Kubrick In The 60s

June 17, 2012 6:57 AM

Stanley Kubrick didn’t like giving long interviews, but he loved playing chess. So when the physicist and writer Jeremy Bernstein paid him a visit to gather material for a piece for The New Yorker about a new film project he was writing with Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick was intrigued to learn that Bernstein was a fairly serious chess player. The result was an unusually long and candid recorded interview for the New Yorker. (77 min)
posted by The Whelk (8 comments total)

Okay, wow. I will be listening to this as soon as I'm done with the stupidly-short deadline writing project I currently have going on this weekend. What a find -- thanks for posting!
posted by hippybear at 7:38 AM on June 17, 2012

I'm sorry, Frank, I think you missed it. Queen to Bishop 3, Bishop takes Queen, Knight takes Bishop. Mate.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:11 AM on June 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

I love the bit where the interviewer thinks Marilyn Monroe is in The Killing and Kubrick has to tell him he's thinking of The Asphalt Jungle.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:40 AM on June 17, 2012

Listening to it now, surprisingly warm and down to earth (though obviously super smart!) sounding guy, far away from the icy mastermind of myth. Great find.
posted by houlihan at 8:44 AM on June 17, 2012

But why do they do it? The fighters? Why do they practice and study so diligently the science of hammering each other unconscious with upholstered fists?

The Day of the Fight documentary Kubrick discusses. What narration.
posted by starman at 9:05 AM on June 17, 2012

Listening to Kubrick here reminds me that of the revelation a friend came to recently: it's obvious that Peter Sellers was basing his performance of Clare Quilty in Lolita on Kubrick himself.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 9:41 AM on June 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

Previously, though the first link in that is down, so here's a full video.

This audio interview is only the second time I've heard Kubrick's voice.
posted by skilar at 3:35 PM on June 17, 2012

The Jeremy Bernstein interview is also a must
posted by silsurf at 9:00 PM on June 19, 2012