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Stanley Kubrick's Boxes
2008 · Film · documentary · 48 min
Directed by Jon Ronson
A few years after his death, the widow of Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) asks Jon Ronson to look through the contents of about 1,000 boxes of meticulously sorted materials Kubrick left. Ronson finds that most contain materials reflecting work Kubrick did after the release of "Barry Lyndon" in 1975, when Kubrick's film output slowed down. Ronson finds audition tapes for "Full Metal Jacket," photographs to find the right hat for "Clockwork Orange" or the right doorway for "Eyes Wide Shut" -- thousands of details that went into Kubrick's meticulous approach. Ronson believes that the boxes show "the rhythm of genius." Interviews with family, staff, and friends are included.
2 positivefrom 2 commenters
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2 comments on Hacker News
Kubrick was remarkable in his singularity as a filmmaker.
There is a fantastic 1 hr BBC documentary from the mid 2000's called 'Stanley Kubrick's Boxes' in which the documentary crew is given access to Kubrick's estate and warehouses after his passing. They examine the contents of the boxes of research and pre-production material that Kubrick accrued over several decades when crafting his films. The lengths he went to flesh them out are stunning.
The takeaway is of someone with a singular ambition and extreme thoroughness when planning their films. It's been immensely inspiring to witness just how intently a creator can focus on crafting their work. I strongly recommend it.
Have you watched the documentary "Boxes?"
https://imdb.com/title/tt1263704/
I think you really knock Kubrick without giving proper respect to his work ethic. And sure, luck is when preparation meets opportunity, but Stanley had the preparation part in spades, in a way that even many other successful "titans" probably do not.