One of Stanley Kubrick's First Films No Studio Wanted to Produce - the Film Eventually Became a World Classic
Everyone turned their backs on the great director after the failure of his previous film — fortunately, not for long.
Stanley Kubrick is still considered not only one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, but also one who has had a significant influence on major modern filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. Almost all of Kubrick's projects were once recognized and continue to be cult classics, and therefore it will be difficult for many to imagine that there were moments in the director's career when no one wanted to work with him.
However, at least once such a problem did arise, and no one was going to shoot a new potential Kubrick film — later, however, everything worked out for the director himself.
Studios rejected Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory
The war drama was only the fourth film in Kubrick's career, who at that time had not yet acquired the fame that awaited him with 2000: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick's first work, Fear and Desire, was largely ignored by critics and audiences, but received good reviews, which prompted the director to continue working on new stories.
The next film, Killer's Kiss, also did not become a sensation, but Kubrick did not despair - and a year later he shot a film called The Killing, which failed at the box office and generally threatened to become the last project in the director's career. The failure of The Killing influenced the decision of the studio bosses to stop working with Kubrick, and therefore no one wanted to work on his next film, Paths of Glory.
The director himself once admitted that the main problem was not the anti-war theme itself, but simply the fact that no one liked the story.
Paths of Glory was saved by Kirk Douglas
After studios openly admitted that they were simply not interested in collaborating with Kubrick, the latter had already abandoned the idea, but Kirk Douglas suddenly came to the rescue. The actor, who is also the father of the equally famous Michael Douglas, contacted Kubrick and said that he was ready to play the lead role in Paths of Glory — it was Douglas's participation that subsequently allowed Kubrick to get approval for the production of the film.
And although the United Artists film company was afraid to take such risks, the result exceeded all expectations — Paths of Glory started off well at the box office, and later entered the list of the greatest films of all time.
