It goes without saying thatStanley Kubrickwas one odd duck. A successful one, but an odd duck nonetheless.From filming scenes repeatedlytotraumatizing his castto bring out what he was looking for, to filming the moon landing (he didn’t, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to think he could have), Kubrick played by his own rules. But in a career of oddities, the fact thathe demanded that all props from what is deemed his masterpiece,2001: A Space Odyssey, be destroyed is a whole other level. But he had his reason, and, to be entirely fair, it was actually a reasonable one.
2001: A Space Odyssey
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Kubrick Strives for Achievable Possibilities in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
For a director whose works are as iconic as they come, Stanley Kubrick only ever won asingle Academy Award, and the fact that it came in the category of Best Visual Special Effects for2001: A Space Odysseyis telling. Those award-winning effects were aided by sets and set pieces that were decidedly unique, an aesthetic that speaks to Kubrick’s exceptional vision.Ever the notorious perfectionist, those pieces couldn’t simply be unique, but had to be achievable, to at least some degree. To that end,Kubrick brought in a wide assortment of model makers, architects, boat builders, furniture designers, sculptors and painters to bring the film’s visual elements to life.Harry LangeandFrederick Ordway, leaders of a renowned space consultancy, were tasked with designing the spacecraft. Companies manufactured the film’s helmets, instrument panels, and spacesuits, which were commended for their realism by none other than the Apollo 8 crew, shortly before their mission.
That commitment to realism is mind-boggling when one considers just how much of the film’s world of the future has come to pass. The aforementionedNew Yorkerdescribes it best as “a fastidious period piece about a period that had yet to happen.” The brilliance of Kubrick is in how he curried the involvement of major brands like Whirlpool, Nikon, and DuPont by having them contribute to the set designs, so the futuristic looks of the products were based on what they were already making, and generally what they came to look like when 2001 actuallydidroll around. Fun fact: the companies that were involved all still existed in 2001, except the company behind the Orion space plane, asPan Amfolded in 1991.
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’s Unique Set Pieces Face Execution at the Hands of Their Maker
All the experts, designs, and research led to a list of props created for2001: A Space Odysseythat are an astounding mix of iconic and prophetic, and so unique to the film that images of those props are quickly associated with the film. The rotating, spoked wheel that is Space Station V, orbiting above the Earth.The Newspad, an iPad-like device that preceded the introduction of Apple’s tablet by over 40 years. The pods, the only place outside of HAL’s earshot (but not his lip-reading). For that matter,HAL 9000, the antagonistic A.I. with the disturbingly calm voice.
This makes Kubrick’s decision to have each and every prop destroyed after filming wrapped all the more unusual, but as alluded to earlier,he had a pretty good reasonfor doing so. Long story short, Kubrick didn’t want his work being exploited by others looking to make a quick buck by scavenging for the props to use in other films, or to simply sell. And while it’s reasonable to think that Kubrick was simply paranoid, he wasn’t. Take the cautionary tale of 1956’sForbidden Planet. Props from that film were reused multiple times in other features.Robby the Robotalone appeared inColumbo,Lost in Space,The Twilight Zone,The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and evenThe Addams Family, for some reason.With that, everything associated with the movie - blueprints, models, unseen footage, miniatures, and more - were never supposed to see the light of day again.
Stanley Kubrick’s Plan for ’2001: A Space Odyssey’s Props Backfires
Now,ifevery prop had been destroyed, then Kubrick’s plan would have worked as intended.Only some of the props did escape the executioner’s ax, which resulted in Kubrick’s plan backfiring. Spectacularly. By having destroyed the majority of the props, Kubrick inadvertently raised the value of the existing props to unprecedented highs, a fact pointed out by an auction house that sold an original shuttle model from the film, as cited inFar Out.That model sold for $344,000in 2015, purchased by theAcademy Museum of Motion Pictures.
A traveling exhibitionhonoring Stanley Kubrick, currently being staged at Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, has a few other pieces from the film, including a model of the Star Child, a monkey costume, a spacesuit worn in the Clavius Base scene, and actual storyboards, contact sheets and test films related to the Stargate sequence. A quick Google search reveals a host of other props that survived the purge, including a futuristic watch crafted by US watchmaking company Hamilton, and a modernist red Djinn chair, one of many that appeared in Space Station V’s travel lounges.
But hey, at least none of the props made it into other films, which was Kubrick’s fear, right? Err, maybe. If you look at Watto’s junk pile at Mon Espa, Tatooine, inStar Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, you’llcatch a glimpse of an EVA podfrom2001: A Space Odyssey, a nifty little Easter egg that probably had Kubrick rolling in his grave. Relax, dead Stan - it’s probably a replica.
2001: A Space Odysseyis available to stream in the U.S. on Max
