Hello cinephiles!
Welcome to Making Film where we take an in-depth look at how cinema’s
greatest artists made their films. My name is Tyler and today we'll take a look at the
how Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange got started.
“Tell us all about it then.”
A Clockwork Orange is perhaps Stanley Kubrick’s most controversial film and one “highly
praised” by the likes of Fellini, Bunuel, and Kurosawa as well as “educational,
scientific,
political,
religious
and even law-enforcement groups," but it was really supposed to be a small film sandwiched
between two epics—
those being the monumental 2001: A Space Odyssey
and Kubrick’s white whale…
Napoleon (Michel Cement).
Kubrick made A Clockwork Orange because of a delay in the pre-production of Napoleon.
An article during that time wrote,
“Once A Clockwork Orange is completed, Mr Kubrick plans to return his attention to Napoleon,
an epic-scale treatment of Napoleon’s career on which he has been working since July 1968.
It is slated to be filmed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in England
and on the continent” (New Perspectives 220).
When asked about Napoleon in an interview Kubrick gave in 1971, he said,
"First of all, I start from the premise that there has never been a great historical film,
and I say that with all apologies and respect to those who have made historical films, including myself.
I don't think anyone has ever successfully solved the problem of dealing in an interesting
way with the historical information that has to be conveyed, and at the same time getting
a sense of reality about the daily life of the characters. You have to get a feeling
of what it was like to be with Napoleon. At the same time, you have to convey enough historical
information in an intelligent, interesting and concise way so that the audience understands
what happened” (Strick, Houston).
Despite both Kubrick’s Lolita and Dr. Strangelove being hits and earning more than double what
they cost to make, Kubrick found it difficult to get financing for Napoleon (New Perspectives 221).
He finished the Napoleon script in September of 1969 and by December he was ready to go,
but because of his “inability to finalize a deal for Napoleon,” he decided to go ahead
and adapt Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange (New Perspectives 221).
In fact, after A Clockwork Orange was completed, Kubrick went to Burgess asking him to write
a novel on Napoleon that he could adapt into a new script (New Perspectives 221). By June
1972, this collaboration ended with Kubrick telling Burgess that his work [quote]
“Is not a work that can help me make a film about the life of Napoleon” (New Perspectives 221).
This book eventually became Napoleon Symphony published in 1974 (New Perspectives 221).
The main problem with getting Napoleon made was that it was going to cost 5 million dollars —
which seems like peanuts today even when you account for inflation (which would bring the
total to around $35 million. But, in 1969, the major studios were failing and suffering
huge losses which would continue over the next two years (New Perspectives 221).
Compared to the 5 million dollars that Napoleon would cost, the $2 million it would cost to
make A Clockwork Orange seemed like a much safer bet (New Perspectives 222).
A Clockwork Orange also followed the late-60s trend of [quote]
"breaking with long-established taboos surrounding
graphic imagery of violent and sexual acts;
unusual sexual relations and practices;
drug consumption;
the improper depiction of religious institutions and practices;
and the sympathetic portrayal of criminals and other morally questionable characters” (New Perspectives 222).
“I’ll make me own way— thank you very much. May it lie heavy on your consciences!”
Now that the Production Code, which prohibited this kind of content was replaced with a rating-system,
audiences were eager to delve into the taboo. The studios had seen this happen with
The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Rosemary’s Baby, and Easy Rider which turned into huge hits
because of these taboos (New Perspectives 222). The studios were much more willing to
role the dice on the small and transgressive A Clockwork Orange instead of the expensive
historical epic that would have been Napoleon. Of course, Kubrick —especially coming off
of making the nearly 12 million dollar 2001: A Space Odyssey— wasn’t used to making
small films.
Associate Producer Bernard Williams said that when he saw how low the budget was he said,
“are you kidding?" and Kubrick said, “I know, but I have to show them that I can make
a low-budget feature” (Making).
Malcolm McDowell: “You know the reason, I think, that he chose this film, was that
he’d come off 2001, which had gone way over-budget and Aubrey, you know, his tenure as chairman
of MGM had come to an end— primarily because of the over-cost of 2001. So Stanley decided
to make a low-budget film. This was his low-budget film and he wanted to prove that he could
do it and he could make a great film for very little money, which is what he did.”
When asked if he thinks of A Clockwork Orange as a “form of relaxation between two very
big films” — those being 2001: A Space Odyssey and Napoleon— Kubrick said,
"I don't think in terms of big movies, or small movies.
Each movie presents problems of its own and has advantages of its own.
Each movie requires everything that you have to give it,
in order to overcome the artistic and logistic problems that it poses.
There are advantages in an epic film, just as there are disadvantages.
It is much easier to do a huge crowd scene and make it interesting
than it is to film a man sitting at a table thinking” (Strick, Houston).
There have been several comparisons made between Kubrick’s previous film, 2001
and A Clockwork Orange
including that both are set in the future,
2001 shows a machine becoming like a human
and A Clockwork Orange shows a human becoming like a machine,
as well as the juxtaposition between the final shot of 2001
and the first shot of A Clockwork Orange (Interviews 153).
In the novel, there is mention of traveling to the moon in a narration by Alex that reads
“the old Luna with men on it”
and goes on to say "There’ll be life like down here most likely, with some getting knifed
and others doing the knifing” (New Perspectives).
This seems to ground the awesomeness of the universe and says that,
as long as people exist in the universe, evil exists in the universe.
There is even a mention of space travel in the film.
“Men on the moon! And men spinning around the earth! And there’s not no attention
payed to Earthly law and order no more!”
What’s interesting is that this isn’t the first time that a film adaptation of A
Clockwork Orange was attempted.
In the mid-60s there were plans to adapt the novel
with the members of the Rolling Stones playing the droogs —
Alex was going to be played by Mick Jagger who Burgess said
“looked the quintessence of delinquency” (Grundy 110).
Another interesting bit is that, during the time Kubrick was looking for a project to
do in the lull to find financing for Napoleon,
besides A Clockwork Orange,
Kubrick was also considering Arthur Schnitzler’s Rhapsody: A Dream Novel,
which had been recommended to him by his wife Christiane.
Rhapsody would be adapted by Kubrick decades later as Eyes Wide Shut (Alison Castle).
Thanks for watching!
Stay tuned because next time we’ll be talking about the screenwriting of A Clockwork Orange.
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Until next time, I’m Tyler;
thanks for watching!