Kubrick, on BluRay

Jim Carlile · April 1, 2011

I know that Doug Trumbull had some involvement with the work on 2001, and I had the extremely pleasurable task of assisting him for a day here in our office as he shot a few closeups of the movement to his personal 65mm camera for material to go with a Making Of doc that I believe is to be included in this collection. I had to keep myself from kneeling before him.

Trumbull reportedly wanted to use the excised footage from 2001 in his documentary, and was rebuffed by the family. Apparently it's been destoyed at their request.

At one time-- mid 90s-- Kubrick seriously considered putting the 19-minutes of footage back into the film. He even asked Robert Harris to find the cuts at MGM-- which he did, at Turner, but wasn't sure about the sound track. He found that the cuts had been preerved in the original separation masters.

But, apparently, Kubrick's ego must have gotten in the way, because he didn't do so in the end. That's no surprise really, because to have actually "restored" the old version would have been an admission on his part that he was wrong to cut it under studio pressure right after it came out.

There's a good reason why Trumbull wanted that footage-- it was incredible. I remember it well, and both tossing it out and then inserting those stupid explanatory "intertitles" was a big mistake. Kubrick panicked at the initial poor reception of 2001 that first week, and he didn't want to admit it later on.

Markshaw · April 7, 2011

Is it true that Kubrick was very difficult to work for/ with, and that he was prone to paranoia?

Mitch Gross · April 8, 2011

Doug Trumbull fans, check out the AbelCine technical blog CineTechnica later today (Friday). And to keep this thread on point, check out the entry I posted yesterday, which references Mr. Kubrick.

http://blog.abelcine.com/

Markshaw · April 8, 2011

Excellent documentary about the making of the movie and the McCarthy Witch hunts on the Criterion Edition DVD. Like how Kirk Douglas accidentally broke the nose of the guy who played his Gladiator trainer.

Mitch Gross · April 9, 2011

Doug Trumbull's shoot with AbelCine's new Phantom 65-Z3D system is up on our blog today. And on Doug's birthday -- happy birthday sir!

http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/04/08/doug-trumbulls-phantom-65-z3d-shoot/

Markshaw · April 13, 2011

Great video, although as for 3D, the jury is still out as far as I am concerned.

Brian Hulnick · April 22, 2011

3D really has clearly polarized opinions, particularly among directors. Spielberg has remained remarkably tight lipped though.

Markshaw · April 28, 2011

Spielberg has slipped off the radar as far as I can tell. Nothing since Indy 4

Francesco Bonomo · April 28, 2011

Spielberg has slipped off the radar as far as I can tell. Nothing since Indy 4

well, if you look at his "producer" credits, it doesn't look like he hasn't been busy, though it's hard to say how involved he was in all those projects.

As far as directing goes, "The Adventures of Tintin" and "War Horse" are coming later this year, 3 years after Indy 4 (and there was a 3 years gap between Munich and Indy 4 as well).