History Creator / StanleyKubrick

* ''Film/BarryLyndon'' (1975) -- Adapted from a minor novel by [[Literature/VanityFair W. M. Thackeray]], it's a GenreDeconstruction of period films that shows how oppressive and downright weird European society was. Famously, the first movie in history to shoot a scene entirely lit by candlelight. Unpopular and neglected by the audience, it is the preferred favorite of cinephiles like Creator/MartinScorsese, who consider it his masterpiece.

* ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' (1960) -- The second his films starring Kirk Douglas and the last film he would make in America and Hollywood. Despite Kubrick's dissatisfaction, it's considered a landmark EpicMovie, critical for ending UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist and one of the most subversive mainstream blockbusters of that era.

* ''Film/TheShining'' (1980) -- Radically different from the [[Literature/TheShining novel]], to Creator/StephenKing's distaste. It's now considered a great classic of the genre, provoking a number of [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories fan explanations]] and much like ''2001'', Kubrick eschewed conventional genre features by bringing in highbrow elements. Features one of Creator/JackNicholson's most famous performances and its extended production, with the gigantic set built in England and his treatment of Shelley Duvall, cementing Kubrick's reputation as a perfectionist. Also notable among videophiles for being Kubrick's first film to be explicitly shot in open matte, meaning it was filmed in 4:3 but cropped to a widescreen aspect ratio in theaters (thus allowing it to avoid PanAndScan when broadcast on television and included on home media releases before the mass adoption of 16:9 [=TVs=] by simply uncropping the vertical space of the picture), a practice he would carry onto his next (and last) two films[[note]]Kubrick already shot his movies in Academy ratio even before ''The Shining'', but this was the first time he consciously did so with the intent of using the extra vertical space on television sets, owing to the rapid rise of home media in the latter half of the 70's[[/note]].

* ''Film/TheShining'' (1980) -- Radically different from the [[Literature/TheShining novel]], to Creator/StephenKing's distaste. It's now considered a great classic of the genre, provoking a number of [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories fan explanations]] and much like ''2001'', Kubrick eschewed conventional genre features by bringing in highbrow elements. Features one of Creator/JackNicholson's most famous performances and its extended production, with the gigantic set built in England and his treatment of Shelley Duvall, cementing Kubrick's reputation as a perfectionist.

** According to [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/30/stanley-kubrick-childrens-film-death-pinocchio-eyes-wide-shut-spartacus this article]], Kubrick was planning on making a ''children's film'' and a film in World War II. Specficially, a film about Pinocchio and one on Monte Cassino, one of the most bitter and bloody battles of the second world war.

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was a famous American writer and director of important and controversial films. Born to a middle-class Jewish family in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Kubrick was a college dropout (albeit one who was also a [[SelfMadeMan voracious reader and autodidact]]). From an early age, he was [[TheMovieBuff a cinephile]] who was especially fond of foreign films and arthouse film-makers such as Creator/JosefVonSternberg and especially Creator/MaxOphuls (who he cited as his favorite, and his biggest influence).

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was a famous American writer and director of important and controversial films. Born to a middle-class Jewish family in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Kubrick was a college dropout ([[SelfMadeMan albeit a voracious reader and autodidact]]). From an early age, he was [[TheMovieBuff a cinephile]] who was especially fond of foreign films and arthouse film-makers such as Creator/JosefVonSternberg and especially Creator/MaxOphuls (who he cited as his favorite, and his biggest influence).

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was a famous American director of important and controversial films. Born to a middle class Jewish family in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Kubrick was a college dropout [[SelfMadeMan albeit a voracious reader and autodidact]]. From an early age, he was [[TheMovieBuff a cinephile]] who was especially fond of foreign films and arthouse film-makers such as Creator/JosefVonSternberg and especially Creator/MaxOphuls (who he cited as his favorite, and his biggest influence).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kubrick-100_5608.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:This man cares about his work. [[KubrickStare His eyes say so.]]]]

->''"When I made my first film, I think the thing [that] probably helped me the most was that it was such an unusual thing to do in the early 50s for someone to actually go and make a film. People thought it was impossible. It really is terribly easy. All anybody needs is a camera, a tape recorder, and some imagination."''

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was a famous director of important and controversial films. Born to a middle class Jewish family in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Kubrick was a college dropout [[SelfMadeMan albeit a voracious reader and autodidact]]. From an early age, he was [[TheMovieBuff a cinephile]] who was especially fond of foreign films and arthouse film-makers such as Creator/JosefVonSternberg and especially Creator/MaxOphuls (who he cited as his favorite, and his biggest influence).

People he had worked with have described him as [[NotGoodWithPeople acidic to others but amazingly fond of animals, particularly cats]], and very close to his wife and children. Actors who worked on his films described him as manipulative, distant and aloof. Creator/MalcolmMcDowell thoroughly enjoyed working with him on ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', but was [[WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately snubbed after shooting was complete]]. Others, such as Ryan O'Neal, Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/TomCruise and Creator/RLeeErmey, however, enjoyed working with him and described him fondly.[[note]]On average, however, his relationships could be defined by the making of ''Film/DrStrangelove''; actors that did exactly as he said walked away with their paychecks (unless they were named Peter Sellers or R. Lee Ermey, who got to do a surprising amount of {{Improv}}). Slim Pickens [[EnforcedMethodActing was never told he was making a comedy]], implying that his character was the hero of the film, heroically delivering the bomb that ''ends the world''. Pickens was okay with it in the long run, spinning the publicity into a highly successful career. On the other hand, Creator/GeorgeCScott wanted to play General Turgidson as a dignified WellIntentionedExtremist, so Kubrick tricked him by [[FalseReassurance assuring him that]] [[BlatantLies the cameras were off]], and that Kubrick and the rest of the cast and crew are the only ones seeing him. He proceeded to use those takes, leading to Scott swearing to not work with Kubrick again.[[/note]] In other cases, most notably his treatment of Shelley Duvall on the set of ''Film/TheShining'', his behavior went beyond controlling and became abusive, some even say to the point of psychological torture. [[note]]In short, forcing her to work 12-hour days for over a year, isolating her and constantly yelling at her, forcing dozens of takes no matter how minor the scene, including 127 takes of the exhausting baseball bat scene. Duvall at the time came to Kubrick with clumps of hair that had fallen out of her head due to stress, and the experience may have contributed to the detachment from reality and intense mental illness that she has suffered from later in life.[[/note]]

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Stanley Kubrick's films are full of BlackComedy and are incredibly cold and unsympathetic in nature.
** Jack in ''Film/TheShining'' is an incredibly self-centered and abusive [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]].

* MoonLandingHoax: A common joke goes that NASA hired him to fake the Moon Landing. Unfortunately for them, his famous perfectionism meant that he insisted they shoot on-location. More "straight" portrayals of a faked moon landing will inevitably feature him (or a LawyerFriendlyCameo of someone who looks suspiciously like him) behind the camera and calling the shots.

* MoonLandingHoax: A common joke goes that NASA hired him to fake the Moon Landing. Unfortunately for them, his famous perfectionism meant that he insisted they shoot on-location.

** One has to see this to believe it because he also categorized the information in files and tried to find answers to really odd problems that seemed trivial to others. Nevertheless, the end results were often staggering, with officials [[RiddleForTheAges often wondering how on Earth he was able to get his facts and details so accurately precise.]]

The UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem began when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an antitrust suit that broke up the monopoly of film distribution formerly held by major studios, and an indirect effect of this was the nurturing of independent theaters, and by extension, independent cinema. Kubrick could make documentary newsreels and find a way to distribute it without having to cross many hurdles, and he quickly taught himself the nuts-and-bolts of film-making without dealing with the studio system, cultivating an independent sensibility that he carried with him to the end of his life. His early films, ''Fear and Desire''[[note]]Which Kubrick has shelved because he was dissatisfied with it[[/note]] and ''Killer's Kiss'' were made entirely on his own, and Kubrick on his first feature served as not only his own director, but his own cinematographer, editor and sound-man, which provided him a thorough technical knowledge of film-making. ''Film/TheKilling'' proved to be his first success, and with that film, produced by associate James B. Harris, Kubrick found a foot in Hollywood, and he attracted the attention of Kirk Douglas who partnered with him to make ''Film/PathsOfGlory'' which became his BreakthroughHit, earning him respect and good notices from America and England. The interim period between that film and ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' (his first film made in self-imposed exile in England) featured a period of striving in the Hollywood system, including an attempt to collaborate with Creator/MarlonBrando on ''Film/OneEyedJacks'' and ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' produced by Kirk Douglas who brought Kubrick in after firing original director Creator/AnthonyMann. Although ''Spartacus'' was a major success, Kubrick felt dissatisfied because the project was clearly Douglas' (and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's) more than his, he didn't feel personally invested in the subject and was generally too independent-minded to do journeyman work. [[TheDeterminator He resolved to maintain his independence]] against all odds. He went to England to make ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' and never returned to America, citing a fear of flying[[note]]Which biographer Bill Krohn believes [[UnreliableNarrator is a rather convenient excuse]]. He notes that during the making of ''Lolita'', Kubrick shuttled back and forth between England and America to shoot the footage for the exteriors, which he did not delegate to second-unit[[/note]].

In England, Kubrick was able to cultivate [[ShroudedInMyth a sense of mystery and excitement about his work]]. At a remote distance from Hollywood he was able to assert control over all aspects of film-making from pre-production to editing and sound-mixing, from advertising to exhibition[[note]]No [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer seriously]], Kubrick would appoint [[BigBrotherIsWatching staffers to go to different theaters across America]] and England and if he received reports and complaints that a projectionist was screening his film in the wrong aspect-ratio, or if the theatre had bad lighting, [[ControlFreak he would ''personally'' call the projector during the screening and tell the man how to screen it correctly]][[/note]]. He was able to do this thanks to support from excellent producers such as James B. Harris and Jan Harlan (who was also his brother-in-law) and the fact that his films were, relatively speaking, less expensive than other Hollywood super-productions of the time, and they were generally successful at the box-office. During this time, Kubrick also became, so to speak, a ReclusiveArtist. He would give interviews as per his convenience and would be inaccessible to journalists and celebrity gossip-columnists and generally interact only with his collaborators and producers. As such a number of legends cropped up about him. People he had worked with have described him as [[NotGoodWithPeople acidic to others but amazingly fond of animals, particularly cats]], and very close to his wife and children. Actors who worked on his films described him as manipulative, distant and aloof. Creator/MalcolmMcDowell thoroughly enjoyed working with him on ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', but was [[WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately snubbed after shooting was complete]]. Others, such as Ryan O'Neal, Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/TomCruise and Creator/RLeeErmey, however, enjoyed working with him and described him fondly.[[note]]On average, however, his relationships could be defined by the making of ''Film/DrStrangelove''; Actors that did exactly as he said walked away with their paychecks (unless they were named Peter Sellers or R. Lee Ermey, who got to do a surprising amount of {{Improv}}). Slim Pickens [[EnforcedMethodActing was never told he was making a comedy]], implying that his character was the hero of the film, heroically delivering the bomb that ''ends the world''. Pickens was okay with it in the long run, spinning the publicity into a highly successful career. On the other hand, Creator/GeorgeCScott wanted to play General Turgidson as a dignified WellIntentionedExtremist, so Kubrick tricked him by [[FalseReassurance assuring him that]] [[BlatantLies the cameras were off]], and that Kubrick and the rest of the cast and crew are the only ones seeing him. He proceeded to use those takes, leading to Scott swearing to not work with Kubrick again.[[/note]] In other cases, most notably his treatment of Shelley Duvall on the set of ''Film/TheShining'', his behavior went beyond controlling and became abusive, some even say to the point of psychological torture. [[note]]In short, forcing her to work 12 hour days for over a year, isolating her and constantly yelling at her, forcing dozens of takes no matter how minor the scene, including 127 takes at the exhausting baseball bat scene. Duvall at the time came to Kubrick with clumps of hair that had fallen out of her head due to stress, and the experience may have contributed to the detachment from reality and intense mental illness that she has suffered from later in life.[[/note]]

Because of his high artistic ambitions (he was obsessed with originality and doing things that had never been done before), his insistence on personally researching each aspect of pre-production (A side-effect of his autodidact origins[[note]]For ''Film/BarryLyndon'', Kubrick would personally scour countless paintings to create reference material for the film's look, costume and production designer, work that other film-makers -- including great directors -- would properly delegate to others but which he felt he had to do himself[[/note]]) and his insistence on doing a film that interests him thoroughly, his production pace slowed down drastically. He made four films in TheSixties and five films in the next three decades, much of his time spent on pre-production for unmade projects such as a planned {{Biopic}} on UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, a film on UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, and a science-fiction project about an Android. The former two he abandoned because he felt he had been beaten to the punch[[note]]By an adaptation of ''Waterloo'' in TheSeventies by Sergei Bondarchuk and ''Film/SchindlersList'' by Spielberg in TheNineties[[/note]]. The latter project was subsequently completed after his death by Creator/StevenSpielberg as ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'' as per Kubrick's suggestion.

Yet despite this seeming procrastination, Kubrick was still able to more or less make a film as per he pleased as evidenced by ''Film/AClockworkOrange, Film/BarryLyndon, Film/TheShining, Film/FullMetalJacket'' and much later ''Film/EyesWideShut''. During his lifetime virtually all his films were met with a polarizing reception by critics and the audience, but most of them were box-office successes. They were shocking and controversial not merely in terms of content but mainly for the really cold, detached and even sardonic tone, that somehow made his films feel more European than American, and certainly like nothing in Hollywood. All his movies were adaptations of literature, both LitFic and genre fiction, but they were all GenreBusting, subversive of Hollywood conventions, featuring AntiHero protagonists, violence and disturbing sexuality. They are celebrated for its visual design, his use of music[[note]]Kubrick generally didn't like original scores, much to the annoyance of composers who worked with him, and he tended to use samples from classical and modernist music and mix them up with other pieces[[/note]], the blazingly original iconography (his background in photography really shows in his work) and the overall bleak view of humanity and institutions made his films ripe for AffectionateParody, PopCulturalOsmosis and cult appeal.

** For home video releases, a major problem is trying to determine what Kubrick's preferred aspect ratio was. Kubrick apparently composed all his films in the Academy Ratio, even when movie theaters shifted to widescreen as default from the '60s onwards. As such his films still looked natural on early home video releases and TV viewings, before black bars became the norm. When the Kubrick DVD collection came out (which he oversaw), he allowed for multiple ratios, not anticipating the rise and spread of wide-screen TV, which happened after his death. As such a number of his films are overseen by assistant Leon Vitali to ensure that proper aspect ratios are maintained for Blu-Ray releases.

* PrimaDonnaDirector: The TropeCodifier. After earning his AuteurLicense, every one of his movies were productions which extended for years where he controlled every tiny detail and forced the actors to do over 20 takes ''at minimum''. [[TropesAreTools This resulted in great films]]. [[RealityEnsues It also ensured that virtually no actor worked with him twice]].[[note]]except Sterling Hayden, Philip Stone, and Peter Sellers, who had two movies, and Joe Turkel, who had three.[[/note]]

* BrooklynRage: He was a New Yorker but he's famous for his cold, detached way of film-making. So maybe an aversion. It's often surprising to hear Kubrick speak in interviews with a thick Noo Yawk accent.

* BadBoss: UpToEleven. In making ''Film/TheShining'' he deliberately treated Shelley Duvall horribly so she would be sad and scared all the time for real.

* GenreRoulette: While many film directors usually work within one identifiable genre Kubrick tried out different kinds of genres all his life: war/anti-war films (''Fear and Desire'', ''Paths of Glory'', ''Full Metal Jacket''), science-fiction (''2001'', ''A Clockwork Orange''), historical drama (''Spartacus'', ''Barry Lyndon''), comedy (''Dr. Strangelove''), erotic thriller (''Lolita'', ''Eyes Wide Shut''), film-noir (''The Killing''), and horror (''The Shining'').

Because of his high artistic ambitions (he was obsessed with originality and doing things that had never been done before), his insistence on personally researching each aspect of pre-production (A side-effect of his autodidact origins[[note]]For ''Film/BarryLyndon'', Kubrick would personally scour countless paintings to create reference material for the film's look, costume and production designer, work that other film-makers, including great directors, would properly delegate to others but which he felt he had to do himself[[/note]]) and his insistence on doing a film that interests him thoroughly, his production pace slowed down drastically. He made four films in TheSixties and five films in the next three decades, much of his time spent on pre-production for unmade projects such as a planned {{Biopic}} on UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, a film on UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, and a science-fiction project about an Android. The former two he abandoned because he felt he had been beaten to the punch[[note]]By an adaptation of ''Waterloo'' in TheSeventies by Sergei Bondarchuk and ''Film/SchindlersList'' by Spielberg in TheNineties[[/note]]. The latter project was subsequently completed after his death by Creator/StevenSpielberg as ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'' as per Kubrick's suggestion.

* ''Flying Padre'' (1951) -- Another documentary short, about a priest who flies around his 400-square-mile parish to minister to his parishoners.

* ''Film/TheKilling'' (1956) -- A FilmNoir, his first real success, first collaboration with Creator/SterlingHayden, famous for its non-linear variation on ''Film/TheAsphaltJungle''-style heist movie plot that was highly popular in TheFifties.

* ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' (1971) -- Adapted from a [[Literature/AClockworkOrange minor novel]] by Anthony Burgess. A major commercial success in its year of release, but extremely controversial for its scenes of violence and rape. The negative publicity was such that Kubrick himself shelved it after it turned out profits, and prevented it from being widely exhibited until his death. Extremely influential for its production design, its costumes[[note]]By Milena Canonero who would win an oscar for her work on Film/BarryLyndon and later work on every one of Creator/WesAnderson's films[[/note]] and unusual use of music.

You can now vote for your favourite Kubrick film by heading over to the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/Sandbox/BestFilmStanleyKubrick Best Film Crowner]]!

* AuteurLicense: Kubrick is admired by film-makers for creating a niche within Hollywood despite the fact that he wasn't prolific, rarely made films with big stars and never made purely commercial films. More importantly he held on to this license right till the end of his career, despite never making a single blockbuster film, though his movies were generally hits. None of his movies faced ExecutiveMeddling and with the chief exception of ''Spartacus'', all of them exist as Kubrick intended. Indeed, while Creator/OrsonWelles codified this idea with ''Citizen Kane'', Kubrick is seen by film-makers as a more successful example of making a ''career'' as an auteur within Hollywood, and was highly respected by the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood generation for the same reason.

** Certain scenes of ''Film/EyesWideShut'' were blurred out in the USA at the time for being too sexually explicit. In other Western countries people got the uncensored version. There was also censorship in UK owing to the use of a recitation of the Bhagavad Gita (as part of the music by Jocelyn Pook which Kubrick excerpted) during the orgy scene, which Hindu organizations protested as sacrilege and it was removed for the UK release and remains missing in Region 2 releases.
* BigApplesauce: It was his home but aside from ''Killer's Kiss'', none of his films were shot in New York. One of his films which was set in New York -- ''Film/EyesWideShut''-- was shot in London, using sets, second-unit projection and carefully chosen streets.

* BlackComedy: His stories often include this kind of humour as an integral and natural part of the events. ''Dr. Strangelove'' is built around it. ''A Clockwork Orange'' is mostly this throughout the entire story.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Every film up to ''2001'', with the exception of ''Spartacus''. Since Kubrick preferred control and independence he preferred black-and-white which was cheaper than colour at the time[[note]]It only became cheaper and normal in UK and USA by the end of TheSixties[[/note]].

** [[spoiler:Alex in ''A Clockwork Orange'' is sent back in the streets, despite his criminal record, and now hailed as a victim of the people who tried to cure him from his violent tendencies.]]

* HumansAreFlawed: Kubrick's films show mankind at its weakest and most anti-heroic, especially political and military institutions and organizations. A telling moment in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' is that one of the first things apeman does with his higher intelligence is bashing the head of his fellow ape-mans in with a huge bone. However the further evolved humans shown to still trying to change for the better.

** His film, ''Film/BarryLyndon'' was one of the few period films of its time, and times afterwards, that really put across how misogynist and sexist the period setting romanticized in earlier literary adaptations are. A society where the only careers available to women is marriage and children, is not healthy either for women, for children or for their spouses. Depresssingly this seems to have gotten worse in his "contemporary" ''Film/EyesWideShut'' where by the turn of the millennium, women are once again trapped in boring marriages, with careers as prostitutes and DisposableSexWorker, and/or TrophyWife being their primary roles in bourgeois society. Whether this reflects how Kubrick believes society to be, or reflected his own imagination is of course a separate issue.
* OddFriendship: With Creator/StevenSpielberg. They were very different in terms of style but they had a friendship and collaboration, often talking on phone. When Kubrick thought he couldn't deliver on ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'', he gave Spielberg his blessing to direct the project. Spielberg stayed true to Kubrick's style for the making of the film.

** One has to see this to believe it, because he also categorized the information in files and tried to find answers to really odd problems that seemed trivial to others. Nevertheless the end results were often staggering, with officials [[RiddleForTheAges often wondering how on Earth he was able to get his facts and details so accurately precise.]]
** Quite amusingly, Kubrick denied being perfectionist. Dorian Harewood, who played Eightball from ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', said that in an interview that Kubrick was a perfectionist. Kubrick called Harewood a few days later and denied being considered such. Likewise, Kubrick said that he kept doing multiple takes because he thought his actors, though they got the right idea, weren't happy with their performance.

** Likewise, Kubrick's refusal to have a public profile means that there are many misconceptions about his style, approach and methods of making films as well as his habits as a working professional in the film industry.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Kubrick often used well known classical music and pop melodies and put them in an ironic new context. This has led to PopCulturalOsmosis in some cases where one can't hear the original piece without associating it with a Kubrick film instead. Notable example would be ''"Also sprach Zarathustra"'', the main theme to ''2001''.

** [[http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/01/09/film-crit-hulk-smash-hulk-vs.-tom-hooper-and-art-of-cinematic-affectation [=FilmCritHulk=]]] argues that this was a much bigger part of Kubrick's MO than is typically acknowledged, and that rather than looking for perfection, the retakes were intended to break actors out of conventional acting to better serve the director's intentions. Indeed this was the reason why directors in the GoldenAge such as Creator/WilliamWyler or Creator/CharlieChaplin used multiple takes, since they had specific intentions and were not usually comfortable with actors trained in multiple styles and approaches, and generally preferred a process to wear their resistance until they got the results they wanted.

* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' (1987) -- [[Film/ApocalypseNow One]] [[Film/{{Platoon}} of the]] most iconic Vietnam War movies, starring Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin and in scene-stealing turns Creator/RLeeErmey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and Creator/VincentDOnofrio as Gomer Pyle. Controversial in its year of release for the fact that the film's two halves are entirely different from each other, with most preferring the first half (starring aforementioned scene-stealers).

** Quite amusingly, Kubrick denied being perfectionist. Dorian Harewood, who played Eightball from Film/FullMetalJacket, said that in an interview that Kubrick was a perfectionist. Kubrick called Harewood a few days later and denied being considered such. Likewise, Kubrick said that he kept doing multiple takes because he thought his actors, though they got the right idea, weren't happy with their performance.
* PrimaDonnaDirector: The TropeCodifier. After earning his AuteurLicense, every one of his movies were productions which extended for years where he controlled every tiny detail and forced the actors to do over 20 takes ''at minimum''. [[TropesAreNotBad This resulted in great films]]. [[RealityEnsues It also ensured that virtually no actor worked with him twice]].[[note]]except Sterling Hayden, Philip Stone, Peter Sellers - two movies, and Joe Turkel who had three.[[/note]]

* PrimaDonnaDirector: The TropeCodifier. After earning his AuteurLicense, every one of his movies were productions which extended for years where he controlled every tiny detail and forced the actors to do over 20 takes ''at minimum''. [[TropesAreNotBad This resulted in great films]]. [[RealityEnsues It also ensured that virtually no actor worked with him twice]].

The UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem began when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an antitrust suit that broke up the monopoly of film distribution formerly held by major studios, and an indirect effect of this was the nurturing of independent theaters, and by extension, independent cinema. Kubrick could make documentary newsreels and find a way to distribute it without having to cross many hurdles, and he quickly taught himself the nuts-and-bolts of film-making without dealing with the studio system, cultivating an independent sensibility that he carried with him to the end of his life. His early films, ''Fear and Desire''[[note]]Which Kubrick has shelved because he was dissatisfied with it[[/note]] and ''Killer's Kiss'' were made entirely on his own, and Kubrick on his first feature served as not only his own director, but his own cinematographer, editor and sound-man, which provided him a thorough technical knowledge of film-making. ''Film/TheKilling'' proved to be his first success, and with that film, produced by associate James B. Harris, Kubrick found a foot in Hollywood, and he attracted the attention of Kirk Douglas who partnered with him to make ''Film/PathsOfGlory'' which became his BreakthroughHit, earning him respect and good notices from America and England. The interim period between that film and ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' (his first film made in self-imposed exile in England) featured a period of striving in the Hollywood system, including an attempt to collaborate with Creator/MarlonBrando on ''One-Eyed Jacks'' and ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' produced by Kirk Douglas who brought Kubrick in after firing original director Creator/AnthonyMann. Although ''Spartacus'' was a major success, Kubrick felt dissatisfied because the project was clearly Douglas' (and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's) more than his, he didn't feel personally invested in the subject and was generally too independent-minded to do journeyman work. [[TheDeterminator He resolved to maintain his independence]] against all odds. He went to England to make ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' and never returned to America, citing a fear of flying[[note]]Which biographer Bill Krohn believes [[UnreliableNarrator is a rather convenient excuse]]. He notes that during the making of ''Lolita'', Kubrick shuttled back and forth between England and America to shoot the footage for the exteriors, which he did not delegate to second-unit[[/note]].

* GenreRoulette: While many film directors usually work within one identifiable genre Kubrick tried out different kinds of genres all his life: war/anti-war films ("Fear and Desire", "Paths Of Glory", "Full Metal Jacket"), science-fiction ("2001", "A Clockwork Orange"), historical drama ("Spartacus", "Barry Lyndon"), comedy ("Dr. Strangelove"), erotic thriller ("Lolita", "Eyes Wide Shut"), film-noir ("The Killing"), and horror ("The Shining").