 2001: A Space Odyssey
>is generally considered not only one of the greatest films ever made but a
>landmark in cinema history. Kubrick
> garnered more Oscar nominations for writing and directing, and his only
>Oscar win ever, for designing and
>directing the film's special effects.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Kubrick next planned to make a film about Napoleon, but because of the
>prohibitive cost he could not get the project made.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>1971 - 1980
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Kubrick then adapted the novel A Clockwork Orange to the screen. Despite
>its initial X rating in the United States,
>the controversial film did well and received numerous accolades, including
>3 more Oscar nominations for Kubrick
>as writer, director, and producer.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Around this time, with such a string of extraordinary films to his credit,
>many magazine and newspaper articles and
>books were written about Kubrick, some portraying him as an eccentric
>recluse about whose personal life little was
> known. Far from Hollywood, Kubrick lived in a large home in a semi-rural
>setting well outside of London with his
> third wife, Christiane Harlan, and their three daughters. Harlan, a German
> painter and former actress, had played
>the only woman in Paths of Glory. Their large home also contained his
>offices and post-production facilities.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>After two futuristic science-fiction films Kubrick changed direction and
>created Barry Lyndon an 18th century story
>based on the 19th century novel by William Makepeace Thackery. While the 11
> million dollar costume drama was
> not a box office success, the accolades continued to pile up. 7 Oscar
>nominations, more than any other Kubrick
> film before or since, including Kubrick's usual 3 for writing, directing
>and producing.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In 1980, 5 years after Barry Lyndon, Kubrick released his contribution to
>the horror genre, The Shining, based on
>the novel by Stephen King. This time the film was a financial success but
>critics were generally not as receptive
>and there were no Oscar nominations at all.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>1981 - 1990
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>It was another 7 years before Kubrick released his next film, Full Metal
>Jacket. Despite arriving on the heels
>of the blockbuster hit Platoon, the film was a box office success and
>critical favorite but only one received
> Oscar nomination for writing.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>At this time Kubrick gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine where he
>refuted many of the persistent rumors
>of his eccentric behavior.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Kubrick became involved in supervising the transfers of some of his films
>for the home video market and also
>creating a new negative of Dr. Strangelove from the highest quality prints
>available after it was discovered the
>original negative was lost.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In May of 1990 Kubrick joined with directors Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen,
>Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg,
>Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack, and George Lucas in forming the Film
>Foundation, an organization meant to
>promote the restoration and preservation of films.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>1991 - 1997
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Kubrick developed another science-fiction project called AI (Artificial
>Intelligence), but he determined that
>special effects technology could not handle the requirements of the story,
>so the project was put on hold.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>He then wrote a screenplay called Aryan Papers, based on Louis Begley's
>novel Wartime Lies, about a Jewish
>boy and his aunt trying to survive in Nazi occupied Poland during WWII by
>passing as aryans. The film was
>announced as being in pre-production and some casting and location scouting
> had been done.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Reportedly after seeing the special effects in Jurassic Park, Kubrick
>decided his science-fiction project could be
>accomplished with new computer digital effects. Aryan Papers was put on
>hold and Kubrick began preproduction work on AI.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In mid-December of 1995, Warner Bros. released the news that Kubrick was
>still in pre-production for the very
> complicated AI, but would first make a film called Eyes Wide Shut starring
> Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
>The film began shooting in late 1996 and ended shooting (the film is still
>unedited) 2/4/99.  Before his death, Warners had
>pencilled in a Dec. 99 release date.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>On March 8th, 1997, the Director's Guild of America awarded Stanley Kubrick
> their highest honor, the D.W.
> Griffith award. Read a transcript of his videotaped acceptance speech.
>
>In September of 1997, Kubrick was also awarded the Golden Lion Award at the
> 54th Venice International Film Festival.
>
>
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