Stanley Kubrick

Born: July 26, 1928  |  Birthplace: New York City, USA  |  Famous For: Director: 2001, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket

The Perfectionist Lion

Stanley Kubrick made fewer films than almost any major director and yet sits among the top three in every serious poll of cinema’s greatest auteurs. His Leo perfectionism was legendary — hundreds of takes, years of research, total creative control. Every film he made was a different genre, a different world, a different masterpiece.

Leo Legacy

• 2001: A Space Odyssey: Redefined science fiction for all time
• The Shining: Reinvented horror — Nicholson’s performance remains cinema’s most terrifying
• Full Metal Jacket: Vietnam War film of unnerving authenticity
• A Clockwork Orange: Banned in Britain for decades — such was its power to disturb

Kubrick’s Leo perfectionism was the engine of genius: he would not release a frame until it was right.

“The great nations have always acted like gangsters and the small nations like prostitutes.”