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On April 2nd, 1968, Stanley Kubrick's monolithic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey made its debut on the screen. As the movie celebrates its half century, special effects experts, directors and those who worked on the film consider its legacy.
Stanley Kubrick, next to camera, on set of 2001: A Space Odyssey
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Jan Harlan, producer, The Shining ; A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Jan Harlan, producer
Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick (who worked together on the film) shared the same spirit: agnostic, curious, very intelligent and in awe of the endlessness of the universe. If a film managed to build on what 2001 did, it’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence – it predicted the end of humanity. Stanley (Kubrick, Harlan’s brother-in-law) was convinced that we have no chance to survive in the long run, the way we behave – whether we exist for another 50 or 500 years doesn’t matter, it’s a short moment either way on the large scale of time. It is a dead serious message wrapped in a sweetener where robots survive their former masters. Does that mean HAL wins in the end? No, it’s a very different story merely born out of the same spirit.
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John Gaeta, visual effects supervisor, The Matrix
John Gaeta, visual effects supervisor
I could dot-connect where I am today back to being a young man watching 2001. Kubrick allowed Douglas Trumbull to explore and envision things by any means necessary. And that led to startling breakthroughs and a level of immersion we haven’t seen before.HAL is really the first mass understanding that artificial intelligence could exist. The people building those interfaces use films like 2001 as guides and influences. The film is completely contemporary in its idea that AI could destroy us. We’re within five years of that moment now. Not necessarily in the exact context of that story, but in the context of AI overruling us on something important. 2001 was basically off by 20 years.
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Claire Denis, director, High Life
Claire Denis, director
I saw 2001 on a giant screen in Paris, and I was blown away. You knew it took place in space, but I didn’t expect that kind of strange reflection on humanity. I wasn’t sure I understood this mysterious philosophising, the black monolith, all that. But I accepted all of it. It’s not possible to imitate a single thing from 2001 – it’s taboo, private territory. For one thing, to do the special effects you have to film models in a sort of choreography; modern special effects are very beautiful, but they don’t give the same physical impression. And space films are no longer voyages into the unknown – science has advanced a lot since then. My own thinking had to prevail when making my forthcoming science-fiction film High Life: it would be stupid to use 2001 as a departure point. They’re completely different: asking me about them is like asking whether I’d like to eat a sandwich or go on a trip to Australia.
(THE GUARDIAN)
