{"id":30280,"date":"2014-11-01T17:17:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T09:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=30280"},"modified":"2014-11-01T16:08:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-01T08:08:15","slug":"widow-says-stanley-kubrick-a-perfectionist-as-tiff-exhibit-on-director-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/01\/widow-says-stanley-kubrick-a-perfectionist-as-tiff-exhibit-on-director-opens\/","title":{"rendered":"Widow says Stanley Kubrick a perfectionist as TIFF exhibit on director opens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kubrick<\/a>
Kubrick directing Woody Strode and Kirk Douglas in the gladiator ring for Spartacus. Studio<\/a> \/ ebay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist who cared fiercely about every detail in his films, says his widow as a new exhibit chronicling his life\u2019s work opens in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cA perfectionist is someone who really thinks he\u2019s never perfect. And he tried to be,\u201d said Christiane Kubrick in an interview at TIFF Bell Lightbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cared a great deal. And he didn\u2019t analyze himself or think about a great deal, he was very much in the moment as they say these days. He cared enormously about everything. Also, he observed that that was much more fun than being kind of blase.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStanley Kubrick: The Exhibition\u201d gathers about 1,000 artifacts from his films\u2014among them the typewriter from \u201cThe Shining,\u201d HAL 9000\u2019s massive camera lens from \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey\u201d and the iconic costumes of \u201cA Clockwork Orange\u201d\u2014and crams them into some 7,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the largest exhibit ever seen at the Lightbox, says director of film programs Jesse Wente.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is really how do you fit all of that stuff into sort of a smaller, into that space. Luckily our designers Laurel MacMillan and Barr Gilmore really looked at that, solved that issue and then created really intimate spaces and rooms for each film that you could explore,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Cinephiles can listen to Richard Strauss\u2019s iconic \u201cThus Spoke Zarathustra\u201d while gazing upon a replica of the \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey\u201d monolith, admire specks of fake blood on the twin girls\u2019 dresses from \u201cThe Shining,\u201d and even read letters from outraged church leaders about \u201cLolita.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubrick\u2019s keen eye for detail is apparent in every item, but his longtime producer and brother-in law Jan Harlan says the legendary filmmaker was more flexible than many realize.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery often, this word (perfectionist) is used like a criticism. It\u2019s absolutely true he was not a slob. He wanted to get it right. But he was ready to make compromises,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For example, Harlan said, Kubrick initially wanted to cast 18- and 19-year-olds in \u201cFull Metal Jacket\u201d to reflect the real demographics of the Vietnam War. But when he couldn\u2019t find teenagers with the emotional maturity to be strong actors, he cast older men.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sometimes asked, \u2018Was he afraid of anything?\u2019 The correct answer would be that he was afraid of mediocrity. And he successfully avoided it,\u201d said Harlan.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of his films have disappeared. They\u2019re all there. Go back to \u2018Paths of Glory,\u2019 \u2018Lolita,\u2019 \u2018Dr. Strangelove.\u2019 They\u2019re more relevant than ever. \u20182001.\u2019 They\u2019re all there. Nothing has disappeared. That\u2019s the mark of a great artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lightbox is also showing Kubrick\u2019s first documentary short \u201cDay of the Flight,\u201d made in 1951 when the director was only 23. A 70-millimetre presentation of \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey\u201d will screen, as well as a rarely shown international version of \u201cThe Shining\u201d that removes 25 minutes of expository footage to create a more oblique film.<\/p>\n

Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea, the stars of \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey,\u201d will present a screening of the seminal film on Saturday at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

In a telephone interview, Lockwood said Kubrick was \u201cknowledgeable about every facet of filmmaking there was,\u201d and certainly a perfectionist when it came to the technical side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could\u2019ve lit it, he could\u2019ve shot it, he could have held the cameras, he could load the film. He was the man. There was no one ever like him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKubrick had this incredible insight. People sit down in these dark movie houses and they watch movies and they become absorbed. The way to get their attention is to make everything as realistic as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dullea recalled that when he first heard Kubrick had died of a heart attack in 1999 at age 70, his immediate reaction was that it was a huge loss for film lovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thought that came to me are all the great films that we will never see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you know, my thanks, my silent thanks to the man for having exposed me to the experience of making \u20182001\u2019 and being a part of what has ended up being such an iconic film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStanley Kubrick: The Exhibition\u201d runs until Jan. 25. For screening times of the film program, \u201cStanley Kubrick: A Cinematic Odyssey,\u201d see tiff.net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist who cared fiercely about every detail in his films, says his widow as a new …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":30281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","mauthors-laura-kane","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}