Stephen King remembers Stanley Kubrick

Working with Stanley Kubrick is discussed by author Stephen King as he does a book tour for his new work, Lisey's Story. Talk took place in Beverly Hills, California in November, 2006

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• Stanley
• Kubrick
• writers
• books
• authors
• Stephen
• King
• writing
• novels
• horror

[BeavisNButtheadRock]

You people need to calm down, I love both King and Kubrick.  Stephen king has a right to an opinion, even if I don't agree with it.

[TacomaPaul]

It's understandable how the person that CAME UP WITH THE IDEA "letting" someone direct what ended up being an iconic movie may be pissed off when his OWN IDEA doesn't come off exactly "as planned".

Now we all know that Kubrick's "Shining" FAR surpasses that horrible remake that King oversaw. Stick to the keyboard Stephen.

BUT ! I gotta give credit to Stephen for speaking up.

If you CREATE something, you have EVERY RIGHT to criticize what has been done to YOUR creation.

[Needleinvein]

And forgive me for posting four times in a row, but I gotta give my two cents.

The book is a whole lot better than the movie.

King is a freaking genius.

But the movie is pretty good too - it couldn't possibly be any better, movie wise.

King is good at writing, Kubrick is good at making movies.

That's all there is to it.

[Needleinvein]

@Despina838 The hedge animals worked quite well in the book, don't you think?

[Needleinvein]

@malows1234 He's not bashing Kubrick."Despite Kubrick being awesome, he had limitations". You know, just like every other human being.

Anyone who's only allowed to make a 2-hour long movie has this kind of limitation.

You can't argue with that, you can't turn a 400 page book into a movie exactly the way it is.

Even so, Kubrick managed to do a really great movie.

Great directors aren't those who have no limitations (everyone does), but the ones who do a great job despite them.

[Needleinvein]

@TheGatorfan93 Agree with the second and third points, but I'm not buying the first one.

Jack Nicholson always looks like a lunatic, and knowing how the movie is gonna turn out, from the beginning you're always expecting Torrance to go crazy. I remember the first time I watched it, I was like "Oh, now he's gonna lose it!... oh, wait, not yet". It completely ruined the tension, and when he finally snapped, I was like "Really? I thought you snapped twenty minutes ago".

[buckshoty]

I thought this was a cool insight. I'll never get to know what it was like to work with Stanley Kubrick, a lot of people on here think he's the greatest director of all time and he very well maybe, I prefer Fellini or Welles myself but their all great. PEople think Kubrick was this great Mytic giant larger than life and people think the same of King too, truth is, their just very talented men. I thought this was a very human look at him from someone who worked with him.

[malows1234]

@TheGatorfan93 how dare you fucking bash kubrick man, he was the greatest director of all time. watever bro, your so ungrateful. stannley kubrick had limitations? goerge lucas has limitations, steven spielberg has limitations , michael bay has limitations, chris nolan has limitations. STANLEY KUBRICK DOES NOT.

[AtorTheFlyingEagle]

@Despina838 The two aren't really comparable. Kubrick jettisoned a lot from the novel to focus primarily on atmosphere and scares. What makes the film for me is Kubrick's unique camerawork and how he utilized scores by Bartok, Ligeti and Penedrecki to eerie effect. Film is visceral, novels are more about abstract ideas. Depends on what you want.

[jigggzful]

Kubrick does not sound like raspy old man. He actually has a cool voice.

[JayGatsbyOdysseus]

That was hilarious as hell.