Vivian Vanessa Kubrick (born August 5, 1960), also credited under the pseudonym Abigail Mead, is an American filmmaker and composer. She is the daughter of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.

Vivian Kubrick
Born
Vivian Vanessa Kubrick

(1960-08-05) August 5, 1960 (age 63)[1]: 42 [2]
Other namesAbigail Mead[1]: 88 
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, composer
Parents

Early life edit

Vivian Vanessa Kubrick was born on August 5, 1960, to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and German-born actress Christiane Kubrick (née Harlan). She had an elder sister, Anya, born April 6, 1959, and an elder half-sister, Katharina, from her mother's first marriage.[1]: 42  Her father's family is Jewish.[3]

Career edit

Kubrick made appearances in four of her father's films: as Dr. Floyd's daughter, nicknamed "Squirt", in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968),[4][5] as a guest at Bryan's birthday party in Barry Lyndon (1975), as a guest on a ballroom couch in The Shining (1980), and as a news camera operator at the site of a mass grave depicted in Full Metal Jacket (1987).[6]: 227 [7]

At age 17, Kubrick directed and filmed a 35-minute documentary for the BBC, The Making of The Shining,[8][9] which was edited by Gordon Stainforth and had some footage removed by Stanley Kubrick.[6]: 215–216  After the release of the documentary in 1980, it became popular on the Kubrick fan site alt.movies.kubrick (amk)[10] and distributed on DVDs of The Shining.[11] In 2019, Alice Vincent wrote in The Telegraph that the film confirmed "her father deliberately mistreated [Shelley] Duvall, belittling her ideas and shutting her down while treating her co-star, Jack Nicholson, as an equal."[12] According to Elizabeth Jean Hornbeck, writing in Feminist Studies in 2016, "Kubrick bullied Duvall into a near emotional breakdown, which took a toll on her health", some of which is documented in the film.[13] According to Geoffrey Macnab, writing in The Independent in 2020, in the film, "Depending on your point of view, he is either bullying her or using sly, intimidatory tactics to goad the performance he wants out of her."[14] In 2022, the 1981 Razzies nomination for "Worst Actress" given to Shelley Duvall for The Shining was rescinded based in part on footage from the documentary that depicts how Stanley Kubrick treated Duvall on set.[15]

Kubrick supervised and composed the score to Full Metal Jacket,[16] using the pseudonym Abigail Mead.[17][18] In 1986, she shot footage for a documentary on the making of the film, but it was not completed.[19][20] Some of the footage was included in the 2001 documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures.[20]

In October 2008, Kubrick attended a 40th anniversary screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey sponsored by the Jules Verne Society, along with actors Keir Dullea, Daniel Richter, and Malcolm McDowell. She accepted the Society's Legendaire Award on behalf of her father.[21]

In 2016, Kubrick published an open letter on Twitter denying the conspiracy theory that suggests her father helped fake the Apollo 11 Moon landing, referring to the allegation as a "grotesque lie."[22][23] In 2016, she also Tweeted an open letter to Dr. Phil, after his 2016 interview with Shelley Duvall, stating "Your exploitive use of Shelly Duvall is a form of LURID ENTERTAINMENT and is shameful".[24] She started a crowd-funding campaign for Duvall.[12][25]

Filmography edit

Year Film Functioned as Notes
Director Composer Actress Editor
1968 2001: A Space Odyssey Yes Role; as Heywood Floyd's daughter[26]
1975 Barry Lyndon Yes Roles; as dancer, banquet guest, magic show spectator
1980 The Shining Yes Role; as Ballroom party guest
Making ‘The Shining’ Yes Documentary
1986 Shooting 'Full Metal Jacket' Yes Yes
1987 Full Metal Jacket Yes Yes Credited as Abigail Mead

Uncredited role as News Camerawoman

1999 The Mao Game Yes [7]
1999 Eyes Wide Shut Score unused in final film[7]
2001 First Kill Yes

Personal life edit

In 1995, Kubrick became a Scientologist.[27][28]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Duncan, Paul (2008). Stanley Kubrick : visual poet 1928–1999. Köln: Taschen. ISBN 9783822831151. OL 26151149M.
  2. ^ Abrams, Nathan (December 2015). "Becoming a Macho Mensch: Stanley Kubrick, Spartacus and 1950s Jewish Masculinity" (PDF). Adaptation. 8 (3): 283–296. doi:10.1093/adaptation/apv006. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  3. ^ Abrams, Nathan (5 July 2018). "Kubrick: the enigmatic Jew". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  4. ^ Mondello, Bob (4 April 2018). "What Made '2001, A Space Odyssey' Such An Influential Film". All Things Considered. NPR. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  5. ^ Berg, Nicole M. (2020). Discovering Kubrick's Symbolism: The Secrets of the Films. McFarland, Incorporated. p. 65. ISBN 9781476639925. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  6. ^ a b Hughes, David (2001). The Complete Kubrick. Virgin Books. ISBN 9780753504529. OL 7987439M.
  7. ^ a b c Hasford, Gustav. "Full Metal Jacket Crew Notes". gustavhasford.com. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ Brownlee, John (7 June 2007). "Vivian Kubrick's The Making of the Shining". Wired. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  9. ^ Garrison, Gary (6 May 2016). "Watch: 35-Minute Documentary By Vivian Kubrick Captures The Making Of 'The Shining'". The Playlist. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  10. ^ Egan, Kate (2015). "Precious footage of the auteur at work: framing, accessing, using, and cultifying Vivian Kubrick's Making the Shining" (PDF). New Review of Film and Television Studies. 13 (1): 63–82. doi:10.1080/17400309.2014.990284. S2CID 191324749.
  11. ^ Matheson, Whitney (9 April 2013). "So you've seen 'Room 237.' Now what?". USA Today. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  12. ^ a b Vincent, Alice (30 October 2019). "Shelley Duvall: The Shining's saddest legacy". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  13. ^ Hornbeck, Elizabeth Jean (2016). "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?: Domestic Violence in ' 'The Shining' '". Feminist Studies. 42 (3): 709-710. doi:10.15767/feministstudies.42.3.0689. JSTOR 10.15767/feministstudies.42.3.0689. S2CID 151898421.
  14. ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (22 May 2020). "'Making The Shining was hell': How tormented stars, Kubrick's temper and box-office disaster led to an immortal horror". The Independent. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  15. ^ Ables, Kelsey (2 April 2022). "Razzies void Shelley Duvall's 'The Shining' nomination. Here's why". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  16. ^ Abrams, Jerold J.; Britton, James R.; Cole, Rachel; Donelan, Carol; Fenwick, James; Gombash, William; Jaunas, Vincent; Johnson, Paul (2020). A Critical Companion to Stanley Kubrick. Lexington Books. p. 12. ISBN 9781793613776. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  17. ^ Broderick, Mick, ed. (2019). The Kubrick Legacy. Taylor & Francis. p. 62. ISBN 9780429594908. For Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick chose a number of rock songs from the era for the soundtrack, but scores a climactic scene with some haunting original music by his daughter Vivian Kubrick (credited as Abigail Mead).
  18. ^ Burlingame, Jon (26 July 1999). "Her Avant-Garde Tunes Are Getting 'Wide' Notice". Los Angeles Times. The synthesized sounds of "Full Metal Jacket" were done by Kubrick's daughter Vivian (under the pseudonym Abigail Mead).
  19. ^ "A photographic diary of 'Full Metal Jacket'". CNN. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  20. ^ a b Salovaara, Sarah (21 February 2014). "Stanley Kubrick Behind the Scenes of Full Metal Jacket". Filmmaker. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  21. ^ "2001: A Space Odyssey @ The Edison Downtown". LA Weekly. 13 October 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  22. ^ Stolworthy, Jacob (6 July 2016). "Stanley Kubrick's daughter debunks moon landing conspiracy theory". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  23. ^ McClendon, Lamarco (6 July 2016). "Stanley Kubrick's Daughter Addresses Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory". Variety. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  24. ^ Steadman, Otillia (26 April 2019). "Dr. Phil Hit Back At Critics Who Say His Show Exploits People With Mental Illnesses". Buzzfeed News. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  25. ^ Silveira, Ana Filipe (19 November 2016). "Filha de Stanley Kubrick quer ajudar atriz de "The Shining"" [Stanley Kubrick's Daughter Wants to Help 'The Shining' Actress]. Diário de Notícias (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022. (translated) Vivian Kubrick, daughter of The Shining director Stanley Kubrick, also criticized the presenter's stance and announced the launch of a campaign on the Go Fund Me platform to raise money to help Shelley Duvall achieve her financial independence and "perhaps, regain your health.
  26. ^ Kaplan, Mike (15 May 2012). "Communing With Kubrick". HuffPost. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  27. ^ Mikics, David (2020). Stanley Kubrick : American filmmaker. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 192. ISBN 9780300224405. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  28. ^ McEntee, Joy (31 August 2022). "Someone to Care About : Children in Stanley Kubrick's Films". Gender, Power, and Identity in the Films of Stanley Kubrick. pp. 276–290. doi:10.4324/9781003208174-18. ISBN 9781003208174.

External links edit