(Urban Legends: Final Cut - The only film directed by famed editor/composer John Ottman. No, I have not seen it.)Over the course of my studies I have uncovered a large number of amusing and occasionally unbelievable stories and anecdotes from all over the entertainment industry. For years I have shared these stories with my friends and colleagues, and now I have decided to share them with the world (or, at least, anyone who reads this blog).
Some of these tales were originally reported in interviews, books or documentaries, but a lot of them came from the horse's mouth - or at least, one of the horse's friend's mouths - so I have added a meter to the end of each story demonstrating the extent of their credulity.
10 = Proven, or at least from a highly credible source that I can document if necessary.
1 = Total urban legend. No way of proving the story, or heard from a disreputable source.
(Once again, these posts are labelled "Urban Legends" for a reason. Over time, these stories - even if mostly true - take on a life of their own and can occasionally veer from total accuracy. If I have posted something you believe or know to be inaccurate, please let me know and I will gleefully edit the post to reflect the new information.)
All right, I'm coming up so we'd better get this party started!
LEGENDS NEVER DIE #1: Stanley Kubrick won an Academy Award for Spartacus.
Standard film geekery insists that Stanley Kubrick only won a single Academy Award during his lifetime, for the visual effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
(2001 is also the only Kubrick film that director preferred be seen on home video in widescreen. Much to the chagrin of cinephiles everywhere, one of the greatest directors in history actually found those black bars distracting.)If you want to get technical, however, this was the only reward that he received.
(Kirk Douglas also confounded the industry by insisting upon hiring blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo to write the script, and blacklisted actor Peter Brocco to play "Ramon." Some historians credit Douglas as helping to effectively end the Blacklist Era by doing so.)After director Anthony Mann was dismissed from directing Spartacus after the start of production, Stanley Kubrick was brought in to replace him at the behest of Kirk Douglas, who both starred in and co-produced the film. Kubrick and Douglas had worked together before, on the incredible anti-war film Paths of Glory, and Douglas felt that Kubrick could do an equally incredible job of finishing the film. The lack of control Kubrick experienced as the result of being completely uninvolved in the pre-production process led the director to insist upon total control over any film he helmed from that point on, as well as to generally disown Spartacus as a film, despite its obvious quality. (Kubrick has actually disowned three of his films - Spartacus and his first two films, Fear and Desire and Killer's Kiss, which he considered "learning experiences.")
(Unlike my father, some photographs do exist of Stanley Kubrick without his trademark beard.)Still, Kubrick attempted to control as much of the production as possible, not the least of which the cinematography, eventually dictating practically all of D.P. Russell Metty's lighting, framing and lens choices. Metty, himself a formidable cinematographer with Touch of Evil already to his credit, eventually got sick of the director's meddling and asked, "If you're just going to tell me how to do every part of my job, why don't you just do my job?"
Stanley Kubrick responded, reportedly immediately and without thinking about it, that he would. After the first few weeks of production, Metty was officially out, and Kubrick finished shooting the film himself as both director and director of photography. Metty, however, was contractually obligated to be given solo credit for the film. Kubrick's opinion of this is, to me at least, unknown.
(Elizabeth Taylor won the 1961 Best Actress Oscar for Butterfield 8, and not, as some have reported, for this dress.)Cut to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, April 17th, 1961. The 33rd Annual Academy Awards are presented outside of their usual venue, the Pantages Theater (due to the theater being reconfigured in order to adequately show - what else? - Spartacus), and Russell Metty wins the Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography.
Apparently, he didn't give it to Stanley Kubrick.
Urban Legend-O-Meter (10=True, 1=WTF?): 10
(Talented Italian director Sergio Corbucci directed Son of Spartacus, the last "sword-and-sandal" film to star Steve "Hercules" Reeves. The film's initial title, Spartacus 2: The Return of Durant never made it past the development stage.)
