Deadly stunts, an obsessed Beatle, and a game-changing mission to Mars — this is the incredible story of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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00:00Deadly stunts, an obsessed beetle, and a game-changing mission to Mars — this is the incredible
00:06story of 2001 A Space Odyssey.
00:09Throughout his career, Stanley Kubrick clearly enjoyed adapting novels into movies.
00:14He drew on source material ranging from pop fiction, such as Stephen King's The Shining,
00:19to more serious literary fare, like Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
00:24Like many of Kubrick's other works, 2001 is based on a book.
00:28Unlike the other adaptations, however, the novelization of 2001 was written alongside
00:33the film's production.
00:35Inspired to write a movie about space travel and all its possibilities, Kubrick decided
00:39to work with the legendary sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke.
00:43The two men agreed to work together on a story which Clarke would turn into a novel while
00:48Kubrick made it into a movie.
00:50While both Clarke and Kubrick were creative geniuses in their own right, they had a hard
00:54time actually finishing the film's official screenplay.
00:57According to a 1966 New Yorker profile on the making of 2001, Kubrick estimated that
01:03he and Clarke spent an average of four hours a day, six days a week, writing the script.
01:09However, the film's release was delayed until 1968, as some of the plot's finer details
01:14had to be worked out on set.
01:16Whether or not there was a definitive method to their madness, Kubrick, Clarke, and company
01:20wound up with one of cinema's most enduring sci-fi stories.
01:24The narrative thrust behind 2001 is the idea that, sooner or later, humans are going to
01:30have a close encounter of the third kind.
01:32It was a timely concept to explore, as during the movie's early production stages in 1964,
01:38a NASA space probe named the Mariner 4 was on its way past Mars.
01:43Kubrick was so confident the discovery of extraterrestrial life was imminent, he began
01:48to fret that NASA would encounter something on the Red Planet before his movie was finished.
01:52Worried at the possibility of losing creative license on a story about NASA pilots meeting
01:57alien intelligence in deep space, Kubrick decided to check if he could take out an insurance
02:02policy on his own story.
02:04Somehow, Kubrick actually found a company that would offer him insurance, and so he
02:08bought the policy despite its galactic price tag.
02:12While the human race is apparently yet to meet extraterrestrials, it's safe to say that
02:17Kubrick was most definitely a believer.
02:20Kubrick found his first hit directing 1960s historical epic Spartacus.
02:25He followed that success with a Black comedy about the existential threat born from the
02:29nuclear arms race, Dr. Strangelove.
02:32The nihilist classic is a hilarious yet devastating satire that's often imitated but has never
02:38been truly matched.
02:39Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!
02:42Kubrick had been inspired to make Dr. Strangelove after researching nuclear defense policies
02:47and taking them to their logical extremes.
02:51In his 1966 New Yorker profile on Kubrick, Jeremy Bernstein quotes the director as saying,
02:56"...the nuclear strategists who make up all those war scenarios are never as inventive
03:00as reality, and political and military leaders are never as sophisticated as they think they
03:05are."
03:06Bleak stuff for sure, but it's entirely in line with the central thesis of Dr. Strangelove.
03:11However, Bernstein argued that Kubrick found what he referred to as limited optimism in
03:16the space race.
03:18Kubrick apparently felt that the opportunities presented by space exploration and alien contact
03:23just might save the human species from itself.
03:25His belief in the power of space exploration is all over 2001.
03:30From its beautiful soundtrack to its depiction of man's divorce from Earth-bound technology,
03:35Kubrick clearly thought that mankind's ventures into space were full of potential.
03:40Depicting the future on screen is no easy feat.
03:43In order to create a future audiences may find plausible, Kubrick formed a think tank
03:48consisting of 35 artists and designers, a special effects team more than 20 strong,
03:53and several consulting scientific advisors.
03:56This platoon of forward thinkers worked to ensure the designs of everything felt futuristic
04:01in a believable way.
04:02By most accounts, it's fair to say they succeeded.
04:05The film's aesthetic is stunning, and some of the choices made by Kubrick and his design
04:09crew are still popular to this day.
04:12Take, for example, the movie's use of Arne Jacobsen's flatware, a brand made famous by
04:172001 that is still bought and sold today.
04:20Clearly, Kubrick's attention to detail paid dividends.
04:23While many filmgoers may not remember a full, detailed play-by-play of the movie's sprawling
04:28plot, they'll likely remember the innovative aesthetic Kubrick curated to bring his vision
04:33to life.
04:34One of the most iconic designs in 2001 is the Discovery 1, the NASA exploratory vessel
04:40headed to Jupiter in search of an alien radio signal.
04:44In the film, Kubrick handles the spacecraft's introduction with a level of care usually
04:48reserved for a human protagonist.
04:51Its grand design fills the screen as it drifts slowly into frame.
04:54Then the movie shows off the ship's distinctive interior, a centrifuge decorated with beds,
04:59workstations, a dining table, computers, and more.
05:03Kubrick and his advisors felt that long voyages through space would require artificial gravity
05:07to keep astronauts healthy.
05:09Many, including Kubrick, also agreed that gravity could be easily created in space with
05:14the aid of a centrifuge, so the director hired an engineering company to build one.
05:19Inside the giant centrifuge, the technology of spaceflight is seen at close range.
05:26The finished product could spin up to three miles an hour, cost $300,000, and came in
05:32at about 38 feet in diameter.
05:34The end result is not only one of the most innovative sets ever designed, but a wonderful
05:39symbol for Kubrick's ultimate vision.
05:41Like 2001 itself, the centrifuge set is large, expensive, and very hard to forget.
05:48In one of the film's most thrilling sequences, Dave Bowman finds himself locked outside of
05:52the Discovery 1 in a small maintenance pod.
05:55Bowman considers leaving his pod, spacewalking to the main ship, and climbing back inside,
06:01but he doesn't have his helmet.
06:02To get back into the ship without suffocating in space, Bowman fires himself through the
06:06pod's escape hatch into an open airlock.
06:10It's an ingenious scene that only runs about 90 seconds in total.
06:13In fact, the shot of Bowman launching into the open airlock is even shorter, but that
06:18single shot was extremely dangerous.
06:21Actor Keir Dillay had to dive headfirst through breakaway boards from a platform two stories
06:26above the airlock set, falling down toward an upward-tilted camera to convincingly create
06:32the illusion that he was launching through weightless space.
06:35For safety, he was secured with a single rope connected to a pulley.
06:39An enormous film camera was positioned at the bottom of the airlock set to capture the
06:43image in a single take.
06:45If something had gone wrong, Dillay would have crashed directly into the camera, and
06:49likely been killed in the process.
06:51Dillay later told Vanity Fair,
06:53"...I think that was the only time on 2001 I got something on the first take, thank God."
06:59The Dawn of Man sequence that kicks off 2001 may be one of the boldest openings ever depicted
07:04in a science fiction movie.
07:06In a wordless 10-minute sequence, Kubrick and company recreate primordial Earth to present
07:12the concept of extraterrestrial beings jump-starting the evolution from ape to human.
07:17Famously, the end of the sequence sees an ape tossing a bone into the air, which slowly
07:22transforms into a satellite orbiting Earth.
07:25Kubrick originally tried to film the sequence on location in Africa, but eventually wound
07:29up creating the set in a soundstage in Britain with a technique known as front projection.
07:34The burgeoning camera system allowed creatives to project photographic vistas directly into
07:39their shot.
07:40However, new cameras weren't the only trick up Kubrick's sleeve.
07:43The design team were also tasked with designing costumes for the apes.
07:47Despite their best efforts, the sequence went largely ignored come awards season.
07:52Somewhat ironically, the Best Costume Design Oscar went to Planet of the Apes.
07:56Goddamn you!
07:58Goddamn you all to hell!"
08:03While 2001 became the biggest box office earner of the year when it was released in 1968,
08:09MGM took quite a leap of faith when they originally decided to back Kubrick's project.
08:14Kubrick first sent MGM Arthur Clarke's 250-page draft narrative rather than a finished screenplay,
08:20and yet studio president Robert O'Brien still agreed to back the filmmaker's vision.
08:26Given the film's many delays, it's safe to assume O'Brien's confidence may have been
08:30tested along the way.
08:31MGM's original press release for the film claimed that 2001 was to be ready for release
08:36by 1966.
08:38The movie was delayed until 1968, and in 66, the movie's budget increased from $6 million
08:45to $7 million.
08:47In the end, the film cost MGM around $10 million, almost double its initial budget.
08:53Even though the film eventually found success over the course of its release year, the saga
08:57concluded with a shareholder revolt.
09:00According to The New York Times, MGM was also making another expensive film, Dr. Zhivago,
09:05around the same time.
09:06With the company facing such a financially uncertain future, O'Brien wound up resigning
09:11as president in 1969.
09:14Even though 2001 is widely regarded as a stone-cold classic today, initial reactions from movie
09:19critics were not particularly kind.
09:22Early movie critic Pauline Kael said the film was ponderous and blurry in her review
09:27for Harper's.
09:28In The New York Times, critic Renata Adler said the movie's uncompromising slowness rendered
09:33the film hard to sit through without talking.
09:36Well, I don't think there is any question about it.
09:40It can only be attributable to human error."
09:43Kubrick was clearly bothered by the early negative press.
09:46In a 1968 interview with Playboy, the director expressed his annoyance, insisting that only
09:52New York had really been hostile to the movie.
09:54He went on to blame the sensibilities of a cohort he referred to as New York City's
09:59Lumpen Literati for their own aversion to his movie's sincere expression of grandeur
10:03and cosmic wonder.
10:05While 2001 certainly marches to its own deliberate pace, it's safe to say that the movie has
10:10aged much better than its initial reviews.
10:13Today, for example, it holds a top 20 spot on the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest
10:18American Films of All Time list.
10:212001 may not have been an immediate hit with the critics, but it very quickly gained cult
10:26status with hippies.
10:27In fact, the movie was so popular with pillars of the 60s counterculture community that The
10:32New Yorker's 50th Anniversary Retrospective argues that it may have been a hippie audience
10:38that saved the film from obscurity.
10:40Supposedly, fans of the film consumed psychedelic drugs in sync with Dave Bowman's trip through
10:45the colorful, chaotic wormhole at the climax of the film.
10:49MGM's marketing gurus eventually got wind of the phenomenon and added a new tagline
10:54to posters, The Ultimate Trip.
10:56But word-of-mouth and ultimate trips weren't the only thing bolstering the film's popularity.
11:02It also received endorsement from rock legends such as David Bowie and John Lennon.
11:07Lennon specifically liked it so much that he claimed to have seen it every week during
11:11its initial theatrical run.
11:132001 didn't just inspire a generation of filmgoers to look up to the stars and wonder about the
11:19future.
11:20It also inspired tons of today's best filmmakers.
11:23For the movie's 50th anniversary, IndieWire collected thoughts from a collection of famous
11:28filmmakers on Kubrick's master entry to the sci-fi canon.
11:32The list featured praise from directors including Steven Spielberg, Claire Denis, Christopher
11:37Nolan, James Cameron, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and Alfonso Cuaron.
11:42Film fans may not be particularly surprised by this collection of acolytes, as Kubrick's
11:47lasting impact on the industry cannot be undersold.
11:50However, the impact of 2001 lives on outside of the elite of blockbuster filmmakers.
11:55A 50th anniversary retrospective in Vulture credits the film for opening up possibilities
12:01for headier, more complex sci-fi in the indie realm.
12:04On top of that, any sci-fi movie about nefarious artificial intelligence made since 1968 owes
12:10a serious debt to the original murderous computer, HAL-9000.
12:14Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
12:18I'm sorry, Dave.
12:20I'm afraid I can't do that.
12:22Clearly, Kubrick went on an odyssey of his own to get 2001 made and perfect his vision.
12:27In the end, though, he introduced audiences to whole new cosmic possibilities — at the
12:33movies and beyond.