kubrick too

hey there

a little while ago - two (or so) weeks as point of fact, or just click here, look you see - i did one of these sort of posts in honour of those who honour Sir Roger Moore. which, i would like to think, is everyone, really, so better to say a presentation of a manifestation of honouring Sir Roger. kind of. 

that opening paragraph really, really didn't go well. let me move on, then, in the hope that everyone just ignores it anyway and looks at the pictures. 

so, the place where i was at did not just honour Sir Roger Moore. no, not at all. quite a few film celebrations were in place. of particular interest, to me, was the respect for Stanley Kubrick. 

my apologies - or if you will appy polly lodgies - for the peculiar angles for these picture. due to light, reflection, etc, i figured it would be better to get these images at an angle where little or as little as possible was reflected, rather than full tilt face on. 

yes, then, i was at that there Elstree in that there London (innit). the images of the great one himself, as shall be clear in the second (a bit further down), come from when he was in the area to film The Shining, somewhere north of 40 (forty) years ago. 

need i speak, or write, much of Kubrick's legendary "it takes as long as it takes to take as many takes as i wish for" approach to filmmaking? quite the urban legend stemmed from his way of doing things for The Shining though. apparently his extended time filming this one caused "a bit" of an issue for those needing the studios to make the next Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. 

back when stories spread through whispers, hearsay and the occasional not necessarily fact checked snippet in a magazine, a story emerged that some of the delay on The Shining, and for that matter The Empire Strikes Back, stemmed from Kubrick deciding he wanted to film "a bit" of this Star Wars motion picture. 

unlikely to be true, for a whole range of contractual and financial reasons, but it is a wonderful idea. also, it would kind of explain why Empire routinely gets regarded as the very best of all the films, for a reason beyond that it simply features the three best and most important Star Wars characters; Lobot Lando and Boba Fett.  

yeah, had i started (commenced) with that picture above, there would have been no need at all for me to clarify that this was during the making of The Shining. man, that Jack Nicholson is scary when he wishes to be. hence him being cast, i suppose. still not convinced he would have managed Napoleon, had Kubrick been able to film it, but we shall never know. 

going back to the urban legend, the question would be what "bits" of Empire did Kubrick supposedly film? i can't really see him just "directing" a scene or two and saying "there you go". yet, well, the quasi torture of Han Solo scene, not to mention his carbon freezing, does have a vague Kubrick feel. just not as direct or overtly unsettling as Kubrick would have done it in a full tilt Kubrick film. 

selfie? moi? me? of course. 

nice of the hotel to name one of their meeting, or conference, rooms after Kubrick. so yes, it is very much an ambition of mine to one day hold a meeting in this room. what about? no idea. how excellent Kubrick was, maybe, or an all day session discussing if he really did film some of Empire Strikes Back. this room is also quite close to the door to the smoking section, which is handy. 

well, in truth i am not all that sure as and when i shall next be near somewhere what celebrates, or honours, the greats of cinema. but should i be, yes, probably, i will put a reference here. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!