Click Here To Download The New EYES WIDE SHUT footage!!!!!
Hey there everyone. Why is this the 'top story'? Because... Quite frankly I love Stanley Kubrick's work. I don't believe I'll completely feel the loss till I see EYES WIDE SHUT, and see what Kubrick had in store for us. I've been thinking a lot about Kubrick, been doing a few interviews about the man, and the thing that keeps hitting me is that I loved the reactions he provoked from his audiences. Whether it be shock or awe or just the fact that he left you THINKING about what you had just seen. A rare commodity in film. What will we think of the master's final work? I for one, can not wait to see for myself. A last tidbit before we go on to Colonel Dax here... Tonight (Monday) on Access Hollywood will be the first actual TRAILER to be seen for EYES WIDE SHUT, the previous bit of film we've seen was a product reel designed especially for the SHOWEST audience. Unfortunately I won't be at home to catch this, so if you find a copy online, post a link in Talk Back below for everyone if you will. Thank you....
Just over two months after the passing of Stanley Kubrick, a crowd of approximately 400 or so gathered at the Director's Guild theater Sunday for a memorial service honoring the legendary filmmaker. A Chuck Workman clipshow created for the occasion started the proceedings. With more time available, this far eclipsed the one used at the Academy Awards. The clips worked together well, not only hitting the classic moments we expected to see, but also creating a larger sense of the humanity and humor in his work.
Next we heard from Kubrick himself. We watched a tape he had made for his recent D.W. Griffith Award acceptance speech. In it, he gave a glimpse into the passion that drove his notorious perfectionism when he compared filmmaking to "...trying to write War & Peace in a bumper car at an amusement park...when you finally get it right, there's no feeling like it." He also referred to the Icharyus myth and how the commonly accepted moral is that we're not to fly too high, to reach too far. Instead he said, it might be better to forget about using wax and feathers and do a better job building the wings.
A wide ranging group of friends and colleagues spoke about his passion for film, his intelligence, his humor and his loyalty to his friends. Vincent D'Onofrio came away with the prize for best anecdotes. He relayed how early in the filming of "Full Metal Jacket" they were shooting the scene in Vietnam where the men in Joker's platoon are being picked off one by one by a sniper. D'Onofrio was on the set to observe and noticed that a van had pulled up and was watching the filming from some distance away. They had been there for awhile when he finally asked the 1st Assistant Director who the people sitting in the van were. Kubrick overheard the query and replied, "Those are the London film executives. They're not allowed to get out."
Production designer Ken Adam, who worked with Kubrick on both "Barry Lyndon" and "Dr. Strangelove", illustrated Kubrick's devotion to his friends by recounting how Stanley took an entire Sunday afternoon to help him light the supertanker set of "The Spy Who Loved Me." James B. Harris who produced three films with Kubrick (and handled pre-production on a fourth) described the experience on their first film together, "The Killing." After they had completed production, they sat through a screening with UA's head of production Max Youngstein. When the lights came back up, they waited for the praise and adulation that was sure to be heaped on them. Instead, Youngstein said "thanks, we'll be in touch" and walked out the door. They followed him down the hall into his office where Stanley insisted that he tell them where they should go from there. He looked up from his desk and said, "How bout out the door?" Not taking the hint, they proceeded to ask how he would rank them in the pantheon of UA directing/producing teams at the time. His reply? "Not far from the bottom." "The Killing" ended up being distributed as part of a double bill with a movie called "Bandito." No doubt this early experience with studio myopia helped form the perspective that drove him to seek greater and greater control over his films.
Stephen Spielberg took the mike last and talked about the friendship that had been formed 20 years earlier when they met in London. Spielberg was there to configure sets for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and they were going to be using the same soundstages that Kubrick was then using for "The Shining." When they were introduced Kubrick said, "I saw your last movie - "1941" - it was great! It wasn't funny...but it was very good." Once their friendship was established, Kubrick asked Spielberg that he keep a fax machine somewhere away from his office where someone else might intercept a fax meant for him. Spielberg ended up putting a fax machine in his bedroom. That very first night he was awakened at 2 a.m.when Stanley sent a four page fax detailing some new advancement in camera lens technology. The next night it was 2, 4 and 5 a.m. The next night, Stanley was moved into the den. Once you were accepted into his circle of friends you never knew when or where he might contact you to share his enthusiam about some new discovery. After he had seen "Lost in America" he contacted Spielberg and asked for a phone number for Albert Brooks. The next day Brooks called Spielberg to gleefully recount how the great Stanley Kubrick had called him at home. Two months later he saw Spielberg again and said, "Why did you give my home number to Stanley Kubrick?"
In a bitter sweet revelation, Spielberg revealed that he and Kubrick had been collaborating off and on for the past three years on a project which Kubrick was to produce with Spielberg directing. As for the content of that project, unfortunately, it would appear that for the time being he has no intention of letting the world in on that particular secret.
The overall portrait of Kubrick that one had by the end of the service was of a man of enormous intelligence and wide ranging interests, a meticulous craftsman, a fiercely loyal friend and finally, a man who valued his family above all else.
Others who spoke were Time's Richard Shickel, Warner Bros. chief Terry Semel, Keir Dullea and DGA president Jack Shea. Shelley Winters was scheduled to speak but could not attend due to illness. Also seen in attendance were Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty and directors Curtis Hanson, Richard Benjamin and John Landis.
Colonel Dax
