NOTES:
Inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's short story The Sentinel, Kubrick and
Clarke began writing their original scenario in the spring of 1964. In early drafts HAL
was a "female" computer named Athena, and what is now the Dawn of Man prologue
was originally planned as a flashback.
Production began in England in December of 1965. By May of 1966 the live action scenes
were finished and the crew spent the next year and a half filming the special effects.
Originally budgeted at $6 million, mastering the 205 special effects shots pushed the
final cost of the film to $10.5 million.
During editing major changes took place. A documentary prologue where scientists
discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence was eliminated and narration
explaining the Dawn of Man sequence was also cut, making 2001 the first Kubrick
film without any narration. In fact, the finished film only contains about 40 minutes of
dialogue.
Alex North, who had created the score for Spartacus, composed music for 2001,
but halfway through scoring Kubrick opted to keep the classical recordings he had been
using during editing. North's lost score, all 36 minutes of it, was released on CD in 1993.
(See bottom of left column.)
After the film's premiere in April of 1968, Kubrick cut 19 minutes from the film,
including parts of the Dawn of Man prologue, the Orion spaceship, Pool exercising in the
centrifuge, and Pool returning with the AE-35 unit. Kubrick also inserted the title cards
"Jupiter Mission 18 Months Later" and "Jupiter and Beyond the
Infinite."
Of this film Kubrick has said:
"If 2001 has stirred your emotions, your subconscious, your mythological
yearnings, then it has succeeded." --1
Trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Kubrick being interviewed at the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Channel 4 documentary on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Excerpt.
TRIVIAL TIDBITS:
The voice of HAL in 2001 was originally performed by Martin Balsam, whose voice
was considered too emotional, so Douglas Rain got the part. Kubrick once joked to a
journalist that maybe HAL should sound like comedian Jackie Mason. -- 1 (There is a robot
in Woody Allen's Sleeper with Jackie Mason's voice.)
The original working title for 2001:A Space Odyssey was Journey Beyond the
Stars. --1
Screening for Life Magazine - March 29, 1968
Washington D. C. Press Previews - March 31, April 1, 1968
Washington D.C. World Premiere - April 2, 1968
New York Press Previews - April 1-2, 1968
New York Premiere - April 3, 1968
Los Angeles Premiere - April 4th, 1968
Kubrick cuts 19 minutes from film - April 4-5, 1968
Final cut shown in New York - April 6th, 1968
Poster slogan: The ultimate trip.
CREDITS:
Production Company -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Producer -- Stanley Kubrick
Director -- Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay-- Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
Special Photographic Effects Designer and Director -- Stanley Kubrick
Special Photographic Effects Supervisors -- Wally Veevers, Douglas Trumbull, Con Pederson,
Tom Howard
Cinematographer -- Geoffrey Unsworth (Filmed in Super Panavision, Presented in Cinerama)
Editor -- Ray Lovejoy
Production Designers -- Tony Masters, Harry Lange, Ernie Archer
Art Director -- John Hoesli
Costumes -- Hardy Amies
Sound -- Winston Ryder (6-Track)
Cast:
David Bowman -- Keir Dullea "Open
the pod bay doors, please, Hal."
Frank Poole -- Gary Lockwood
Dr. Heywood Floyd -- William Sylvester
Moonwatcher -- Daniel Richter Protohuman
roar
Voice of HAL 9000 -- Douglas Rain "Good
afternoon. I am a HAL9000 computer."
Smyslov -- Leonard Rossiter
Elena -- Margaret Tysack
Running time: 141 minutes
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
