This spotlight is about Stanley Kubrick.
Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor, and photographer. He is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in cinematic history. His films, which are mostly adaptations of novels or short stories, cover a wide range of genres, and are noted for their realism, dark humor, unique cinematography, extensive set designs, and evocative use of music.
Kubrick was raised in the Bronx, New York City, and attended William Howard Taft High School from 1941 to 1945. Although he only received average grades, Kubrick displayed a keen interest in literature, photography, and film from a young age, and taught himself all aspects of film production and directing after graduating from high school. After working as a photographer for Look magazine in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he began making short films on a shoestring budget, and made his first major Hollywood film, The Killing, for United Artists in 1956.
This was followed by two collaborations with Kirk Douglas, the war picture Paths of Glory (1957) and the historical epic Spartacus (1960). His reputation as a filmmaker in Hollywood grew, and he was approached by Marlon Brando to film what would become One-Eyed Jacks(1961), though Brando eventually decided to direct it himself.
He often asked for several dozen retakes of the same scene in a movie, which resulted in many conflicts with his casts. Despite the resulting notoriety among actors, many of Kubrick's films broke new ground in cinematography. The scientific realism and innovative special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) were without precedent in the history of cinema, and the film earned him his only personal Oscar, for Best Visual Effects. Steven Spielberg has referred to the film as his generation's "big bang", and it is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made.
For the 18th-century period film Barry Lyndon (1975), Kubrick obtained lenses developed by Zeiss for NASA, to film scenes under natural candlelight. With The Shining (1980), he became one of the first directors to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots. While many of Kubrick's films were controversial and initially received mixed reviews upon release—particularly A Clockwork Orange (1971), which Kubrick pulled from circulation in the UK following a mass media frenzy—most were nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes, or BAFTA Awards, and underwent critical reevaluations. His last film, Eyes Wide Shut, was completed shortly before his death in 1999 at the age of 70.
Kubrick was born in the Lying-In Hospital at 307 Second Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, to a Jewish family.He was the first of two children of Jacob Leonard Kubrick , known as Jack or Jacques, and his wife Sadie Gertrude Kubrick Perveler;, known as Gert. His sister, Barbara Mary Kubrick, .Jack Kubrick, whose parents and paternal grandparents were of Polish-Jewish, Austrian-Jewish, and Romanian-Jewish origin, was a doctor, graduating from the New York Homeopathic Medical College in 1927, the same year he married Kubrick's mother, the child of Austrian-Jewish immigrants.
Kubrick's great-grandfather, Hersh Kubrick, arrived at Ellis Island via Liverpool by ship on December 27, 1899, at the age of 47, leaving behind his wife and two grown children, one of whom was Stanley's grandfather, Elias, to start a new life with a younger woman.Elias Kubrick followed in 1902.At Stanley's birth, the Kubricks lived in an apartment at 2160 Clinton Avenue in the Bronx.Although his parents had been married in a Jewish ceremony, Kubrick did not have a religious upbringing, and would later profess an atheistic view of the universe.By the district standards of the West Bronx, the family was fairly wealthy, his father earning a good income as a physician.
Soon after his sister's birth, Kubrick began schooling in Public School 3 in the Bronx, and moved to Public School 90 in June 1938. Although his IQ was discovered to be above average, his attendance was poor, and he missed 56 days in his first term alone, as many as he attended. He displayed an interest in literature from a young age, and began reading Greek and Roman myths and the fables of the Grimm brothers which "instilled in him a lifelong affinity with Europe". He spent most Saturdays during the summer watching the New York Yankees, and would later photograph two boys watching the game in an assignment for Look magazine to emulate his own childhood excitement with baseball. When Kubrick was 12, his father Jack taught him chess. The game remained a lifelong interest of Kubrick's, appearing in many scenes of his films.
At the age of 13, Kubrick's father bought him a Graflex camera, triggering a fascination with still photography. He befriended a neighbor, Marvin Traub, who shared his passion for photography.Traub had his own darkroom, where the young Kubrick and he would spend many hours perusing photographs and watching the chemicals "magically make images on photographic paper". The two indulged in numerous photographic projects for which they roamed the streets looking for interesting subjects to capture, and spent time in local cinemas studying films. Freelance photographer Weegee had a considerable influence on Kubrick's development as a photographer; Kubrick would later hire Fellig as the special stills photographer for Dr. Strangelove (1964).
While still in high school, Kubrick was chosen as an official school photographer for a year. In the mid-1940s, since he was not able to gain admission to day session classes at colleges, he briefly attended evening classes at the City College of New York Eventually, he sold a photographic series to Look magazine, having taken a photo to Helen O'Brian, head of the photographic department, who purchased it without hesitation for £25 on the spot. It was printed on June 26, 1945. Kubrick supplemented his income by playing chess "for quarters" in Washington Square Parkand various Manhattan chess clubs.
In 1946, he became an apprentice photographer for Look and later a full-time staff photographer. G. Warren Schloat, Jr., another new photographer for the magazine at the time, recalled that he thought Kubrick lacked the personality to make it as a director in Hollywood, remarking, "Stanley was a quiet fellow. He didn't say much. He was thin, skinny, and kind of poor—like we all were". Kubrick quickly became known, however, for his story-telling in photographs. His first, published on April 16, 1946, was entitled "A Short Story from a Movie Balcony" and staged a fracas between a man and a woman, during which the man is slapped in the face, caught genuinely by surprise.
ALL FILMS BY STANLEY KUBRICK
If you haven't seen any of Stanley films i do recommended go and check him out!
** Reminder**
TCM Showings
Barry Lyndon - October 4th @ 10:15Pm
A Clockwork Orange- October 26th @ 2:00 Am ** My Favorite film**
Lolita - November 10 @ 5:15pm ** Another one of my Favorites**
Barry Lyndon - October 4th @ 10:15Pm
A Clockwork Orange- October 26th @ 2:00 Am ** My Favorite film**
Lolita - November 10 @ 5:15pm ** Another one of my Favorites**
