Steven Spielberg didnt want to talk about it.
It was the one secret he insisted on keeping, even after the debut ofReady Player One.
Its no secret how he feels about Kubrick his friendship and affection for the late filmmaker is well documented.
Warner Bros.
The story that hasneverbeen told is how they first met.
They were about to build the sets forRaiders of the Lost Arkin Elstree Studios, Spielberg says.
The WWII comedy1941was his latest.
Warner Bros.
Kubrick was already the imposing, groundbreaking auteur behind2001: A Space Odyssey,Paths of Glory,Dr.
Strangelove,Lolita,A Clockwork Orange, and (his most recent)Barry Lyndon.
Still, the veteran granted the upstart an audience.
Warner Bros.
The set was exactly the way it is in the movie, all finished.
They werent shooting yet, Spielberg says.
He was prospecting for shots.
This struck the younger filmmaker as… strange.
And he opened his mouth before he could stop himself.
And Stanley said, Yeah, whats wrong with that?
You do you, Stanley Kubrick.
The rest of the tour was less awkward.
He was very warm, very complimentary.
We stayed friends for 19 years after that.
After Kubricks passing in 1999, Spielberg picked up one of his unfulfilled projects, the robot-longing-to-be-a-human dramaA.I.
Heres how they did it.
Its a combination of set construction and digital set construction, Spielberg says.
Why did some have to be rebuilt in the real world while the rest was rendered digitally?
Production designer Adam Stockhausen explains:
It was determined by the needs of the visual-effects people.
Those needs reverse when the movie includes shots of real human beings.
We had a real background behind an actor so you wouldnt get that green-screen effect.
What if the hedge animals come to life and start chasing us?
That idea made the cut (so to speak.)
Another Easter egg comes right before the heroes enter the movie.
AndWarGamesis a tip of the hat toReady Player Ones source material, the 2011 novel by Ernest Cline.
Even thoughWarGamesis about the threat of global thermonuclear war, nothing is quite as scary as the Overlook.
