Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker

by David Mikics

Overview

An engrossing biography of one of the most influential filmmakers in cinematic history

"A cool, cerebral book about a cool, cerebral talent. . . . A brisk study of [Kubrick's] films, with enough of the life tucked in to add context as well as brightness and bite.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times

"An engaging and well-researched primer to the work of a cinematic legend."—Library Journal

Kubrick grew up in the Bronx, a doctor’s son. From a young age he was consumed by photography, chess, and, above all else, movies. He was a self‑taught filmmaker and self‑proclaimed outsider, and his films exist in a unique world of their own outside the Hollywood mainstream. Kubrick’s Jewishness played a crucial role in his idea of himself as an outsider. Obsessed with rebellion against authority, war, and male violence, Kubrick was himself a calm, coolly masterful creator and a talkative, ever‑curious polymath immersed in friends and family.

Drawing on interviews and new archival material, David Mikics for the first time explores the personal side of Kubrick’s films.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300224405
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	08/18/2020
Series:	Jewish Lives
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	285,904
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David Mikics is Moores Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Houston, as well as a columnist for Tablet magazine. His most recent books are Bellow’s People and Slow Reading in a Hurried Age.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 I Know I Can Make a Film Better Than That: Killer's Kiss, The Killing 15

2 Keep Doing It Until It Is Right: Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita 38

3 Total Final Annihilating Artistic Control: Dr. Strangelove 74

4 The Tower of Babel Was the Start of the Space Age: 2001: A Space Odyssey 93

5 Let's Open with a Sicilian Defence: A Clockwork Orange 110

6 You Can Talk for Hours about a Thing with Stanley: Barry Lyndon 128

7 Something Inherently Wrong with the Human Personality: The Shining 143

8 Make Sure It's Big-Lon Chaney Big: Full Metal Jacket 162

9 Frightened of Making the Movie: Eyes Wide Shut 180

Notes 205

Acknowledgments 223

Index 225

Editorial Reviews

David Mikics's Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker is a cool, cerebral book about a cool, cerebral talent. This is not a full-dress biography…but a brisk study of his films, with enough of the life tucked in to add context as well as brightness and bite…Mikics is an adept student of Kubrick's uncanny art…He unpeels the way that Kubrick's movies, packed as they are with impieties, challenge, infuriate and entertain.

The New York Times - Dwight Garner

06/15/2020

The life and work of movie director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) are briefly glossed in this compact, informative work from literature scholar Mikics (Bellow’s People). Drawing on Kubrick’s archive, interviews with his friends and family, and previous studies of his work, the book skims the filmmaker’s Bronx childhood and early photography career, and focuses on his films, from his first short, Day of the Fight, to the posthumously released Eyes Wide Shut. In Mikics’s account, Kubrick was a perfectionist, demanding from his financial backers, in his own words, “complete total final annihilating artistic control.” However, he could also harness the power of spontaneity; his film shoots resembled an “experiment on his actors, waiting to see where more and more takes might lead them.” Off set, he was equally attentive and obsessive; a screenwriter on Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick’s film about the Vietnam War, described their working relationship as “a single phone call lasting three years.” There are welcome insights into Kubrick’s career, from his unrealized desire to make a film about the Holocaust to his decision to leave the eroticism out of his 1962 adaptation of Lolita, because otherwise “the film could not have been made.” Kubrick fans will enjoy this brisk but thorough biography of a consummate filmmaker. Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"A cool, cerebral book about a cool, cerebral talent. . . . A brisk study of his films, with enough of the life tucked in to add context as well as brightness and bite."—Dwight Garner, New York Times

“Mikics is a forensic film critic, and fascinating on what might have been in Kubrick’s career.”—Ed Potton, The Times

“Mikics proves to be a perceptive critic...The result of his labours is an extremely useful primer for anyone wanting to learn more about Kubrick and his work. It’s thoughtful, concise...and fluently written.”—Tom Ryan, The Sydney Morning Herald

"Kubrick fans will enjoy this brisk but thorough biography of a consummate filmmaker."—Publishers Weekly

"An engaging and well-researched primer to the work of a cinematic legend."—Library Journal

"Happily, David Mikics’s new book . . . is bracingly commonsensical and free from the combination of over-the-top awe and geeky obsessiveness that too often mars commentary on the director."—Peter Tonguette, National Review

“In this excellent book Mikics delivers an insightful exposition on the life and work of Stanley Kubrick. . . . Mikics emphasizes the filmmaker's meticulous attention to the important elements of filmmaking: source text, script, acting, casting, cinematography, lighting, set and production design, sound, and music. . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice

CHOICE 2021 Outstanding Academic Title

“A joy to read . . . elegant and penetrating as both biography and film criticism. Mikics offers such persuasive arguments for the individual movies that I found myself continually rethinking them.”—Molly Haskell, author of Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films

From the Publisher

06/26/2020

Stanley Kubrick (1928–99) has been the subject of numerous biographies and film-specific commentaries; this new volume in Yale's "Jewish Lives" series offers a concise yet informative look at each of the director's feature films. Mikics's (English, Univ. of Houston) background as a literary critic shines through in his nuanced approach to themes that carry through Kubrick's work, such as hubris and male frustration. And despite the brevity of the book, the author draws parallels between unrealized projects, such as Burning Secret and Napoleon, and the films that eventually bore their imprints, including Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut. Mikics conducted numerous interviews with Kubrick's family, friends, and colleagues, and his combination of original commentary and existing criticism makes for an excellent point of entry for the Kubrick newcomer. This is also an interesting volume for the "Jewish Lives" series, as Kubrick was famously not a practicing Jew—despite remaining culturally Jewish—and notably removed many Jewish references from source material he used for his films. VERDICT An engaging and well-researched primer to the work of a cinematic legend.—Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

Library Journal

David Mikics’s focused, fast-paced examination of film director Stanley Kubrick’s life and career is highly entertaining. Steven Jay Cohen’s direct and sensitive performance makes Kubrick more approachable and human. The volume is chronologically organized by film production and offers an in-depth look behind the scenes of films as diverse as DR. STRANGELOVE and EYES WIDE SHUT. Equally interesting are the projects Kubrick chose to postpone or decline. Sadly, Cohen pronounces the surname of actor Keir Dullea in varying ways on different occasions. Nonetheless, this is a worthwhile listening experience for those who wish to learn more about a great American director. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2020 - AudioFile