Fwd: Message for you, Ken

From: Darryl Wiggers <[email protected]>

From: Sarah Leventer Boston University <[email protected]>

I've heard anecdotally that Kubrick had his crew watch Rosemary's Baby and
Eraserhead before working on The Shining, but I'm having trouble finding an
actual source to substantiate that claim--does anyone know where/if Kubrick
may have said this? Or if others (i.e. biographers or Lynch) have made this
claim?

I know Lynch discusses Kubrick and Eraserhead in Catching the Big Fish, and
Kubrick mentions liking Rosemary's Baby in interviews with Michel Ciment,
but I haven't found an instance where he discusses both films, or having
The Shining production crew watch them.

Thank you so much for your help!


Here's what we know for certain: according to Lynch himself (in the
aforementioned Catching the Big Fish) while he was working on the Elephant
Man at Shepperton Studios he met "some guys" who were working with George
Lucas and they supposedly met Kubrick at Elstree Studios the previous day.
While chatting with him Kubrick reportedly said, "How would you fellas like
to come to my house and see my favourite film," This, they claimed, was
Eraserhead.

Now compare this account with that of Albert Brooks, who got a call from
Kubrick to tell him how much he loved Modern Romance. For the next five or
so years they maintained a phone relationship. Then, one day, Brooks
pointed out that he'd be touring England soon and maybe it'd be a good
opportunity to finally meet in person. Kubrick said "No, no, no, no... not
a good idea."

Now, despite erroneous accounts that Kubrick was a recluse, he did indeed
welcome many people into his home. But in every case I know of, they were
always people with whom he had a working relationship -- and limited to the
time when they actually had one (like Malcolm McDowell during the filming
of A Clockwork Orange), or could have one (like Steven Spielberg, who he
did envision directing A.I. long before his death).

So why would he share the experience of watching "his favourite film" -- in
his home -- with "some guys" he just met at a film studio?

And if he loved Eraserhead so much, how come he never got in touch with
Lynch himself? Over the years many filmmakers, actors and so forth have
acknowledged getting such calls -- praising them for their work, or just to
talk to them -- so why not Lynch? To my knowledge Lynch has never claimed
to have been in contact with him.

So how did Lynch's "story" evolve into a legend that the cast and crew of
The Shining were forced to watch Eraserhead and Rosemary's Baby? My guess
is, after Lynch's Kubrick story started circulating, people figured out it
must have happened while Kubrick was making The Shining (it was shot at
Shepperton Studios). Others saw what they perceived as similarities between
the two films -- as well as Rosemary's Baby -- and a legend was born.

It was then in a 2001 interview for Empire Magazine that the interviewer
said to Lynch, "Stanley Kubrick screened Eraserhead for the cast and crew
of The Shining,  because that was the mood he wanted to achieve. Are you a
Kubrick fan?" Lynch replied to the question, and ignored the introductory
part. Sort of a passive endorsement of this "fact."

But what is especially suspect about this legend is that Kubrick never
aspired to be an imitator. Many filmmakers are -- which makes it easy for
some to believe -- but not Kubrick. Such a move would go against his work
ethos. He never operated that way. There are enough interviews to prove
that.

Kubrick's daughter, after his death, once provided an interesting list of
his films she claimed her father loved. It included titles such as White
Men Can't Jump -- but not Eraserhead. And this is the thing most people
have trouble believing -- Kubrick loved popular film. Partly because, he
wanted his films to be popular too (remember, after the terrible previews
of 2001 and The Shining, Kubrick hastily cut the films down in the hopes of
making them more palpable to a wide audience). He admired fellow artists
who achieved that goal. This might explain why he spent the last 20 years
of life in almost constant contact with Spielberg, but never once called
Lynch.

Getting back to Eraserhead, his supposed "favourite film," if there's one
thing that's consistent about the films Kubrick loved, and the way he
talked about them, he was obsessed with narrative. Like his love of the
Nescafe Gold Blend commercials. In that case he was amazed at how much
story could be squeezed into 30-60 seconds. In short, he loved
entertainment that told stories simply and concisely.

Eraserhead is the antithesis of that. It's a stubbornly non-narrative film
and the least likely of any to earn his stamp of "favourite film." Modern
Romance, The Jerk, E.T. -- these are all films Kubrick has admitted
publicly to admiring. He never mentioned Eraserhead, or any other Lynch
film for that matter. Not on record anyway.

I don't doubt that one day, while Lynch was working on The Elephant Man, he
met "some guys" who said "we have a story for you."

It was a story all right. And, whoever those "guys" are, their story is
full of beans. But it got repeated and endorsed by Lynch -- many times --
and spawned a legend that stubbornly sticks around.

dw

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