Stanley Kubrick predicted a world of iPads, Facetime and Donald Trump, broadcaster Alan Yentob has said at the preview for an exhibition exploring the director’s enduring influence.
Speaking at the event at London’s Design Museum, Yentob said films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr Strangelove foresaw the role technology has come to play in our lives.
Yentob, 72, said Kubrick’s films continued to resonate and offered insight into the “era of Trump, Putin and North Korea”.
He added: “Stanley had immense curiosity and every film was an immersive experience. Every film was a new experience.
“Not only was he a great storyteller, he really set up a world and then you were allowed to enter.
“If you look at 2001 again you will see the world you look at and recognise today – there it all is.
“There is (sentient computer and antagonist) Hal. As we talk about artificial intelligence, we talk about its relationship to neuroscience in a human being – just watch that encounter.
“Watch it again. When the BBC comes around asking how he’s getting on, how he is enjoying it. You will see iPads, you will see Facetime, you will see everything. It’s unbelievable.”Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition collects posters, props, outfits, film cameras and clapperboards from the American screenwriter’s works including The Shining and Barry Lyndon.
Featured is Alex from A Clockwork Orange’s baroque-inspired white outfit complete with codpiece as well as Private Joker’s “Born to Kill” helmet from Full Metal Jacket.
The collection also contains art and photography by the likes of Don McCullin and Diane Arbus who inspired Kubrick’s work.
Jan Harlan, Kubrick’s brother-in-law and longtime executive producer, remembered the director’s famously sharp sense of humour.
Replying to Yentob, the 81-year-old said: “I want to pick up on the idea you just posed with the prophecy in 2001.
“I remember having lunch with (Kubrick) at the beginning of the Iraq war. We talked, and referring to Dr Strangelove, he said: ‘Well I hope I haven’t made a documentary’.”
He added: “All his films are incredibly relevant. Right now they are relevant and I think this is a sign of a great artist, that his work stays for the next, and further, generation.”
Kubrick’s widow, the German actress Christiane, also spoke at the event.
Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition runs from April 26 until September 15.
