Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick [Paperback]

Frederic Raphael (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 1999

We've all heard the rumors.

He was a hermit. He refused to fly and wouldn't be driven at more than thirty miles an hour. He avoided having his picture taken and was terrified of being assassinated. As a filmmaker, he was obsessed with perfection. He insisted on total control of every facet of the process. Simple scenes required one hundred takes. No wonder he made only six movies in the past thirty-five years.

But what was he really like?

For more than two years, Frederic Raphael collaborated closely with Stanley Kubrick on the screenplay of what was to be the director's final movie, Eyes Wide Shut. Over time, as his professional caution was replaced by a certain affection, Kubrick lowered his guard for Raphael as he never had with journalists or biographers, to reveal much about his early life in the cinema and of the reverses and humiliations he had to endure. They spoke for hours about a variety of subjects, from Julius Caesar to the Holocaust, from Kubrick's views about other directors to reminiscences of the many stars with whom both men had worked (or nearly worked)--Kirk Douglas, Audrey Hepburn, James Mason, Peter Sellers, Marisa Berenson, Sterling Hayden, Marlon Brando, and Gregory Peck.

Here, with his own distinctly cinematic style, Raphael chronicles their often fiery exchanges, capturing Kubrick's voice as no one else could. Disdaining false veneration, he opens our eyes to the mind and art of a truly complex and hitherto elusive twentieth-century genius.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hurriedly published to coincide with the July 1999 release of Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, this slim, rather obviously titled volume by the film's distinguished screenwriter offers considerably less than its cover copy leads you to expect. But for avid followers of Kubrick's career, even a cursory glimpse of the late director's lifestyle and creative methods will prove to be fascinating. And while Frederic Raphael instantly drew criticism and controversy from Kubrick's family and friends for describing Kubrick as "the sedentary wandering Jew, rootlessly rooted within his own defenses," this and other remarks must be considered in context. Eyes Wide Open must ultimately be seen to reflect Raphael's conflicting emotions about a filmmaker he clearly admires and respects, even if their collaboration resulted in equal parts elation, exasperation, and hard-won rewards.

Using notebook entries, vivid recollection, and re-created scenes in screenplay format, Raphael paints a portrait as revealing of himself (if not more so) than of Kubrick, and neither man comes across without blemish. Simultaneously self-indulgent, frustrating, and fascinating in its attempt to probe Kubrick's closely guarded psyche (a mission Raphael ultimately fails to accomplish), the book finally reveals--in fragments of sensitive insight--that Kubrick's reputation as a reclusive genius did in fact hide a very complex, intensely intelligent, and surprisingly human being. In one passage Raphael observes that "Stanley was so determined to be aloof and unfeeling that my heart went out to him. Somewhere along the line he was still the kid in the playground who had been no one's first choice to play with." Whether such observations are an accurate representation of Kubrick's personality is beside the point; that Raphael made the observation speaks volumes of both men, and this book is filled with similar revelations.

In addition to offering a privileged look at Kubrick's collaborative process, the book also reveals elusive details about Kubrick the man--pet lover, intellectual challenger, gracious host--and the result is a warmer image of him than that afforded by decades of distant speculation by journalists too willing to perpetuate the "myth" of Kubrick as omnipotent genius. If Raphael's book invites criticism and charges of blatant opportunism (with Kubrick unable to defend himself), it also provides a rare and often fascinating look at an artist who constantly eluded the gaze of outsiders. Raphael takes us inside Kubrick's gated domain, and we're grateful for the visit. If the truth resides somewhere between the protest of Kubrick's family and the insights presented here, we can at least use this book as a guide through previously uncharted territory. --Jeff Shannon

From the Inside Flap

We've all heard the rumors.

He was a hermit. He refused to fly and wouldn't be driven at more than thirty miles an hour. He avoided having his picture taken and was terrified of being assassinated. As a filmmaker, he was obsessed with perfection. He insisted on total control of every facet of the process. Simple scenes required one hundred takes. No wonder he made only six movies in the past thirty-five years.

But what was he really like?

For more than two years, Frederic Raphael collaborated closely with Stanley Kubrick on the screenplay of what was to be the director's final movie, Eyes Wide Shut. Over time, as his professional caution was replaced by a certain affection, Kubrick lowered his guard for Raphael as he never had with journalists or biographers, to reveal much about his early life in the cinema and of the reverses and humiliations he had to endure. They spoke for hours about a variety of subjects, from Julius Caesar to the Holocaust, from Kubrick's views about other directors to reminiscences of the many stars with whom both men had worked (or nearly worked)--Kirk Douglas, Audrey Hepburn, James Mason, Peter Sellers, Marisa Berenson, Sterling Hayden, Marlon Brando, and Gregory Peck.

Here, with his own distinctly cinematic style, Raphael chronicles their often fiery exchanges, capturing Kubrick's voice as no one else could. Disdaining false veneration, he opens our eyes to the mind and art of a truly complex and hitherto elusive twentieth-century genius.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (June 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345437764
• ISBN-13: 978-0345437761
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Chess with a myth..., January 20, 2001

By 

julep (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick (Paperback)

This book is framed early on as a "vaguely sadistic" chess match, between the awed, reluctantly supplicant Raphael and Kubrick the Mythic Director. Raphael, as often as he tries to crack the Kubrick code, carps about the uneven(although ideally symbiotic) relationship between director and writer. Raphael resents the fact that his own contributions to the Kubrick canon are at the mercy of the director's whim, and may not even be acknowledged, when the final credits roll.

Raphael treats his collaboration with Kubrick as an amicable battle of will -- he aspires to be Kubrick's artistic equal, but Kubrick never quite shows up for the duel the author imagines between them. His attempts to form an overall picture of Kubrick's Jewishness, artistic vision, and human weaknesses are ultimately futile, but still make up an interesting glimpse into an acknowledged genius and his fascinations.

Raphael is self-aggrandizing and too preciously clever for his own good, which spoils the book as a true portrait. It is as much a portrait of himself as long-suffering hired hand as it is a revelation of Kubrick. Even so, Raphael is an acutely intelligent writer, and flaws aside, I found it an interesting read. I will give him the benefit of the doubt on the issue of bald exploitation -- Kubrick can't possibly care, now.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Embarrassed, September 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick (Paperback)

This is a very funny book. Raphael's ostentatious name-dropping and displays of his learning are so hilarious, it's hard to believe he wrote them in earnest (such as the self-parodying passage in which an exchange with Kubrick reminds Raphael of the time he made a grammatical error while conversing in Italian with Marcello Mastroianni). However, the volume is so sloppily written and edited, that it appears to be direct, undiluted, and unironic Fred. What does Raphael's claim to write about the late director rest on? He and Kubrick met and spoke a few times, and Raphael completed a draft of Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick then rewrote it and made the movie--it really wasn't much of a collaboration, since Kubrick sculpted the piece he wanted out of the block he had Raphael provide. The book tells us nothing new or interesting about Kubrick, and very little about the adaptation that cannot be gleaned from the omnibus screenplay/novella volume. [For an insightful and affectionate view of Kubrick by one of his collaborators, dig out the New York Review of Books from this spring with Diane Johnson's reminiscence.] Eyes Wide Open does, in its condescending and self-regarding way, inadvertently tell us something about the jealousy of a second-rate artistic mind toward a truly unique talent. I'm a little embarrassed at having bought the book and encouraged Raphael in his gross exploitation of his brief association with Kubrick. I'll probably never open Eyes Wide Open again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Short Defense, July 14, 2011

By 

John A. Thompson (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick (Paperback)

Most detractors of this book have noted its "cloying pretentious" or some synonymous combination. I found Raphael's memoir to be wonderful, and over too soon. He is not, as many have attested, a hired hand - Raphael is an prolific and screenwriter with mythology of his own. To anyone interested in Kubrick, this would be a wise and interesting read. Surely you can handle some big words and big ideas? Novelists and screenwriters can easily develop reputations of pretentiousness because they are interested in things other people are not. I am interested in Kubrick, the man and the process.