the Shining Archives -

DR SLEEP PREQUEL GREENLIT

BREAKING NEWS – With the news there has been a Dr Sleep prequel greenlit came the even more surprising news horror mega-author, Stephen King is set to direct. With the Dr Sleep prequel greenlit, The Exec sat down to talk with the writer / director.

Stephen, thanks for joining us:

Not at all. I’m happy to talk about my passion project that is finally getting off the ground. After all these years the world will finally know the story behind Danny Torrence and what happened to him as a kid.

Umm, ok. What did happen?

Well, the prequel will tell the story of his father, Jack Torrence and his mother, Wendy Torrence. Jack is a writer who takes a job at this hotel called The Overlook in off season. He moves his family to the deserted hotel in the hope he can get his writing back on track.

But that doesn’t happen?

Yeah that’s right. You guessed it. The hotel, is somehow alive and there’s also his drinking.

And there’s a maze?

NO! THERE’S NO FUCKING MAZE! TAKE YOUR MAZE AND STICK IT UP YOUR. Ahem. Excuse me. What I meant to say is no. Why would there be? There’s some topiary and a big fucking boiler in the basement.

And Jack becomes consumed by the hotel and tries to kill his family?

Yeah. How do you know?

But young Danny has what Doc calls ‘The Shining’.

Who have you been talking to? How do you know all this?

It’s your book and the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name, The Shining.

DON’T SAY THAT FUCKING NAME IN FRONT OF ME. HOW DARE YOU. Anyway. I’ve never heard of no Simon Kubrick or whatever. Or any Shining. I have no idea what you’re talking about. My film will be called The Mysterious Hotel Of Horror. None of that Shining crap. No conspiracy theories. There isn’t any moon landing bullshit. No Jack Nicholson. And certainly no groovy fucking carpets. Just some good old fashioned paper thin characters, cheap jump scares, gaping plot holes and a predictably disappointing third act.

Stephen King’s The Mysterious Hotel Of Horror starts shooting this winter.

WAS STANLEY KUBRICK MURDERED?

LONDON – A new book asks the question: Was Stanley Kubrick murdered?

Stanley Kubrick‘s life was surrounded by a miasma of legend and rumor. His films are the rich breeding ground for OCD analysis, OCD analysis and some more OCD analysis; and now his death has become the subject of a new book by Hardy Mantellance – Who Killed Stanley Kubrick?

The Stanley Kubrick scholar claims that the Spartacus director was done in by a fatal confluence of Masonic Satanism, poison and an unbalanced man who had been fatally damaged by watching Barry Lyndon every night for eighteen years.

I spoke to Hardy Mantellance in her West London home.

Stanley Kubrick suffered a myocardial infarction in his sleep shortly after completing Eyes Wide Shut. A myocardial infarction is relatively simple to provoke with the use of poison. Who do we know who uses poisons in all his films and had a deadly rivalry with Stanley Kubrick? Steven Spielberg.

But Spielberg was Stanley Kubrick’s friend!

Until they began to develop the script for AI together, at which point a deadly enmity grew between them over the creative disagreement. Kubrick wanted to make a ‘good film’. After Kubrick’s death no one was there to stop Spielberg from making a ‘bad film’, exactly as he had always wanted.

So you’re accusing Oscar winner Steven Spielberg of murder?

That’s what they want you to think.

Who’s they?

The Saturn Death Cult who Kubrick had so brilliantly exposed in Eyes Wide Shut. The Saturn Death Cult are a secret group made up of the elite from business, politics and celebrity. They perform ritual sex orgies which culminate in human sacrifice and their members include that old enemy of Stanley Kubrick, Jack Nicholson.

What?

The night Kubrick died Nicholson was overheard to say at a Lakers game, ‘We did it!’ At the time people thought he was referring to the Lakers victory, but it was only afterwards some right minded folk realised he was actually referring to the successful conspiracy to do away with the man who had forced Nicholson to say ‘Here’s Johnny!’ 78 times, even though his name is actually Jack.

So Nicholson murdered Kubrick?

Ha ha, how innocent you are! But ask yourself this, if Nicholson killed Kubrick, why was Nicole Kidman unable to contain her tears on the Eyes Wide Shut featurette?

Because she was sad at the passing of a man she admired.

Those were tears of joy. Following the orders of her Svengali like husband – Tom Cruise – whose own religious cult Scientology had just signed a pact with the Saturn Death Cult worth billions of dollars, Nicole Kidman had baked some cupcakes which were laced with a powerful chemical provided by Steven Spielberg and concocted in his ‘Temple of Doom’ laboratory deep in the Hollywood hills and placed in a Tupperware container bought from a Kmart by Jack Nicholson on the twenty fifth anniversary of the Apollo moon landings, moon landings which were faked convincingly by Stanley Kubrick who was as a reward given the right to make any film he liked, even Barry Lyndon.

The fact would be exposed in Capricorn One directed by Peter Hyams, whose silence was bought by being given the apparently peach job of making a sequel to 2001: a Space Odyssey, but the peach proved to be a poison apple and the film – 2010: the Year We Make Contact – was a critical disaster. Hyams (who grew up two doors down from Ryan O’Neal) spent the rest of his life watching Barry Lyndon on a loop and plotting revenge, a revenge that was only made possible by a coincidental meeting with Malcolm McDowell, the actor made famous by A Clockwork Orange, but who Stanley Kubrick had humiliated when he once, June 7th, 1978, asked if Malcolm had lost any weight, knowing full well that Malcolm had not.

So Peter Hyams, Malcolm McDowell, Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, the Church of Scientology, Jack Nicholson and the Satan Death Cult all conspired to kill Stanley Kubrick?

It would be comforting to think so, wouldn’t it? But the truth is actually a lot darker. Shelley Duvall…

At this point my recording device cut out and the rest of the interview is lost. Coincidence? I don’t know.

**Hardy Mantellance’s Who Killed Stanley Kubrick? is available from Amazon and all good book stores.**

PET SEMATARY CRITICIZED FOR SHOCKING SPELLING

HOLLYWOOD – Adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary comes under fire for misspelling.

Stephen King adaptations have introduced many horrors to the world. Clowns in It; hotels in The Shining; teenage girls in Carrie and farting in Dream Catcher. But with Pet Sematary premiering at the SXSW film festival, a new horror arrived: poor orthography. One festival goer said:

It’s so distracting. It’s right there in the titles. I spent the rest of the film thinking about it. Took me right out of the movie. I don’t even know if the film was good or bad. Honestly. I’m furious.

The movie stars Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz as a couple who move to a new house by a dangerous road. John Lithgow is the friendly neighbor and there’s a Pet Cemetery nearby where the bodies of the cats and dogs killed on the road are buried. It is the pet cemetery that is the sticking point for many viewers. Deidre Splash told the Studio Exec:

I’m a huge fan of Stephen King in general and this book in particular, but why did the film makers use a misspelling for the title. Are they dumb as fuck or what?

Stephen King Responds

King himself has always been open about criticizing some of the film adaptations of his film. He famously said that The Shining was a ‘pile of steaming shit cocks’. In this case however he came out and defended the film makers:

I misspelled the title of the book. It was my bad. I had some issues at the time and I was being careless. The film makers said to me that they would change it if I wanted but I liked that they kept the misspelling. It is in line with the spirit of the book. Well dun.

Pot Somotory is in theaters soon.

FORGET DIE HARD – THE SHINING IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER

HOLLYWOOD – The Shining is the best Christmas Movie Ever.

Die Hard might be yuletide fun, but Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the best Christmas movie of all. The 1980 Stephen King adaptation always makes me feel Christmassy. Okay there are no Christmas carols, no one says Merry Christmas, no Christmas tree or Christmas decorations. But all the same for me ever Christmas Eve I don’t feel like Christmas has properly come until blood gushes from the opening doors of a pair of elevators. But why? Why? WHY??

Snow

As a horror film, The Shining – let’s face it – isn’t scary. But it is cosy. Mmmm. The light of the snow coming through the windows. The snow maze, The snow drifts. Escaping from the bathroom via a snow slide. A snow mobile for crying out loud. Did I mention a snow maze? The Shining is a tone poem in love with snow.

Children

Home Alone is essentially The Shining but with Kevin projecting unknown burglars onto the faces of his parents to shield him from the Freudian terror that his mum and dad actually want to kill him. Danny is resourceful like Kevin. He knows how to escape his father because he knows how to play. And Danny has an invisible friend – kinda like how Jesus has an invisible dad.

Jumpers

Knitwear is a vital part of the first chapter of the Greatest Story Ever Told: The Nativity. The unironically great jumpers worn by Jack Torrance and Danny, not to mention Wendy’s choice winter woollies.

A Family Movie

A movie for the whole family. Christmas is a time that family comes together, isolated from the outside world for at least a day. And The Shining gives a lesson in how terrible your family can be. From your alcoholic abusive father, to your weak mother to your annoying bowl haired child. There’s something for everyone. Except black chefs. There’s nothing here for them. Nothing.

The Shining is everywhere.

STEPHEN KING’S LEGO MOVIE 2 SCRIPT LEAKS ONTO INTERNET

HOLLYWOOD – The Lego Movie 2 is already in production, but Stephen King’s script has apparently leaked onto the internet.

Everyone loved The Lego Movie. But now you can read the script to The Lego Movie 2, written by Stephen King.

INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT.

A man and his wife are sleeping in bed. A soft THUMP is heard.

WIFE

(Waking up)

What’s that, honey?

MAN

Go back to sleep sweetheart, I’ll go and check it out.

The man gets out of bed. He looks at his slippers.

MAN

(to himself)

I guess I don’t really need to wear those.

He walks out of the bedroom and down the corridor to his son’s room.

INT. SON’S BEDROOM. NIGHT.

The son turns over in his sleep. There are a pile of comic books on the bed and another one slides off the bed and lands with a THUMP. Tiptoeing, DAD crosses the room and moves the comic books to the shelves and then tucks his son in with a smile. Turning to return to his bedroom he…

CLOSE UP on barefoot:

…steps on a piece of Lego.

He SCREAMS in agony. And falls in slow motion. CUJO the LEGO dog leaps from the shadows and tears an arm off. LEGO Annie Wilkes chops his foot off at the ankle with a LEGO ax handed to her by LEGO Jack Torrance. The creepy LEGO twins stand blocking DAD’s path.

LEGO TWINS

Come and play with us Daddy. Forever,

and ever,

and ever.

LEGO Pennywise lead the others in song.

ALL

(singing)

Everything is terrifying,

Everything is terrifying

(when you’ve stepped on a LEGO).

FINE

For more Script Leaks, Click Here.

SNEAK PEEK AT TOM HIDDLESTON IN SHINING PREQUEL

HOLLYWOOD – The first image from Mark Romanek’s Shining prequel starring Loki star Tom Hiddleston has hit the internets and caused a stir.

Tentatively entitled Delbert: A Shining Story, the film starring Tom Hiddleston will tell the backstory to the most infamous butler in movie history.

Speaking EXCLUSIVELY to the Studio Exec, the Loki star explained the idea behind the prequel to Stanley Kubrick’s famous masterpiece:

I don’t know about you but when I first saw The Shining I was absolutely fascinated by Philip Stone’s amazing performance as Delbert Grady. We had already heard about the butler before we met him and we knew the story of the murders he had committed but then we meet this mild mannered Englishman, so in contrast to Wolfman Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance. Chilling indeed. With the new film, we will go back and find out how Delbert Grady became the butler at the Overlook Hotel.

Wow! Amazing.

I know it is. We see Delbert coming over from England after the war and getting a series of jobs in hotels up and down the country. He meets and falls in love with chamber maid, Doris and Delbert and Doris marry and both find work at the newly built – on an Indian burial ground – Overlook Hotel. Here Doris gives birth to two beautiful twin girls. This is the happy times for the family but when one of the girls fails to use an apostrophe correctly Delbert becomes infuriated and ‘corrects’ them.

You mean he kills them because of punctuation. Thats stupid.

What did you say?

I said…

You said ‘thats stupid’ and you should have said ‘that’s stupid.’

How can you tell I didnt use an apostrophe just by listening?

I know your site of old.- You must be corrected!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo argggggghh!

Ha ha!

Image courtesy of @GetHill.

HIDDEN GEMS: 20. THE SHINING

Hidden Gems brings to light little known film gems which have somehow slipped through the collective cinematic consciousness. This week ‘horror’ film: The Shining. You’re welcome.

Man with family stays in snowbound hotel for the winter and can’t write a book. I know. Doesn’t sound like a great film, does it? Would it help if I told you that the film has some of the most revolutionary trike shots in the history of film? No, probably not. Shelley Duvall is in it. Still not interested? Jesus.

Based on a book by an American writer called Stephen King, The Shining was so poorly received even Stephen King, the writer, came out publicly to denounce the film as ‘an unflushed toilet’ in his essay ‘Supernatural Fiction (and Shit I Think)’. Director Stanley Kubrick had given up directing. He’d moved to England and was hosting a popular chat show for the BBC called ‘Parkinson’ when he read the novel. He immediately saw the potential for a hilarious comedy. He told Jack Nicholson: ‘It’s about a bad writer, who becomes a bad ax murderer.’ Jack Torrance, the murderous novelist, is terrible at killing people, repeatedly bested by his child and wife. The only victim he manages to kill is a man who can see into the future who is worse at seeing into the future than Jack is at killing people with an ax.

The film is neither scary nor funny, but a weird amalgam of the two. It was released to huge indifference and Kubrick went back to being a TV chat show host and never made another film again.

For more Hidden Gems CLICK HERE.

STANLEY KUBRICK REALLY WANTED TO MAKE CUJO

HOLLYWOOD – Stanley Kubrick’s lost Stephen King movie – Cujo – revealed by scholar.

Stanley Kubrick completed thirteen feature films in his career. However, the director was known to have planned other films such as an adaptation of Perfume, his Holocaust drama The Aryan Files, a biopic of Napoleon and revealed in a new book, the Stephen King novel Cujo.

Kubrick scholar Alfonso Bratt talked EXCLUSIVELY to the Studio Exec about this new discovery.

Stanley loved Stephen King’s work, and he planned after completing The Shining to make another Stephen King immediately. Originally he was writing a screenplay for The Stand, but he found the story difficult and then in 1983 Cujo came out and Stanley was really taken by it. He immediately contacted NASA and asked them to make him a large dog, which they did. NASA would do anything for Stanley. With British horror writer James Herbert, Kubrick began to breakdown the novel and write a first draft screenplay, but then King began to play tough about the rights. King did not like what Kubrick had done with The Shining. And he was not happy at the prospect of Kubrick adapting another of his books. So he basically kept raising his asking price until Kubrick realized it was never going to happen.

What happened next?

Stanley got interested in The Shorttimers, as Full Metal Jacket was then called. Stephen King let an adaptation of Cujo be made by another director and Stanley’s love affair with Stephen King was pretty much over. Although I believe there’s still a NASA made robotic dog somewhere in a barn in the south of England.

The Cujo that Could Have Been by Alfonso Bratt is available from all good bookshops and Amazon.

5 FACTS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT STANLEY KUBRICK

HOLLYWOOD – Stanley Kubrick still continues to have a massive influence on the world of Cinema today, but what do we really know about the director who brought us the Monolith, wrote Singing in the Rain and always directed films with his Eyes Wide Shut?

The Studio Exec FACT squad was sent to the archives to find out everything there is to know about the reclusive genius called Stanley Kubrick and this is what they found.

1. Stanley Kubrick probably wasn’t murdered (CLICK HERE for the theory). Although there have been many theories about his sudden demise, including ideas about the Illuminati being angry about Eyes Wide Shut revealing their secrets, the cause of Stanley Kubrick’s death look like being entirely natural.

2. Stanley Kubrick first made his name as a photographer in New York for Time Magazine among others. He first got the idea to become a movie director when he was holding a bunch of photographs together that he had just developed and by flipping through them saw that he had in fact invented cinema. Disconcerted that he was about fifty years too late, he decided to do the next best thing and reinvent it as a film director. He started filming noirish crime thrillers, but soon turned his attention to Lolita which he mistakenly believed to be porn. Ironically the same thing would happen on three more occasions with Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove and Barry Lyndon.

3. All Stanley Kubrick’s films are based on novels or short stories, even though Stanley himself couldn’t read or write and even had to have basic concepts such as ‘handle’, ‘discotheque’ and ‘cheese cake’ described to him by kindly friends. To choose a project Kubrick would cover himself in marmalade and have assistants throw novels at him until one stuck to his marmalade smeared body: hence the Hollywood phrase ‘Marmalade debate’. The Clockwork Orange was chosen because as a thin book – almost a novella – it lodged between his buttocks having been thrown like a Shuriken by Anthony Burgess himself.

4. 2001: a Space Odyssey was initially supposed to have much more dialogue and a voice-over, explaining the plot and the scientific background to the film, but Arthur C. Clarke had a very annoying voice and it was replaced at the last minute by classical music. The speaking monkeys from the first fifteen minutes of the movie were also scrapped and this footage has long been sought, as legendary as the Dr. Strangelove custard pie fight and the famous Full Metal Jacket animated sequence where Matthew Modine sings about Indochina to a bunch of curious chipmunks, later the inspiration for Alvin and the Chipmunks.

5. Stanley Kubrick invented the beard. Prior to Kubrick men could grow mustaches that they weaved under their chins to create the illusion of beardedness, or they used back hair brought forward, if they had no mustaches. Kubrick was given beard growing technology by NASA as a thank you present for faking the moon landing film. They also helped him film The Shining by providing him with real ghosts.

For more FACTS click HERE.

JOHN MCCAIN USES KUBRICK TO JUSTIFY APACHE HOLY LAND SALE

WASHINGTON – The sale of Apache holy land brokered by Senator John McCain was justified today by the Republican senator using a cinematic excuse.

The land will be sold to a British/Australian mining conglomerate and was made possible due to a waver of rights appended to the fine print of a military spending bill. Sen. John McCain told the Studio Exec EXCLUSIVELY that he had a very good reason for what others are calling one of the lowest acts in recent political history, effectively robbing from the Native Americans once again at the behest of a foreign commercial venture.

I know you know my Exec. And if you know one thing about John McCain it’s that he’s a huge Stanley Kubrick fan. And of all the Stanley Kubrick films I love the most, The Shining has to be up there. Perhaps Doctor Strangelove, but that’s a documentary so it doesn’t count.

I fail to see the relevance.

Well, The Shining is so good because it is so true. There are horrors out there and they exist because of what we do and have done to the Native Americans, who we wiped out via gunpowder, alcohol and germs. Now they’re making another Shining film, but it’s been a while since we’ve done the dirty on our old foe, so I figured if we misappropriated some land of theirs, holy land too, that might get the spirits riled and somehow the Overlook Hotel would be once more spookified.

That has to be one of the most nutso things I’ve ever heard.

I know. You see that’s why I had Sarah Palin as a running mate. Her standing beside me, nobody noticed what a fruitcake I was!

The Shining 2 will be released in 2016.

THE SHINING PREQUEL: SNEAK PEEK

HOLLYWOOD – Mark Romanek confirmed The Shining prequel will be called Delbert Grady and will tell the story of Jack Torrance’s immediate predecessor at the Overlook Hotel.

The man who had the good sense not only to make Never Let Me Go but also not to make The Wolfman and spoke exclusively with the Studio Exec, ‘because you are the only guys who dare to print the 100% truth, no facts, but 100% truth.’

I have been wanting to make this film for a long time and we had a lot of different scripts. First we were going to look a Dick Halloran, but his story is a bit of a downer and he’s the chef so he tends to use his shining talents to check if they have enough milk without opening the fridge door. Then we were going to look at Lloyd, the bar tender, and that felt interesting, but Lloyd in the original is really the devil so that also felt too on the nose. We even had the idea about it being about the building of the hotel. What a stupid idea that would have been!? But once we realised Delbert was the heart of the film we knew we had cracked the idea.

In Stanley Kubrick’s original film, based on the novel by Stephen King, Grady was played by veteran British actor Philip Stone, who went on to appear in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Now speculation is rife as to who is going to play the young caretaker.

Romanek was giving away very little:

I’d like to stick to the English butler feel that Stone originally made even though it doesn’t really make much sense that he would be an English butler in a hotel in Colorado. But that got me thinking of Benedict Cumberbatch. He’ll be very difficult to get now though. I mean he’s everywhere and his dance ticket is pretty much full. Tom Hiddleston would be good, but likewise Tom is really in demand. I’ve worked with Andy Garfield before and I think he could fit the bill, but since Spider-Man, I’m not sure if we could afford him.

Delbert Grady will be released in 2016.

DR. STRANGELOVE THE DIRECTOR’S CUT TO BE RELEASED

HOLLYWOOD – Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War masterpiece Dr. Stangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) is to be re-released in a new version which will include the famous custard pie fight ending, cut from the original theatrical release.

The Kubrick Estate said that the film has been painstakingly pieced together and digitally remastered.

A spokesperson told the Studio Exec EXCLUSIVELY:

This has been the work of several years and has taken experts from all over the world, including the participation of famous directors and fans of Stanley like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

How can you be sure that this is the version Kubrick wanted the world to see?

A lot of people think of Stanley Kubrick now as the master manipulator, the man who controlled every aspect of his film’s production., The answer however is a little more prosaic. Often Stanley was in two minds about a creative decision and if he could have I believed he would have released both versions of the film. Look at The Shining which he dramatically edited when the longer version didn’t play well. So now we have the opportunity of showing the film with the custard pie scene intact, I think he would be pleased with the idea. Plus he liked making money as well.

What other changes are there?

Peter Sellers played the part of the pilot Major ‘King’ Kong until an accident meant he had to give up the extra role. However we have some footage of him doing some of the early scenes and Stanley also recorded his line reading of the whole script so we’ve put back those scenes and we’ve CGIed Peter Seller’s head onto Slim Pickens’ body for the scenes he didn’t do. So now we have Sellers as Mandrake, the President, Dr. Strangelove and Maj. Kong.

Anything else?

Yes. Kanye West has recorded a completely new soundtrack, supervised by Nicolas Refn Winding.

Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) will be released on Blu-ray on Friday and will be in a limited theatrical release across the country.

TERRENCE MALICK: KUBRICK? WHO HE?

Our regular columnist Terrence Malick considers the work of director Stanley Kubrick.

Yo! Yo! YO! From the M to the A to the L to the I … this is too long. It’s me, Malick T. Your favourite Director/MC. Bringing da noise for da girls and da boys, for da bitches and hos there’re strong female characters I suppose. Yo Yo YO!

So everybody be talking about this dude Q-Brick, like he some kinda God, like he da man and everything. Well, I don’t know bout dat. I done watch his punk ass films and I gotta tell you dey were rank. Take Dr. Strangelove. Supposed to be a Goddam porno, asshole don’t even bother getting out of his wheelchair to till the last shot! What’s up with dat?

2001: a Space Odyssey looks nothing like 2001. A Clockwork Orange, I was thinking aw, nice, a children’s film. It’s just a bunch of Goddam rape. And The Shining? The Shining? If ever a film needed J.J. Abrams’ magic touch it was The Shining.

No, I don’t get it. Q-Brick had a beard. I get it. But making films? No dice pal. Whenever one comes on the TV my Eyes are Wide Closed motherfckers! You feel me?

For more of Terrence Malick inimitable wisdom, click here.

3 ‘NEW’ KUBRICK FILMS TO BE RELEASED

LONDON – Three brand new Stanley Kubrick films are due to be released in the next five years, according to film producer and long-time Kubrick collaborator Jan Harlan.

The films – which have been prepared from the thousands of feet of unused footage and using earlier drafts of scripts – will officially be credited to Kubrick as director. Jan Harlan, who was also Mr. Kubrick’s brother-in-law, spoke exclusively to the Studio Exec:

Stanley always shot enough footage for every film to make two or three films on top of the one released. Many of these shots were simply repetitions of the same scenes, with slight variations. But some of this footage represented a wildly different version which can be pieced together into what is effectively a different film. Three films in fact.

The films to be released are:

1. The Shindig: Reconstructed from an earlier draft of the classic Stephen King horror novel, The Shindig comes from the alternative takes Stanley Kubrick made Jack Nicholson do of The Shining in a lilting Irish accent.

JH: ‘The Shindig really is a delightful family comedy in which Jack O’Torrance arranges a party for all the old ghosts and magical topiary animals, helped by his son Danny and his invisible friend Tony, played by Frank Oz. It will challenge the views of everyone who thought of Kubrick as a pessimist.’

2. Barry Rock On: The Thackery novel was originally filmed as a stellar rock opera, but after some abysmal test screenings, Kubrick got cold feet and took out all the songs, replacing them with a dour Michael Horden voice over.

JH: ‘BRO is wonderful 18th Century Rock Opera and a testament to its times, with performances by Shakin’ Stevens, Abba, The Sweet and Queen, who reused the theme song from the film ‘Barry (Saviour of the Universe)’ for the Flash theme.’

3. Eyes Wide Open: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman play self-made millionaires and private detectives Jonathan and Jennifer Hart who one winter in New York, find themselves in the midst of a conspiracy.

JH: ‘The funny thing here is our Hart to Hart reboot, the one you’ll see now, was the actual film Stanley intended to release, and therefore would have been his last film. However, Stanley had never acquired the rights, assuming he would get them later. When the film was complete, it turned out that Robert Wagner bitterly hated Stanley because he thought A Clockwork Orange wasn’t violent enough. With a deadline looming, Stanley had to re-cut the film and obfuscate or eliminate any reference to Hart to Hart, all in a mere two weeks, which explains the weirdness that Eyes Wide Shut became.

For more Kubrick news click HERE.