Customer Reviews

2001: Filming the Future (Revised)

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Recently, while at a nearby book store, I picked up a copy of Piers Bizony's 2001: FILIMING THE FUTURE and decided to purchase it. It was not a bad choice. This is a very extensive book on the making of Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi masterpiece. There are dozens of photographs in both color and black and white that show images from the movie as well as a look at the making of it. There are sketches of the spacecraft in the movie, which were drawn up from film stills, as well as pre-production sketches of some of the earlier design models. There is also an interesting introduction by Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the novel and co-wrote the screenplay. Finally, the text is well detailed and informative. For those of you who do not want to know how the groundbreaking special effects were made, stay away from this book! Model work, live action and stunt work formed the key elements of most of the visual effects work.

The book also discusses about how it was like to work with Stanley Kubrick. Most cast and crew admit that it was difficult but rewarding because Kubrick pushed them to their limit and made them work better. Kubrick did get mad at them, but he rarely yelled at them. He also got respect because he knew what he wanted and would not stop until he got it. Kubrick was also a perfectionist; after his work on Spartacus, he was determined to have full creative control over his movies and worked over every aspect of his films, demanding the absolute best from the people who worked for him. Stressful no doubt. But this is what made Kubrick one of the best and acclaimed filmmakers of all time. His genius and ambition shows in 2001: A Space Odyssey and this book is a superb tribute

This brilliant book's visuals alone make it worth adding to your collection of film books. Of course, Kubrick fans need it the most.

But what the book also speaks to, beyond Kubrick's compulsive fascination with technical accuracy in film, is how the effort in making this movie addressed our ambitions and fascinations in the 1960s. In a time where old social conventions were breaking down, right and left, 2001 spoke to a new optimism created by space exploration and its seemingly limitless potential.

"Capturing the imagination." Good movies achieve that goal, don't they? In this case, a fanatical dedication to research, and to placing on film the most accurate and, in a weird way, understated views of a human future in space, creating something really new in moviegoing experience.

In its time, that effort became quickly subsumed by two divergent audiences: people who wanted to enhance their drug experiences with visuals, and people who wanted to be in space. Of course, these audiences made the movie very, very successful.

Today, we have left this movie's technical accomplishments in the dust. We can depict space travel and its related phenomena (like weightlessness) in a relatively effortless way. Film special effects pour out, today, in ways not imagined in 1967. You could read this book as a quaint history tract in movemaking technics.

I read it beyond that, though. It spoke to the excitement and optimism with which many of us viewed our future. We ate this stuff up; we could sit through two reels of a spacecraft docking and think the time just flew by...

How do we feel about the future today? It is now highly unfashiomable to label yourself a "futurist" any more. It seems our future is all behind us now.

Thank God these things run in predictable cycles. Collective optimism about our future in space is just around the corner. I hope I live long enough to see and enjoy it...

2001 is one of my favorite films of all time and one of my favorite Kubrick films, and this is a worthy title for the library. Bizony does an excellent job of explaining the making of this epic film, and there many pictures from the fim, sets, and production. I do wish some of the images were larger and in color. There are quite a few color images, but there are quite a few black and white ones also. Highly recommended.

Its large format, crisp color reproduction, and amazing depth of detail make this one of the best 2001 books available. In fact, I had to own just one, this would be it.

In this age of computer generated imagery, it's fascinating to read in detail how 2001 pulled off its brilliant and never-dated space visuals with entirely manual processes. Seeing the incredibly huge and complex film sets, the detailed models and animations, and innovative camera techniques used give me a new appreciation for the magnitude of the film's greatness.

What is largely missing from this book is insight into Kubrick's source ideas and meaning for 2001. It's probably too much to ask for that in addition to the books fantastic production story.

I have read many books and chapters on "The Making Of 2001" and this book was by far the most enjoyable and satisfying. Mr. Bizony went to great lengths to get a well rounded account of the movie's production without ever letting the text get overburdened with details. Of course, the ample photographs and sketches make the book worthwhile in themselves. After reading this book, I watched 2001 again with new eyes. I had a much broader appreciation for the technical and artistic achievements of the film.

A terrific book, full of spectacular photos and diagrams,
and including an entertaining and informative text. First class!

Very few movies of the late twentieth century stand up to the test of time in the way of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This book tells the inside story of how this ground breaking film was made, and how it changed the outlook of a generation.

I must confess I bought this book just to have the photos, drawings and diagrams, which appear by the hundreds. I ended up reading every word of Bizony's account of the making of this monumental film. He provides the details and stories to satisfy the most die hard "2001" fan.

"2001: A Space Odyssey," like the actual space adventures of the late '60s and early '70s, is now almost ancient history. I doubt this particular film would, or could, be made today. Although its portrayal of our world thirty-three years ahead (from 1968) was austere and almost robotic, there was also an underlying sense of awe about the possible technical achievements.

The Sixties was not just about conflict, but also about possibilities. In that decade The Future presented itself, and we declined. Forty years later we have a world of tribal conflict and religious fundamentalism instead of the beginnings of a new human epoch.

Scattered details of the inklings of that epoch are offered by Bizony (scattered not by his writing, but by their occurrence). As example, Kubrick used the Pan Am logo not simply to provide realism, but because designers at Pan Am had shared with him their sketches, from the early '60s, of commercial space planes they intended to build and fly.

What is ironic about "2001" is that it holds up so well technically, far better than even recent films with computer generated scenes, and yet, as we learn from Bizony's account, not only was it a completely analog film, it was virtually hand made.

Readers also find a good offering of scenes and concepts that did not make the cut.

I found Piers Bizony's book fascinating and I'm continually amazed at the work this film achieved for its day (and today in many respects). It defined the genre. It's filled with great stills, diagrams, and behind-the-scenes photography of the filmmaking process.

However, if you're looking for a book that gives you an inside peek on the filmmaker and his decision making process for the story (or authentic insight on the story itself), you'll be disappointed. 2001 is a complex storyline with metaphore upon metaphore and the Bizony never seems to achieve a 'true' account by Kubrick on the film's meaning. It's more guessing, speculation, and hypothesis that add to the voices weighing in regarding this important film. I suppose in some respects, it adds the mystery and weight of story... and will remain that way with the passing of Kubrick in 2000.