Kubrick

Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick (/ˈkuːbrɪk/; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His films, typically adaptations of novels or short stories, were noted for their "dazzling" and unique cinematography, attention to details to achieve realism and an inspired use of music scores. Kubrick's films covered a variety of genres, including war, crime, romantic and black comedies, horror, epic and science fiction. Kubrick was also noted for being a perfectionist, using painstaking care with scene staging and working closely with his actors.

Starting out as a photographer in New York City, he taught himself all aspects of film production and directing after graduating from high school. His earliest films were made on a shoestring budget, followed by one Hollywood blockbuster, Spartacus, after which he spent most of the rest of his career living and filming in the United Kingdom. His home became his workplace where he did his writing, research, editing and management of production details. This allowed him to have almost complete artistic control, but with the rare advantage of having financial support from major Hollywood studios.

Many of his films broke new ground in cinematography, including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a science-fiction film which director Steven Spielberg called his generation's "big bang," with innovative visual effects and scientific realism, For Barry Lyndon (1975) Kubrick designed lenses to film scenes under natural candlelight and The Shining (1980) was among the first feature films to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots. As with his earlier shorts, Kubrick was the cinematographer and editor on the first two of his thirteen feature films. He directed, produced and wrote all or part of the screenplays for nearly all his films.

While some of Kubrick's films were controversial with mixed reviews, such as Paths of Glory (1957), Lolita (1962), and A Clockwork Orange (1971), most of his films were nominated for either Oscars, Golden Globes or BAFTAs, and were later acclaimed as being masterpieces. Film historian Michel Ciment considers his films to be "among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century." As a director, notes another writer, "Kubrick is a legend in every sense of the word, and is one of the most influential, shocking, and well-respected men in the history of film."