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 |
Originally, Stanley Kubrick had Stuart Freeborn create a primitive but more human-like makeup for the actors playing early man, but he couldn't find a way to photograph them in full length without getting an X-rating from the MPAA, since they had to be naked. So Kubrick went with the hairy monkey model instead. With the exception of two baby chimpanzees, all were played by humans in costume. Freeborn and his wife Kathleen Freeborn used comic actor Ronnie Corbett as a makeup model, but he did not appear in the final film. Daniel Richter, who plays the ape moon watcher, choreographed most of these scenes. Early viewers of the movie wondered where Kubrick obtained such well-trained apes. It was later joked that "2001" lost the Best Makeup Academy Award to John Chambers for Planet of the Apes because the judges didn't realize the 2001 apes were really people, but there was no nomination list at all, as the award was not created until 1981--Chambers' award was merely honorary.
Originally, HAL was to be called Athena and have a female voice. According to Keir Dullea (Dave Bowman), Nigel Davenport and Martin Balsam were hired and later replaced before Douglas Rain finally landed the role of HAL. Davenport was actually on-set in England during filming, reading HAL's lines off-camera so that Dullea and Gary Lockwood could react to them. Apparently, Stanley Kubrick thought that Davenport's English accent was too distracting, so after a few weeks he dismissed him and for the remainder of the shoot HAL's lines were read by an assistant director who, according to Dullea, had a Cockney accent so thick that lines like "Better take a stress pill, Dave" came out like "Better tyke a stress pill, Dyve". Later Balsam was hired and recorded HAL's voice in New York, but again when Kubrick heard his lines he wasn't satisfied, so he finally got Rain to re-record everything during post-production. Rain recorded in Canada, speaking his lines barefoot with his feet resting on a pillow to get the relaxed tone. For the sequel, Peter Hyams' 2010, the opposite process was used: Rain
Poole (Gary Lockwood) was filmed wearing a helmet on the bridge of Discovery because Stanley Kubrick initially had doubts over the scientific possibility of a person's survival for even an instant in a vacuum; however, data published at the time indicated that such survival was indeed possible, which allowed the Emergency Air Lock re-entry sequence to be filmed and for scenes to be shot of the astronauts without their helmets.
Rock band Pink Floyd was at one point approached to perform music for the film. However they turned it down due to other commitments. Yet they retain a connection with the film: much like The Wizard of Oz and "Dark Side of the Moon", it is said that Pink Floyd's song "Echoes" from the album "Meddle" can be perfectly synchronized with the "Jupiter & Beyond the Infinite" segment of the film. See links section for details.
Some of the "Dawn of Man" African sequences used the sounds of wild cats, gorillas and chimpanzees originally recorded for the MGM film Mogambo. The sounds were authentic and actually recorded in locations throughout Africa during the making of "Mogambo" while it was being shot on location there.
The 'buttons' that Dave Bowman presses to arm the depressurization sequence of the pod are the valves of the seat portion of a Martin-Baker aircraft ejection seat's personal equipment connector (PEC). The valves sealed the pilot's air services such as oxygen, pressure jerkin, anti-g suit and air ventilation (depending on the specific aircraft requirements) when the seat was not in use. Below the valves can be seen the brass intercom connections. The component seen could possibly have been salvaged from a series 4 seat fitted to an English Electric Lightning.
The actual "Space Station 5" model, which was about 7 feet across, was found a few years after 2001: A Space Odyssey was made, discarded in an English field with wild grass growing over its rapidly decaying surface. The model was destroyed by vandals a few days later.
The animal used in the "Dawn of Man" sequence, the one that looks like a black pig with a trunk, is a tapir.
The Blue Danube Waltz was not the first piece of classical music intended for the space station sequence. Stanley Kubrick originally set the sequence to the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Midsummer Night's Dream." Friend of Kubrick's introduced him to the Johann Strauß waltzes during 2001's editing stage, and he re-edited the sequence to The Blue Danube for the final version of the film.
The carry-on bags belonging to Russian space scientists with whom Dr. Floyd shares a drink are marked Aeroflot (in Cyrillic), still today the Russian national airline.
The chess position and moves that we see are from a game played in 1910 in Hamburg between two undistinguished players named Roesch and Schlage. The computer claims that the final position is a checkmate in two moves. Actually, white is not obliged to play the move that HAL suggests (Bxf3), so we have a checkmate in three moves. Another result of Stanley Kubrick's fondness for chess is the character Smyslov, named after a Russian champion.
The end music credits do not list a conductor and orchestra for "Also Sprach Zarathustra." Stanley Kubrick wanted the Herbert von Karajan/Vienna Philharmonic version on British Decca for the film's soundtrack, but Decca executives did not want the company's recording supposedly cheapened by association with the movie, and so it gave permission on the condition that the conductor and orchestra were not named. After the movie's successful release, Decca tried to rectify its blunder by re-releasing the recording with an As-Heard-in-"2001" flag printed on the album cover. John Culshaw recounts the incident in the book "Putting the Record Straight" (1981). In Decca's haste to rush the re-release the recording, the album was issued with a disfiguring pitch waver at the end of each side. In the meantime, MGM released the official soundtrack album with Karl Böhm's Berlin Philharmonic "Also Sprach Zarathustra" discreetly substituting for von Karajan's version. The always publicity-minded von Karajan, by then permanent conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, was furious with Decca. Rhino/Atlantic Records' current CD release of the soundtrack purports to restore the von Karajan recording to its proper place.<br
The entire centrifuge section of the Discovery spacecraft was constructed as a single set. It was designed to rotate for shots such as the sequence in which Frank went jogging so that the actor remained on the bottom.
The entire film contains only 205 special effects shots, compared to 350 in Star Wars and over 2,200 such shots in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
The film was originally to have ended just as it had in the book, with Bowman discovering the third monolith on Saturn's moon Japetus. This idea was scrapped, however, because the special effects crew was unable to make convincing-looking rings around Saturn. Effects artist Douglas Trumbull eventually perfected a technique for making the rings after production was completed, and used Saturn's rings to great effect in his directorial debut, Silent Running.
The first film showing a completely revised (and very short-lived) version of the MGM lion logo, which became prominent, however, as the logo of MGM Records and of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The full text of the Zero Gravity Toilet Instructions: ZERO GRAVITY TOILET PASSENGERS ARE ADVISED TO READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE - 1. The toilet is of the standard zero-gravity type. Depending on requirements, System A and/or System B can be used, details of which are clearly marked in the toilet compartment. When operating System A, depress lever and a plastic dalkron eliminator will be dispensed through the slot immediately underneath. When you have fastened the adhesive lip, attach connection marked by the large "X" outlet hose. Twist the silver coloured ring one inch below the connection point until you feel it lock. - 2. The toilet is now ready for use. The Sonovac cleanser is activated by the small switch on the lip. When securing, twist the ring back to its initial-condition, so that the two orange lines meet. Disconnect. Place the dalkron eliminator in the vacuum receptacle to the rear. Activate by pressing the blue button. - 3. The controls for System B are located on the opposite wall. The red release switch places the uroliminator into position; it can be adjusted manually up or down by pressing the blue manual release button. The opening is self adjusting. To secure after use, press the green button which simultaneously activates the evaporator and returns the uroliminator to its storage position. - 4. You may leave the lavatory if the green exit light is on over
The initial idea for the alien device that would eventually become the black monolith involved a transparent screen, which would show the apes how to use objects as tools and weapons. Arthur C. Clarke later dismissed it as 'too naive'. Also, the HAL 9000 computer started out as a mobile robot, but as Clarke feared that this view of artificial intelligence would become hopelessly outdated in the coming decades, the omnipresent red eye was conceived.
The joke working title, "How the Solar System was Won", reflected the original idea for the film. Just as How the West Was Won was a series of short stories spanning decades, 2001: A Space Odyssey was going to be a series of stories showing explorations on many planets and moons, ending with "The Sentinel" showing the uncovering of the monolith on the Moon, which was the first contact with extra terrestrials. A genuine working title was "Voyage Beyond the Stars". When Fantastic Voyage was released, Stanley Kubrick reportedly so disliked that film that he did not want his film to sound anything like it. In the end, "2001" was chosen as it is the first year of both the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. In 1999 Arthur C. Clarke held a press conference in which he said he was dismayed that so many people (including college professors and journalists) were incorrectly calling 2000 the beginning of the century.
The last movie made about men on the moon before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked there in real life. 40 years later, conspiracy theorists insist that this is not a coincidence, claiming that all footage of Armstrong's voyage was a hoax film directed by Stanley Kubrick using leftover scenes and props from this movie.
The main Discovery set was built by aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrong inside a 12-meter by two-meter drum designed to rotate at five km per hour. It cost $750,000.
The movie has many instances of product placement for IBM. The most apparent are the computer panels in the space plane that docks with the space station, the forearm control panel on Dave's spacesuit, and the portable viewing screens on which Dave and Frank watch "The World Tonight."
The movie was not a financial success during the first weeks of its theatrical run. MGM was already planning to pull it back from theaters, when they were persuaded by several theatre owners to keep showing the film. Many theater owners had observed increasing numbers of young adults attending the film, who were especially enthusiastic about watching the 'Star Gate' sequence under the influence of psychotropic drugs. This helped the film to become a financial success in the end, despite the many negative reactions it received in the beginning.
The only Oscar won by the film was for special visual effects. It was awarded to Stanley Kubrick - and was his sole win from 13 nominations. However, while Kubrick designed much of the look of the film and its effects, many of the technicians involved felt it was wrong for him to receive the sole credit. Following this controversy, the Academy tightened it eligibility rules.
The phrase "See you next Wednesday" is heard for the first time during the scene in which Poole receives birthday greetings from his parents. The phrase would become a trademark of director John Landis who would use it in many of his movies.
The silverware used at the station and in the Discovery was designed by renowned Danish architect Arne Jacobsen in 1957 and is still available for sale 50 years after first being produced.
The soundtrack includes quotations from two pieces by György Ligeti ("Atmosphères" and "Lux Aeterna"). The music was used without Ligeti's permission, and he did not find out about it until he attended the movie's Vienna premiere.
The sun and the crescent moon aligned with each other (in the opening shot) was a symbol of Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion that predated Buddhism and Christianity and was based on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra). This particular alignment symbolized the eternal struggle between light and darkness. Appropriately enough, the famous "2001: A Space Odyssey Theme" is from "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Thus Spake Zarathustra), the symphonic poem by Richard Strauss, based on a book by Friedrich Nietzsche, which contained his famous declaration "God is dead". One can assume, given Stanley Kubrick's working methods, that none of this was accidental.
The television interviewer explains that gaps of seven minutes each were edited out of the broadcast as signals raced between Earth and the hugely distant Discovery crew. Given that the resulting interview ran about four minutes and there were 19 such gaps, the interview must have taken about 2 hours 17 minutes to tape. (Unless the questions and replies were all sent in single bursts, and re-edited later.)
There is a full 24 minutes before the first word of dialogue.
There is no dialogue in the first 25 minutes of the movie (ending when a stewardess speaks at 25:38), nor in the last 23 minutes (excluding end credits). With these two lengthy sections and other shorter ones, there are around 88 dialogue-free minutes in the movie.
This film was shot at MGM's Borehamwood Studios next door to where the TV series The Prisoner was being filmed. Prisoner star Patrick McGoohan borrowed some special effects footage of a starry sky for his episode "Chimes of Big Ben". This footage was not used in the broadcast version of the episode but is visible in an early edit that was later released on video.
Though almost invisible when watching the film on a TV screen, the three satellites in the first space sequence bear German, French, and Chinese markings.
TMA-1 stands for Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-1. The monolith was originally to have been a black tetrahedron; however, it did not reflect light properly. Stanley Kubrick then decided to use a transparent cube, but that proved to be too difficult to use because of the reflections created by the studio lights. Next came a rectangular monolith cast from Lucite that looked unconvincing, and finally the familiar black slab.
Was voted the 26th Greatest Film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.