Stanley Kubrick

STANLEY KUBRICK d1999. American film director, producer, screenwriter and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are 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. His first productions in Britain were two films with Peter Sellers ; Lolita (1962) and the Cold War black comedy Dr. Strangelove (1964). A demanding perfectionist, he assumed control over most aspects of the filmmaking process, from direction and writing to editing and took painstaking care with researching his films and staging scenes, working in close coordination with his actors, crew and other collaborators. He often asked for several dozen retakes of the same shot in a movie which resulted in many conflicts with his casts. Despite the resulting notoriety amongst actors, many of his films broke new ground in cinematography. The scientific realism and innovative special effects of the science fiction epic 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. He died in England aged 70 on March 7th 1999