Lost a lot of respect for this man after I found out how he treated Shelley Duvall.
Are they? Kubrick is known for being difficult and for his shallow portrayal of women. And whether it was due to misogyny or his personal view of Duvall, even Kubrick's daughter called her father "a different director" when referring to how he singled her out.
> People cite lines like "don't sympathize with Shelly" to jump to the conclusion that Kubrick "ordered the cast and crew to alienate her".
Except he literally did that in order to alienate her and extract a slightly more authentic performance, which is the same reason he spent three weeks on the baseball bat scene.
He may or may not be known for that, but is it really true? Part of the point of my comment is to dispel common misperceptions. Is Alice in Eyes Wide Shut shallow? Or the women in Barry Lyndon, particularly his mother?
>Except he literally did that in order to alienate her [...]
Or he did it as a joke. Maybe he thinks it's funny to say that to Duvall as she's saying her hair is falling out, because he has a big bald spot. Hey, isn't Kubrick also known for his dark humor?
Think about his male characters. His films are full of men who are neurotic losers, corporate conformists, cynical opportunists, or violent lunatics. Not that he never presents conventional male heroes, but they are rare in his work as a whole.
He certainly seems to be more interested in male characters than in female characters on average, judging by who gets more screen time. But he is not especially kind to the male gender. If he was a misogynist, perhaps we might just as justly call him a misandrist.
He very well might actually have been more of a misogynist than a misandrist, but if he was I'm not sure that it really shows through in his movies.
And it was apparently 127 takes.
The footage you see of Kubrick “abusing her” was cherry-picked by Kubrick himself in order to promote his film. He had a reputation as a “perfectionist” so he thought the footage would drive ticket sales.
I think it’s a form of sexism to assume that Shelley was somehow weak and not able to make her own decisions here. If we were talking about Leo DiCaprio or Daniel Day Lewis, we’d all be talking about how much of a dedicated actor he is that he would go through all that hardship just to get a great performance.