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Legendary director Kubrick honored with London show

April 27, 2019
A Pan American 'bump' hat with the original golden company logo and Discovery flight overall which was worn by Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968), is displayed as part of the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum in Kensington, London. — AFP
A Pan American 'bump' hat with the original golden company logo and Discovery flight overall which was worn by Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968), is displayed as part of the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum in Kensington, London. — AFP

London — Iconic props from "The Shining" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" that detail the single-minded perfectionism of US filmmaker Stanley Kubrick are among the highlights of a new London show dedicated to the late artist.

Visitors can discover Kubrick's universe and special relationship with Britain through some 700 objects, film clips and interviews, which are arranged according to the 13 films he made over a 50-year career.

The show coincides with the 20th anniversary of Kubrick's death, and is somewhat of a homecoming for the director, who moved to Britain in the early 1960s, shooting classics "Lolita" (1962), 2001: "The Space Odyssey" (1968), "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and "Full Metal Jacket" (1987).

The exhibition's most famous items include Jack Nicholson's axe from The Shining, the disturbing costumes from "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), the "Born to Kill" helmet worn by character "Joker" in Full Metal Jacket and Tom Cruise's Venetian cape and mask from "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999).

Other exhibits detail his obsessive attention to detail, including a photograph of the snow-covered hotel in Oregon that would eventually be used for the outside shots of The Shining.

The 2001: Space Odyssey section includes a model of the 12 meter "hamster wheel" used by astronauts in the film to simulate gravity.

The story of the filming of Vietnam war epic Full Metal Jacket forms another part of the show, which will run at London's Design Museum from Friday until September 15.

Items detail how Kubrick recreated Vietnamese city Hue in a deserted gas plant in Beckton, south east London, through dynamiting and importing 200 palm trees from Spain and 100,000 tropical plastic plants from Hong Kong.

Others reveal the complicated, and often fractious relationship between Kubrick and his audience and the critics, starting with 1962 classic "Lolita", which details a middle-aged man's obsession with a 12-year-old girl.

"We believe that any such film must have a deleterious effect upon our society (...) and therefore ought not be made," Reverend John Collins wrote in a 1961 letter to Kubrick.

The legendary director died on March 7, 1999 in his mansion in Childwickbury, north of London.

In addition to the exhibition, a hunt through the archives of A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess have unearthed a never-before-seen unfinished "sequel" to the 1962 dystopian novel, it emerged Friday. — AFP


April 27, 2019
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