Facts > Films > 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Facts
| Director(s) | Stanley Kubrick |
| Producer(s) | Stanley Kubrick, Victor Lyndon (uncredited) |
| Featured Cast | Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Leonard Rossiter, Robert Beatty |
| Total Facts | 85 |
Stanley Kubrick cut 19 minutes from the film's original 158-minute running time after its New York premiere, mostly to speed up the pacing.
Stanley Kubrick had several tons of sand imported, washed, and painted for the moon surface scenes.
Stanley Kubrick initially approached Arthur C. Clarke by saying that he wanted to make "the proverbial good science-fiction movie". Clarke suggested that his story "The Sentinel" (1948) about finding an alien artifact on the moon, would provide a suitable premise. Clarke had written it for a BBC competition, but it didn't even make the shortlist. The movie's opening scene has elements in common with Clarke's story "Encounter at Dawn," and the ending is arguably related to his beloved novel "Childhood's End." The screenplay was written primarily by Kubrick and the novel primarily by Clarke, each working simultaneously and also providing feedback to the other. As the story went through many revisions, changes in the novel were taken over into the screenplay and vice versa. The official records say that the screenplay was written in 58 days (13 October 1965-9 December 1965). Shooting began with the "Monolith on the Moon" scene on 29 December 1965. It was undecided whether film or novel would be released first; in the end it was the film. Kubrick was to have been credited as second author of the novel, but in the end was not. It is believed that Kubrick deliberately withheld his approval of the novel as to not hurt the release of the film.
Stanley Kubrick kept the costume of Moonwatcher.
Stanley Kubrick previewed 2001: A Space Odyssey for critics, but quickly regretted doing so. Among the mostly indifferent and unfavorable reviews, as noted in the Documentary, 2001: The Making of a Myth were: "Somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring"-The New York Times, "A monumentally unimaginative movie"-Harpers, "Space Odyssey fails most gloriously"-Newsday, and "Big, Beautiful but plodding scifi epic. Superb photography major asset to confusing, long-unfolding plot."-Variety
Stanley Kubrick was initially forced by MGM to have Alex North (who had written the score for Kubrick's Spartacus) compose an original score for the 2001. Kubrick, however, always intended to use classical music for the film. He allowed North to score the first half of the film before informing him they planned to use only sound effects for the second half. It wasn't until he was watching the film at its premier in New York that North discovered that his music had not been. North later reused themes composed for 2001 in the films The Shoes of the Fisherman, Shanks, and Dragonslayer. North's original score was unheard for 25 years until composer Jerry Goldsmith re-recorded it for Varese Sarabande in 1993. In 2007, however, Intrada, working with Alex North's estate, released North's personal copies of the 1968 recording sessions on CD.
Stanley Kubrick was very well read. It is rumored that the image of the star-child came to him from the "Spirit of the Earth" in Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound": "Within the orb itself, Pillowed upon its alabaster arms, Like to a child o'erwearied with sweet toil, On its own folded wings and wavy hair The Spirit of the Earth is laid asleep..."
Stanley Kubrick worked for several months with effects technicians to come up with a convincing effect for the floating pen in the shuttle sequence. After trying many different techniques, without success, Kubrick decided to simply use a pen that was taped to a sheet of glass and suspended in front of the camera. In fact, the shuttle attendant can be seen to "pull" the pen off the glass when she takes hold of it.
Stanley Kubrick: [classic/parlor games] Even in outer space, mankind enjoys a classic game of chess.
Stanley Kubrick: [faces] Dave Bowman going through the Star Gate.
Stanley Kubrick: [zoom] as Dr. Floyd reads the zero-g toilet instructions.
Vivian Kubrick: the daughter of Stanley Kubrick plays Dr. Floyd's daughter.
Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick disagreed on what HAL's birthday should be. Kubrick wanted HAL to be about the age of a child, so his death would have more emotional impact. Clarke insisted such an old computer would not be used for an important mission. In the book, HAL's age was four years (12 January 1997), while in the movie it was nine years (12 January 1992). This disagreement resurfaced nearly thirty years later when film critic Roger Ebert held a birthday party for HAL 9000 by screening 2001 in Urbana, Illinois in 1997, the date and place of HAL's birth in the novel (Ebert was also born in Urbana). Clarke and Kubrick were both invited. Clarke accepted his invitation and made an appearance at the festivities via satellite, but Kubrick declined, stating that they missed HAL's birthday in 1992. Another inconsistency in this scene is the name of HAL's first instructor. It is Mr. Langley in this movie but is Dr. Chandra in all other books and movies in this series. Since HAL is saying all this while being shut down, this could be interpreted as a result of memory failure.
Frank Miller, who plays the mission control voice, was a member of the US Air Force in real life, and a real mission controller. He was hired because his voice was the most authentic the producers could find for the role. Inexperienced and nervous, he could not keep from tapping his foot during recording sessions, and the tapping sound repeatedly came through on the audio tracks; Stanley Kubrick folded up a towel, put it under Miller's feet, and told him to tap to his heart's content.
Marvin Minsky, one of the pioneers of neural networks who was also an adviser to the filmmakers, almost got killed by a falling wrench on the set.
According to Stanley Kubrick biographer John Baxter, Kubrick decided to use the Sinar Front Projection system for the desert backdrops during the animal/ape scenes. This method was selected because rear projection of the desert scenes would have proved too murky for Super Panavision. The use of the Sinar system explains why in the scene where the leopard is sitting next to the dead zebra (in reality a painted dead horse) the leopard's eyes glow a bright color. The Sinar system used glass transparencies as backdrops; however, the projectors necessary for this system were so hot that a draft or a breath could crack the glass. As a result, crew members were required to wear face masks, which started a long-persistent rumor that Kubrick had a paranoia of catching infections.
According to Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick wanted to get an insurance policy from Lloyd's of London to protect himself against losses in the event that extraterrestrial intelligence were discovered before the movie was released. Lloyd's refused. Carl Sagan commented, "In the mid-1960s, there was no search being performed for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the chances of accidentally stumbling on extraterrestrial intelligence in a few years' period was extremely small. Lloyd's of London missed a good bet."
According to Katharina Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick provided the breathing heard in the spacesuits.
According to Douglas Trumbull, the total footage shot was some 200 times the final length of the film.
After seeing a documentary called To the Moon and Beyond (not listed on IMDb) at the 1964 New York World's Fair, Stanley Kubrick hired one of its special effects technicians, Douglas Trumbull, to work on this film. Trumbull developed a process called Slitscan photography to create the wild, kaleidoscopic images Bowman experiences going through the Stargate. It involved moving the camera rapidly past different pieces of lighted artwork, with the camera shutter held open to allow for a streaking effect. The overall effect gave the audience the sense of plunging into the infinite. Trunbull was later hired by ABC to produce the famous opening sequence for the ABC "Movie of the Week" using the same slitscan technique used for 2001.
All of the special effects footage had to be printed on the original negatives. Stanley Kubrick thought using copies of the negatives would harm the visual quality of effects shots.
Although all advertisements, as well as the soundtrack album and the movie's closing credits, claimed that the film was released in Cinerama, it was not shot in the Cinerama process (three synchronized films that would be shown by three synchronized projectors on a huge, curved screen). All Cinerama films from 1963 on were shot by one camera on 70-millimeter film with a special anamorphic lens that would then project a blown-up image onto the curved screen. This film initially did such poor box office that MGM actually considered pulling it from Cinerama release after completion of a 30-day run. The exhibitors began reporting that audiences were not only increasing, but it was noted that some audience members had come to see the film multiple times. It eventually became one of MGM's biggest hits, yet was the only film to be pulled from Cinerama venues while it was still making a good profit. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was anxious to release its completed production Ice Station Zebra.
Although it's commonly believed that the famous "jump cut" is from the bone being tossed in the air to a ship floating in space, it is in fact not a spaceship, it's a nuclear device circling the earth. So the bone being used as the "first" murder weapon is thrown to the "ultimate" weapon. Originally the "star child" was to detonate this device and all the other devices that were circling the earth. Stanley Kubrick decided against the ending as it was too similar to the end of his previous film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, where nuclear bombs are exploded.
Although the memories of many Los Angeles residents insist that this opened at the famous Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd., it actually opened at the Warners Cinerama Theater on Hollywood Blvd., and played there for months. It did not play at the Dome for several years.
Among the model-makers was David Peterson, later Wales's foremost sculptor and a prominent nationalist activist.
An early draft of the script had narration.
Aside from the film's music, no sound is heard in the space sequences. This is because technically in space, there is no sound.
At the end of the film, the only spacesuit that was never used is the blue one. In 2010, the blue suit is missing its helmet, apparently because the producers thought that Dave used it in 2001: A Space Odyssey when disabling HAL. Dave is actually wearing a green helmet, from the green suit which was stowed inside the emergency airlock.
By the year 2001 some of the product placements had become outdated. RCA Whirlpool, the maker of the zero-gravity food preparation unit on the moon shuttle, had become Whirlpool. The Bell System had been divested and the long-distance service became AT&T. Pan Am had ceased operations as an international air carrier (in fact, the Whirlpool change had already happened by the time of the film's original release).
Despite its G-rating, there are five on-screen murders: a man-ape, Frank Poole, and the three hibernating astronauts killed by HAL. The dialogue also includes the words "hell" three times and "damn" twice.
During the trip Bowman takes after leaving the Discovery, some of the images seen are tinted footage of the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.
Evidence of Stanley Kubrick's attention to detail: there are visible replacement instructions for the explosive bolts in the ejection apparatus of the pods.
Frank Poole and Dave Bowman watch themselves in a television interview on "BBC 12". This was a play on the fact that, at the time of production, there were only BBC channels 1 and 2. The presenter in this scene is Kenneth Kendall, the first newsreader seen on British TV in 1955.
HAL 9000 never once says, "Good Morning, Dave," despite this line being one of his most recognized quotations.
HAL sings "Daisy Bell" (or "A Bicycle Built for Two") as he is shut down. One of the earliest pieces of electronic music, this was the first song ever programmed into a computer to be played back using a simulation of speech synthesis. The machine was an IBM 7094 that was located at Bell Labs in 1961. Furthermore, the lyrics include the phrase "I'm half crazy."
If you consider the relative positions of Bowman when he first arrives in the suite, when he is next standing in the room, when he is in the bathroom, when he is at the table, and when he is in the bed, these points form a star.
In honor of the book and movie, NASA named a Mars orbiter: 2001 Mars Odyssey. This was not the first time NASA had a connotation with the film; the Apollo 13 command module's callsign was Odyssey during the ill-fated mission.
In the French version, Dr. Heywood Floyd's middle name is Richard.
In the novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke used the Latin spelling J instead of I, for the Saturnian moon of Japetus.
In the premier screening of the film, 241 people walked out of the theater, including Rock Hudson who said "Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?" Arthur C. Clarke once said, "If you understand '2001' completely, we failed. We wanted to raise far more questions than we answered."
In the sequence in which Bowman recovers Poole's body with the pod, the camera was running at four times normal speed so that the resulting footage would be in slow-motion, giving a slow, "drifting in space" look. That means the soft contact of the pod's arms with Poole's body was actually rather rough, and as a result, the stunt man doubling for Poole was badly bruised by the end of the takes.
Incrementing each letter of "HAL" gives you "IBM". Writer Arthur C. Clarke claimed this was unintentional, and if he had noticed ahead of time, he would have changed it. HAL stands for Heuristic Algorithmic Computer. IBM product placements appear in the movie as well, including the computer panels in the spaceplane that docks with the space station, the forearm control panel on Dave's spacesuit, and the portable viewscreens on which Dave and Frank watch "The World Tonight".
It is reported that Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke watched an enormous number of science fiction films in preparation for creating this movie and Kubrick himself acknowledged the influence of producer George Pal's films. Pal's Conquest of Space provided several plot points throughout the movie.
Just like in Arthur C. Clarke's short story 'The Sentinel', the finding of the monolith on the moon would initially be the film's climax. This eventually became the kick-off for the movie's second half. But even during production, the ending of the movie was still under constant revision. Stanley Kubrick initially planned to show extra-terrestrials, but found out that the production's budget was quickly running out. He finally decided that it would be better to not physically show the aliens at all, stating that "you don't show God".
Magazine "poll" places won by this movie: In 2002, named by "Positif" (France) as #1 in both critics' choice and readers' choice of 50 best films in 1952-2002. In 2007, named by American Film Institute as #15 Greatest Movie of All Time, and #1 on AFI list of the 10 greatest "Sci-Fi" films, June 2008. "Open the pod bay doors, HAL," #78 (out of 100) of AFI's best movie quotes. "Dave, my mind is going, I can feel it," #82 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines," Premiere, 2007. A poster was #10 of 25 Best Movie Posters Ever, Premiere Magazine.
MGM took a four page advertisement in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Star to launch its publicity campaign for 2001: A Space Odyssey during 25th February 1968.
Most of the monitor screens used throughout the spacecraft sequences are rear-projection 16mm showing loops of film. Due to Stanley Kubrick's typical multi-multi-take technique, a lot of these loops ended up getting scratched, and if you study some of the screens, particularly in the pod, you can see repeating scratches.
One of Stanley Kubricks additions to the screenplay which Arthur C. Clarke did not like was HAL's ability to read the astronauts' lips when they are inside the pod. Years later, he admitted that Kubrick had been right all along, after learning that at the time, computers were being developed with the ability to read lips.
Originally Stanley Kubrick had planned to shoot the film in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. After consultant Robert Gaffney convinced the director that Super Panavision (aspect ratio 2.20:1) was a more visceral experience, Kubrick agreed and got MGM to pay for the photographic process. Since shooting a 70mm space film with monaural sound was frowned upon, Kubrick decided to mix the soundtrack in stereo sound.
Originally intended as a road show release, with Overture, Intermission, and Exit music (all with curtain warmers) and a 35mm b/w prologue of interview with experts on the possibilities of extra terrestrial life. Despite the fact that the Overture, Intermission, and Exit Music were not used, the film still went out as a roadshow release, and still had an intermission. When Stanley Kubrick learned this, he not only ordered where the intermission took place, but had his film's composer record specific music for the intermission, and requested that the theater be plunged into darkness for a minute before the film restarted.