2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Kubrick spent five years developing 2001. The film's theme — the birthing of one intelligence by another — is developed across two parallel intersecting stories spanning vastly different time scales: transitions between stages of man from ape to "star child," and human interaction with HAL 9000, our own created intelligence.

Kubrick initially assumed Arthur C. Clarke was a recluse living in Ceylon; they met in New York and worked closely for three months to produce a 130-page treatment. Kubrick described the movie as "a nonverbal experience," telling Playboy he "tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeon-holing and directly penetrates the subconscious."

The film was groundbreaking in its scientific realism — depicting zero-gravity, the absence of sound in space, and artificial intelligence with unprecedented accuracy. Shot using modified NASA f/0.7 Zeiss lenses originally developed for satellite photography, many sequences remain technically unrepeated.

At a Vatican screening, a cardinal stood and said: "Here is a film made by an agnostic who hit the bullseye." Steven Spielberg called it his generation's "big bang." It won Kubrick his only personal Academy Award, for Visual Effects.