Yahoo Movies Stanley Kubrick 'Didn't Earn His Oscar For 2001', Says VFX Man
The visual effects man behind ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ has said that Stanley Kubrick did not earn the Oscar he won for the film.
Kubrick scooped the ‘Best Visual Effects’ statue at the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, but above the men who actually brought the dazzling visuals to the screen.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, pioneering effects man Douglas Trumbull said: “Kubrick did not create the visual effects. He directed them. He did not design them. A lot of other people designed them.
“There was a certain level of inappropriateness to taking that Oscar. But the tragic aspect of it for me is it’s the only Oscar Stanley Kubrick ever won.
“He was an incredibly gifted director and should have gotten something for directing and writing and what his real strength was — not special effects.”
Telling how the situation came about, Trumbull, who also worked on films like ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, added: “I do have a rare copy of a letter that Stanley Kubrick wrote to the Director’s Guild, telling them why he was taking credit for the visual effects.
“During the final days of production when I was still there, we were shooting the end credits, and there was always one end credit card that was blank.
“We didn’t know what it was going to say, it was not our business. What I didn’t know was that it was going to be Kubrick taking credit for the special effects.
“At that time in the Academy rule history, there couldn’t be more than three people given an award for special effects. And there were four of us.”
Indeed, Kubrick was always an Oscar bridesmaid, being nominated four times for Best Director (for ‘Dr. Strangelove’, ‘2001’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Barry Lyndon’), but he was bested each time.
He was also nominated for co-writing all the screenplays of those movies, and another for co-writing ‘Full Metal Jacket’, but still the Best Visual Effects Oscar for ‘2001’ was his only recognition from the Academy.
Image credits: Rex Features/THR
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