The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey

329 Pages·2000·17.012 MB·English

by  Stephanie Schwam

duction by JAY COCKS
THE MAKING OF
2001:
A
SPACE
ODYSSEY
Selected by Stephanie Schwam
MARTIN SCORSESE
SERIES EDITOR
Introduction by Yay Cocks
THE MODERN LIBRARY
NEW YORK
ALSO FROM MODERN LIBRARY: THE MOVIES
Agee on Film, by James Agee
The Art oft he Moving Picture, by Vachel Lindsay
Memo from David 0. Seiznick, selected by Rudy Hehlmer
THE MAKING OF
2001:
A
SPACE ODYSSEY
The editors would like to thank Robert Haller of Anthology Film Archives
in New York City for his assistance in researching this book.
2000 Modern Library Paperback Edition
Compilation copyright © 2000 by Random House, Inc.
, Introduction copyright © 2000 by Jay Cocks
Series introduction copyright © 2000 by Martin Scorsese
"200I:A Space Odyssey Re-viewed" copyright © 2000 by Alexander Walker
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. P1,lblished in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York,
and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited,Toronto.
MODERN LIBRARY and colophon are registered trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
"Stanley Kubrick Raps," by Charlie Kohler.
Originally published in East Village Eye, 1968.
Owing to limitations of space, acknowledgments of permission to quote from
previously published materials will be found at the back of the book.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
The making of 2001, a space odyssey/[selected by Stephanie Schwam for] The
Modern Library.
p. cm.-(Modern Library the movies)
Chiefly a collection of previously published articles, essays, and interviews.
Includes a Stanley Kubrick filmography.
ISBN 0-375-75528-4 (alk. paper)
1. 2001, a space odyssey (Motion picture) t Schwam, Stephanie.
. II. Modern Library (Firm) III. Series.
PN1997.T86 M35 2000
791.43'72-dc21 99-055776
Modern Library website address: www.modernlibrary.com
Printed in the United States of America
246897531
INTRODUCTION TO MODERN LIBRARY:
THE MOVIES
Martin Scorsese .
When as a small boy I first fell in love with the movies, I discovered a
book by Deems Taylor entitled A Pictorial Hirtory of the Movier at our
local branch of the New York Public Library. It was the only film book
that I knew about, and I borrowed it time and time again~ A Picton'al
Hirtory was just that, a chronological collection of movie stills accom
panied by brief descriptions of the movies from the silent-film era to
1949. It was the first course in my film education. Its beautiful black
arid-white images re-created the visions and emotions of the movies
I'd already seen, and allowed me to dream about the others.
It wasn't until some thirty years later that I was able to own a copy
of the book (it had gone out of print and was difficult to find). The late
Roddy McDowall also grew up with the Deems Taylor book. As a
child actor, he would take it on the set and get the cast and crew to sign
the stills of the movies on which they had worked. The How Green War
My Valley page, for instance, was eventually signed by John Ford, Mau
reen O'Hara, and Walter Pidgeon. This treasured book awoke in me
the desire to collect as many film books as possible. There are now one
thousand or so books in my library, covering the past one hundred
years of movie history, which I use constantly for information and in
spiration.
viii '. Introduction to Modern Library: The Movies
In the Modern Library: The Movies series, we are publishing some
of the classics in the field: personal accounts from movie artists as well
as works by film historians and critics in a variety of literary forms.
Since the Cave Age there has been a constant battle about the
supremacy of the word over the image. Although film is primarily a vi
sual medium, it combines elements from all the arts-literature,
music, painting, and dance. For my first list of books, I have chosen two
that reflect the felicitous merger of words and images: one by a literary
journalist and the other by a poet. I have also chosen two books written
in different forms: a collection of memos and a firsthand testimony on
the making of a movie classic.
The movies discussed in these books range from early silent films to
one of the most modern and innovative films ever made, from obscure
lost films to Hollywood extravaganzas. By happenstance, this first list
focuses on American movies; foreign films will be included in later
seasons. It is my hope that these books will appeal to movie lovers and
film professionals alike, and that they'll re-create some of the movie
magic I felt as a child with that first book borrowed from the library.
CONTENTS
Introduaion to Modern Library: The Movies I
Martin Scorsese • vii
SK / Jay Cocks· xi
The Production: A Calendar / Carolyn Geduld •
Credits / Carolyn Geduld • 11
PREPRODUCTION
The Sentinel / Arthur C. Clarke • 17
Beyond the Stars / Jeremy Bernstein' 27
Christmas, Shepperton / Arthur C. Clarke • 31
Shipbuilding / Piers Bizony • 43
FILM lNG/POSTPRODUCTION
First Day of Shooting· 58
Monoliths and Manuscripts / Arthur C. Clarke' 61
How About a Little Game? / Jeremy Bernstein • 68
Filming 2001: A Space Odyssey / Herb A. Lightman • 94
Front-Projection for 2001: A Space Odyssey / Herb A. Lightman • 106
Creating Special Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey / Douglas Trumbull • 113
Testimonies: Frederick I. Ordway, Alex North, Con Pederson,
Douglas Trumbull, Gordon Moore, Freeman Dyson /
Compiled by Jerome Agel • 124
Anecdotes: Keir Dullea,Jerry Lewis / Peter Bogdanovich • 135
RELEASE
Original Press Release / Piers Bizony • 141
Reviews" 144
LEGACY
Happy Birthday, HAL / Simson Garfinkel • 223
2001: A Space Odyssey Re-viewed / Alexander Walker· 237
x . Contents
THE LAST WORD
Stanley Kubrick Raps / Charlie Kohler, The East Village Eye· 245
Free Press Interview: Arthur C. Clarke / Gene Youngblood . 258
How the Book Ends / Arthur C. Clarke . 270
Playboy Interview: Stanley Kubrick . 272
Appendix: Stanley Kubrick Filmography . 301
SK
Jay Cocks
MGM is turning to real-estate parcels all around us, and that night I
am facing Stanley Kubrick across the hood of a rented car in Culver
City, and he is smiling at me, a little anxiously and still very proudly,
and he is saying, "Yes, but did you like it?"
He means.2001. We have just seen it for the first time, he and I and
perhaps a dozen others, in the cavernous studio screening room. Stan
ley's wife, Christiane, is with us. His attorney; the president of Cin
erama; the film's editor, Ray Lovejoy; and a few others are also at the
screening, but I am the only pair of fresh, disinterested eyes there. I am
also, by at least two decades, the youngest member of the audience, an
unelected representative of a generation that will eventually rescue
this great film from critical infamy and claim it for its own. I am
twenty-three years old, very lucky to be here, knowing it, sensing I
have just seen something seismic whose full measure I can't take,
reaching for something to say that will encompass all this, as well as
my startled excitement at the wit and majesty of the movie. I am also
trying to say something deeper and more memorable than "Wow."
I start to talk to Stanley and Christiane about the early days of
silents, when movies were shown on rooftops, and audiences, watching
a train on the screen come straight at them, ducked and screamed at