Today is the Birth Anniversary of STANELY KUBRICK ( July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) American Film Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Cinematographer and Editor who did much of his work in the United Kingdom. Part of the New Hollywood film-making wave, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors of all time. His films, typically adaptations of novels or short stories, are noted for their dazzling and unique cinematography, attention to detail in the service of realism, and the evocative use of music. Kubricks films covered a variety of genres, including war, crime, literary adaptations, romantic and black comedies, horror, epic and science fiction. Kubrick was also noted for being a demanding perfectionist, using painstaking care with scene staging, camera-work and coordinating extremely closely both with his actors and his behind-scenes collaborators. 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 at Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire (north of and near to London) 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 generations big bang, with innovative visual effects and scientific realism. For Barry Lyndon (1975), Kubrick obtained lenses developed by Zeiss for NASA in order 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 Kubricks 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 Oscars, Golden Globes or BAFTAs. Film historian Michel Ciment considers his films to be among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century while director Norman Jewison calls him one of the great masters that America has produced. All of Stanley Kubricks films from Paths of Glory till the end of his career, except for The Shining, were nominated for Academy Awards and/or Golden Globe Awards, in various categories. 2001: A Space Odyssey received numerous technical awards, including a BAFTA award for cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth and an Academy Award for best visual effects, which Kubrick (as director of special effects on the film) received. This was Kubricks only personal Academy Award win among 13 nominations. Nominations for his films were mostly in the areas of cinematography, art design, screenwriting, and music. Only four of his films were nominated by either an Academy Award or Golden Globe Award for their acting performances, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, and A Clockwork Orange. Personal awards for Kubrick: Year Title Awards (limited to Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), Saturns, and Razzies) 1953 Fear and Desire 1955 Killers Kiss Locarno International Film Festival Prize for Best Director (won) 1956 The Killing Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film from Any Source 1957 Paths of Glory 1960 Spartacus Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama (won) Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film from Any Source Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Director 1962 Lolita Nominated–Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Kubricks extensive work on this was uncredited; the nominee was Vladimir Nabokov) Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Director 1964 Dr. Strangelove BAFTA Award for Best British Film (won) BAFTA Award for Best Film from Any Source (won) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director (won) Nominated–Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated–Academy Award for Best Director Nominated–Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay (nomination shared with Peter George and Terry Southern) 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey Academy Award for Best Effects: Special Visual Effects (won) Nominated–Academy Award for Best Director Nominated–Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (nomination shared with Arthur C. Clarke) Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film 1971 A Clockwork Orange New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture (won) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director (won) Nominated–Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated–Academy Award for Best Director Nominated–Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated–Golden Globe for Best Director Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay 1975 Barry Lyndon Nominated–Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated–Academy Award for Best Director Nominated–Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated–Golden Globe for Best Director Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Director 1980 The Shining Nominated–Saturn Award for Best Director Nominated–Razzie Award for Worst Director 1987 Full Metal Jacket Nominated–Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination shared with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford) 1999 Eyes Wide Shut Kubrick received two awards from major film festivals: Best Director from the Locarno International Film Festival in 1959 for Killers Kiss, and Filmcritica Bastone Bianco Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1999 for Eyes Wide Shut. He also was nominated for the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival in 1962 for Lolita. The Venice Film Festival awarded him the Career Golden Lion in 1997. He received the D.W. Griffith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America, and another life-achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain, and the Career Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival. Posthumously, the Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival awarded him the Honorary Grand Prize for life achievement in 2008. He also received the coveted Hugo Award three times for his work in science fiction. RIP STANELY KUBRICK.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 01:28:45 +0000
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