Looking at the lights of Hollywood c.1926
The full oral history story of the making of Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece The Shining.
With thanks to Tim Pelan for sharing this video on his fantastic website: Cinetropolis.
You may recall we previously brought you news of The Elstree Project, an oral history project designed to record, preserve and share the memories of people who have worked at the studios of Elstree and Borehamwood. Well, one of their interview docs, a 55 minute film on the making of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining has been uploaded to Vimeo, and we have it for you here. It features contributions from Christiane Kubrick, and nine crew members who worked on the film at Elstree.
Interviewed are:
Brian Cook – 1st AD
Jan Harlan – Producer
Christiane Kubrick – Wife of Stanley Kubrick
Mick Mason – Camera Technician
Ray Merrin – Post-Production Sound
Doug Milsome – 1st AC and Second Unit Camera
Kelvin Pike – Camera Operator
Ron Punter – Scenic Artist
June Randall – Continuity
Julian Senior – Warner Bros. Publicity
The interviews in this film were recorded over a period of three years, and with eight students getting the chance to gain live work experience as part of their undergraduate degree course in Film and Television in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. The film has been made as part of The Elstree Project which is a partnership between Howard Berry of the University and Bob Redman and Paul Welsh MBE who run the volunteer group Elstree Screen Heritage. —Staircases To Nowhere: Making Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining
A 1983 Playboy interview with Stephen King, about his young hungry days before he was published. In the same interview with Playboy in 1983, Stephen King stated:
“The real problem is that Kubrick set out to make a horror picture with no apparent understanding of the genre. Everything about it screams that from beginning to end, from plot decision to the final scene — which has been used before on The Twilight Zone.”
A few days ago, I received out-of-print gem The Making of Kubrick’s 2001 (edited wonderfully by Jerome Agel, 1970). I’m still over the moon.
There have been countless words written about Stanley Kubrick’s visionary masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey — some good, some bad — but after 45 years, this superb book remains the only one you’ll ever really need. It is such a shame that this book is out-of-print. It is filled with everything you ever wanted to know about 2001. It leads off with Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel” and closes with a complete reprint of Stanley Kubrick’s interview with Playboy magazine. In between are profiles, interviews with technical advisors, effects secrets revealed, letters to Stanley from the moviegoing public, as well as reviews of the film, both good and bad. A fascinating snapshot of a moment in history when the world was caught off guard by a motion picture. Search your local used book stores, like I did. If you’re a Kubrick fan, it’s worth the effort.
Now you can join me, I’ll fly you to the moon!
The Making of Kubrick’s 2001
(NOTE: For educational purposes only)With endless thanks to Matt Degennaro
August, 1980 American Cinematographer interview with Director of Photography John Alcott regarding the filming of The Shining.
(click to enlarge)
Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean “Moebius” Giraud with a Sardaukar warrior from Jodorowsky’s Dune (1974-1976)
For the avid Sellers fan, this is the jackpot—the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow. The Peter Sellers Story UNCUT: As He Filmed It, a very rare 3 hour version (not 90min condensed rebroadcast version). Using a unique collection of his own home movies shot between 1948 and 1977 and discovered years after his death, this film presents an intriguing and intimate portrait of Peter Sellers. Told in his own words, and including many well-known personalities from Stanley Kubrick, Sophia Loren and Robert Wagner to members of the Royal Family, in particular Princess Margaret and Prince Charles, this revealing film builds a fascinating and definitive record of a unique genius.
A couple years ago I was lucky enough to acquire the Steenbeck that once belonged to Orson Welles and his editor Gary Graver. It had languished in a dark, dusty storage unit deep in the San Fernando Valley. It is fully functional and carries the cinematic history of very special hands working magic upon it. I decided to give it a proper home so other filmmakers could at least see the behemoth of analog editing in person. I asked Jacob Rosenberg at Bandito Brothers if they would be interested in displaying it at their offices in Culver City. He graciously agreed that a historic relic of its stature should at least see the light of day and allowed me to position it in their post production offices. It carries with it an aura of days gone by and everyone that passes by it wants to know its history. Few if any films are cut on Steenbecks anymore…but if the need arises…this legendary six-reel beauty sits at the ready. —Vashi Nedomansky
Remembering Ray Harryhausen, 1920 — 2013
Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.
“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much.” “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS.”George Lucas
“THE LORD OF THE RINGS is my ‘Ray Harryhausen movie’. Without his life-long love of his wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made — not by me at least.”
Peter Jackson
“In my mind he will always be the king of stop-motion animation.”
Nick Park
“His legacy of course is in good hands. Because it’s carried in the DNA of so many film fans.”
Randy Cook
“You know I’m always saying to the guys that I work with now on computer graphics “do it like Ray Harryhausen.”
Phil Tippett
“What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits.”
Terry Gilliam
“His patience, his endurance have inspired so many of us.”
Peter Jackson
“Ray, your inspiration goes with us forever.”
Steven Spielberg
“I think all of us who are practioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant. If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are.”
James CameronThe Harryhausen Chronicles documentary, narrated by Leonard Nimoy, covers much of his work with some great close-ups of his puppets and lots of advice from the master himself. In the introduction Ray Harryhausen says: “Fantasy is a dream world and I don’t think you want it quite real. You want an interpretation and stop motion gives it an added value that you can’t catch if you try to make it too real.”
The Harryhausen Chronicles in six parts combined with a YouTube playlist.
A small sample of Moebius’ storyboards for Jodorowsky’s Dune. Jodorowsky says there are hundreds of pages of this stuff, which we’ll hopefully see more of when Frank Pavich’s documentary finally sees a release.
