Stanley Kubrick: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series) (Paperback)

by Gene D. Phillips (Editor) "IN THE UNITED STATES a studio must hope to recover most or all of its costs within the domestic market..." (more)
Key Phrases: Stanley Kubrick, New York, Barry Lyndon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Behind the Velvet Rope Few directors have been as zealously protective of their privacy as Stanley Kubrick, which makes the first comprehensive collection of his interviews a rare glimpse of his own views of his life and work. For Stanley Kubrick: Interviews, editor Gene D. Phillips has tracked down pieces from 1959 to 1987, yielding an overview of the arc of Kubrick's approach to filmmaking. Surprisingly affable, Kubrick discusses everything from religion to nuclear energy and money. "It's a lot of trouble making a picture," says Kubrick at one point. "It can be very boring."
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Kubrick, the American who made his home in London, England, to create films without influence from Hollywood, had expertise in cinematography unlike Stone and Huston. On many of his films, he operated the camera in some scenes. His concern with the visual aspects of filmmaking is apparent from such works as A Clockwork Orange , 2001: A Space Odyssey , and Barry Lyndon . But all three directors could operate in multiple filmmaking roles, hence the label auteur; and Kubrick personifies the label, though he never won an Oscar. Some of the interesting pieces include Colin Young's article in Film Quarterly in 1959, a piece from the book The Movie Makers (1973), and the last interview by Tim Cahill in Rolling Stone in 1987. Bonnie Smothers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (January 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578062977
• ISBN-13: 978-1578062973
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #571,301 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vital to anyone's Kubrick library, July 23, 2001

By	Christopher Ingalls (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Considering the fact that Stanley Kubrick rarely gave interviews, this book is a godsend. Compiling articles and interviews over a span of several decades, "Stanley Kubrick: Interviews" offers a fascinating insight into one of the cinema's greatest directors. Many of these have been widely reprinted already, but it's great to see them all in one collection. Once you've bought this book ...get the Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD box set!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 19, 2002

By	Jerad Walters (Wheat Ridge, Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Stanley Kubrick: Interviews (University Press of Mississippi), we have more of the voice of Kubrick than anywhere else. The interviews go chronologically and run the gamut from short three-page profile throwaways to massive, 30-page question-and-answer marathons. Many are worth noting: Jeremy Bernstein's profile dates from 1966 but is still fresh and amazingly well-written and candid, and Eric Nordern's interview with Kubrick for Playboy is insightful and worth reading for the Master's (mostly incorrect) predictions of immortality and space travel by the year 2001. Another excellent interview comes from Joseph Glemis, who talks to Kubrick about all of his films up to Clockwork Orange, and there are two interviews with Gene Siskel that are worth reading, too.

Simply put, this is a fine volume that should belong to every Kubrick fan. Most of these interviews, if not all of them, are long out of print and the book is 98% worthwhile. Moreover, reading the words of Kubrick is like reading poetry-he did retain the right to extrapolate and modify his answers before any interview was published-with each sentence and word well chosen. Only complaint: there are no interviews with Kubrick regarding The Shining; why this film was left out is curious. Gorgeously printed with a spartan design, sturdily bound, set in Stone serif, rag right, this is a very reader-friendly book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great source for Kubrick fans, but repetitive, March 9, 2005

By	velazkez (Warsaw, Poland) - See all my reviews

There is a huge amount of Kubrick in this one. Parhaps the most complete collection of things he has uttered to the press throughout his career. It covers all his fascinations, all obsessions and great visions for the modern mankind - and it unveils the gradual loss of hope, dienchantement with how the modern world develops.
But, being a collection of interviews, it is also slightly repetitive and many topics are discussed several times, so for non-scholars this can be increasingly boring while they advance.