2001 A Space Odyssey

The definitive story of the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, acclaimed today as one of the greatest films ever made, and of director Stanley Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke—“a tremendous explication of a tremendous film….Breathtaking” (The Washington Post). Fifty years ago a strikingly original film had its premiere. Still acclaimed as one of the most remarkable and important motion pictures ever made, 2001: A Space Odyssey depicted the first contacts between humanity and extraterrestrial intelligence. The movie was the product of a singular collaboration between Stanley Kubrick and science fiction visionary Arthur C. Clarke. Fresh off the success of his cold war satire Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick wanted to make the first truly first-rate science fiction film. Drawing from Clarke’s ideas and with one of the author’s short stories as the initial inspiration, their bold vision benefited from pioneering special effects that still look extraordinary today, even in an age of computer-generated images. In Space Odyssey, author, artist, and award-winning filmmaker Michael Benson “delivers expert inside stuff” (San Francisco Chronicle) from his extensive research of Kubrick’s and Clarke’s archives. He has had the cooperation of Kubrick’s widow, Christiane, and interviewed most of the key people still alive who worked on the film. Drawing also from other previously unpublished interviews, Space Odyssey provides a 360-degree view of the film from its genesis to its legacy, including many previously untold stories. And it features dozens of photos from the making of the film, most never previously published. “At last! The dense, intense, detailed, and authoritative saga of the making of the greatest motion picture I’ve ever seen…Michael Benson has done the Cosmos a great service” (Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks).

"If 2001 has stirred your emotions, your subconscious, your mythological yearnings, then it has succeeded."--Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick's extraordinary movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1969. The critics initially disliked it, but the public loved it. And eventually, the film took its rightful place as one of the most innovative, brilliant, and pivotal works of modern cinema. The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey consists of testimony from Kubrick's collaborators and commentary from critics and historians. This is the most complete book on the film to date--from Stanley Kubrick's first meeting with screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke to Kubrick's exhaustive research to the actual shooting and release of the movie.

2001: A Space Odyssey combines meticulous science, limitless imagination, and pure visual majesty. This compendium, previously available as a Collector's Edition, contains photographs, pre-production paintings, and conceptual designs that explore the genius behind the sci-fi classic that remains the benchmark for all cinema space epics.

A comprehensive study of the genesis and evolution of the film, presented in the words of those involved with its production; includes a profile of Kubrick, numerous interviews, reviews, and a 96-page photo insert.

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made. It has been celebrated for its beauty and mystery, its realistic depiction of space travel and dazzling display of visual effects, the breathtaking scope of its story, which reaches across millions of years, and the thought-provoking depth of its meditation on evolution, technology and humanity's encounters with the unknown. 2001 has been described as the most expensive avant-garde movie ever made and as a psychedelic trip, a unique expression of the spirit of the 1960s and as a timeless masterpiece. Peter Krämer's insightful study explores 2001's complex origins, the unique shape it took and the extraordinary impact it made on contemporary audiences, drawing on new research in the Stanley Kubrick Archive to challenges many of the widely-held assumptions about the film. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

A breakthrough into the twenty-first century, this novel and movie puts the man of today into the credible environment of tomorrow, when he has conquered the perils of interplanetary travel and is ready for what comes next. You are hurtling across the abyss of space on an expedition to unexplored planets. Your only companion is a fellow astronaut: The three hibernauts who lie in a deep-freeze sleep will not be awakened until their skills are needed. An essential member of your crew is Hal, the electronic, almost-human brain that ceaselessly guides your course. For months your atom-powered craft Discovery has been carrying you away from earth at a hundred thousand miles an hour. You are now farther from home than any man in history. Your living quarters within the 400-foot-long spacecraft is a centrifugal drum equipped with an electronic library of literature and music. Here you relax, eat, exercise, sleep, and chat with Hal, the conversational computer who never forgets anything-not even your birthday. Your mission is of such importance that it has been surrounded by the deepest official secrecy. You are probing a fantastic frontier, following a trail that has led to the outer edges of the Solar System. You are searching the stars for evidence that man is not alone. On the Earth colonized Moon, deep in the crater Tycho, a discovery has been made that has shattered the human concept of the universe. You are journeying towards something. You do not know what it is. You only know it has been waiting for man to find it for four million years. Arthur C. Clarke, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a writer of science fiction, has produced this work that compares to the prophetic novels of Jules Verne. Author of the novel and co-author with Stanley Kubrick of the screen play for Kubrick's motion picture production, Clarke creates the cosmic desolations and splendors that man will someday see as he travels gigamiles into time and space.

A series of violent happenings add to a young woman's conviction that she is going to be murdered