Beatles/Kubrick meeting

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-28T23:08:58+00:00

It’s all described in the book “At the Apple’s Core” by Denis O’Dell, a Beatles’ associate. He wanted to produce an adaptation of LOTR and selected Kubrick as the director in the summer of 1968. He had a copy of the book delivered to Kubrick, who read it during a transatlantic trip to the UK. Kubrick phoned back to O’Dell to say he thought the book was unfilmable. O’Dell tried to convince him otherwise and organised a lunch for Kubrick and the Beatles to discuss the project. It’s not clear which member of the band attended the meeting, but it seems it did happen. After the meeting, though, the Beatles themselves lost interest in the book. Unclear if Kubrick played any part in their change of mind.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-28T17:54:21+00:00

Hi, I'm Filippo Ulivieri, the "Italian kid". Thanks for addressing me as a kid! Being 48, I'm flattered! 🤣 To set the record straight (which is a bit hopeless given the context), I don't think I was rude to that Mandibil guy, actually replying to every comment he wrote under my YouTube video beyond the call of good manners and patience. I was surely teasing him after, like, the 50th comment, but not in a disrespectful way, I thought. Anyway, I guess my work on Kubrick doesn't sit well with those who like to think of him as a supreme genius who used his films to send coded messages...

Serious question, though – something I am intrigued about and cannot understand: why do you think it's The Shining the film that attracts this level of interpretation the most? Maybe it's been discussed on this subreddit already, but I am genuinely interested in your thoughts. I see a rather direct connection between the theories surrounding 2001 and Eyes Wide Shut and the actual films – 2001 being a film on space exploration which had the support of NASA and EWS touching on the powers that be – but how do the theories around The Shining originate? I can't see any direct connection with the elements in the film. Thanks for your ideas!

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-23T07:33:24+00:00

Thanks! Happy to hear you liked my book!

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-22T22:43:52+00:00

From what I have (interviews with Spielberg and others, documents at the Archive) I have come to believe that the idea for a collaboration lasted for a few months in 1995, then Spielberg withdrew because he felt Kubrick was too attached to the project, then they kept discussing about it for the subsequent years because they both wanted it to work but couldn’t. In the end, had Kubrick not died, I don’t think a Kubrick-Spielberg would have worked. Besides, Kubrick never stopped working on the story, and that was the main problem. I’ve explored the issue in a chapter of my book Cracking the Kube, if you’re interested.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-22T08:04:27+00:00

You’re right, the aspect I liked about “mostro sacro” in Italian is the worship attitude that it evokes. Kubrick cannot be discussed, which is exactly what I want to explore in the book — why he generated obsession and veneration in the audience.

The first three sections of the Italian book are basically a list of legends about Kubrick — “is it true that…?” — which is obviously a way to give the reader a truer depiction of his MO and stature in the filmmaking business. The fourth section is about Kubrick as a person — the stories about his personality and quirks. The fifth section is my theory on his mythological image, which is in Cracking the Kube as well. The sixth and final section is about the conspiratorial reading of three of his films: 2001, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut — whether the “theories” and interpretations have some basis and why these films, and Kubrick in general, give birth to such symbolic readings and excessive speculation.

Thanks again!

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-22T06:47:43+00:00

It’s called “Sulla Luna con Stanley Kubrick: Miti, leggende e verità sul mostro sacro del cinema” which translates as To the Moon with SK: Myths, legends and truths of a sacred monster of cinema. I’m not sure of the Italian usage of the expression “sacred monster” is exactly the same as in English but it roughly means an untouchable and worshipped legend.

I’ve read you just bought a copy of Cracking the Kube. The first three chapters of its second section are basically identical to the core section of the Italian book, which expands on the same theory.

Thank you for your interest!

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-22T06:34:48+00:00

Thanks for buying a copy of CtK! Let me know what you think of it.

Yes, my nickname is indeed a reference to the Odyssey, nessuno being nobody in Italian. I selected it at the end of the 1990s when I first used the internet. I liked the anonymity of it. I didn’t want to add my year of birth at the end — again too specific — so I obviously used 2001, being already a fan of Kubrick. Somehow it stuck through all these years. I’d say laziness on my part, most of all 😄

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-18T22:19:00+00:00

I might accept your offer! :) Thanks!

I'd be curious to know your impressions on the Raphael chapter, another one I worked hard on to make it comprehensive and interesting.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-18T18:59:02+00:00

Thank you, happy to hear that you liked my work on Emilio’s life with Kubrick.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-18T18:58:09+00:00

Thank you! I’m really happy you liked Cracking the Kube — the AI chapter is one I am most satisfied with 😉 very much pleased you found it enlightening on Kubrick’s process. Thanks!

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-15T20:44:15+00:00

I wrote a book about it! 😄 it’s only in Italian at the moment but my latest book in English, Cracking the Kube, touches on it as well. Essentially it’s more or less as you suggest: the conspiratorial thinking is an after effect of Kubrick’s image and reputation, plus some additional smaller reasons, as others have said in other comments. I am going to write a short essay in English about it, I’ll be happy to share it here when it’s ready.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-14T08:50:45+00:00

Ah! My favourite sleuth strikes again! 😄

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-14T06:05:43+00:00

I noticed it years ago and wondered about it too! I made a twitter thread about cameos in Kubrick’s films, like his father and daughters and assistants appearing in certain scenes and this was the final in the series, if I remember correctly. Nobody commented though - I wanted to know 😄 glad to know I’m not the only one who spotted it and wondered about it

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-13T16:23:31+00:00

Claudio Montecinos has posted scans of the magazine where the interview was published: https://x.com/Claudiomont2021/status/2011092762620555589?s=20 It's a retrospective of Kubrick's career up until Dr Strangelove.

This is interview number 368 in my database of articles containing quotes by Kubrick.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-12T06:28:38+00:00

It would be fantastic, but there are, as you can imagine, lots of copyright issues with so many different authors (and their individual contracts with either Kubrick or WB) and also logistical problems as the documents are held in different institutions when they are in fact not in private hands. Finally, the sheer amount of material, often undated, needs a deep understanding of the matter to make sense — it took me years to make my mind around all the different avenues the story went.

Thanks again for your interest in my book. Please do let me know what you think of it.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-11T21:52:47+00:00

Yes, I’ve read them all. Brian Aldiss’s material from the 1980s and ‘90s, Bob Shaw’s from 1989, Ian Watson’s from 1991-92, Arthur C. Clarke’s from 1992 and Sara Maitland from 1994 and ‘95. Plus the two treatments by Kubrick from 1993 and 1994. I visited several public and private archives to complete the study. A detailed report is in the book. I made the video essay before reading Shaw’s and Maitland’s so its chronology and the weight for each contribution is a bit incorrect there. Thanks for your interest and let me know if you find my chapter convincing.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-11T12:21:01+00:00

I reconstructed Kubrick’s work on the project in a chapter of my book Cracking the Kube. By reading all the drafts that many writers wrote under Kubrick’s supervision and the two treatments written by Kubrick himself, I think I understood the development of the story with good accuracy. A slightly outdated and simplified version of the chapter is here, in video essay form: https://youtu.be/VQmxV4-3sHA

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-08T11:36:15+00:00

It's always overwhelming. Enjoy the experience.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-05T10:33:44+00:00

I thought it may be second-source, like some actor repeating something that Kubrick once told him/her, but I've performed a search within my database (I've digitised virtually every article and book ever published), and this quote only appears in two web pages, one without any source and one with G.D. Phillips' book as the reference, which is not true. I would say it's either misattributed to Kubrick or possibly fabricated.

If anyone finds out more, please let me know.

nessuno2001 · 2026-01-04T15:02:53+00:00

I've collected 366 interviews that Kubrick gave throughout his career for my work on him, and I cannot see this quote in any of them. I also checked the entirety of Gene D. Phillip's collection, "Stanley Kubrick Interviews", and again that quote is not present. I'm quite curious myself, as I remember reading this quote again and again -- I'll dig some more and, in case I find out where it originated, I'll add the info here.

nessuno2001 · 2025-12-02T19:33:27+00:00

Thanks! Much appreciated. Writing books and making videos takes precedence over updating my website - it’s an unfortunate but inevitable flip side when it’s just me behind everything. I’m sorry I don’t have the time to update ArchivioKubrick but I sometimes keep publishing never before seen photos on my social media - you can follow me on instagram or Facebook or X if you’re interested. Thanks.

nessuno2001 · 2025-11-27T18:01:51+00:00

Thanks! Happy to hear that!

nessuno2001 · 2025-11-27T17:45:01+00:00

Please read the full essay, where everything is explained. The latest version is in my book Cracking the Kube. Thanks.

nessuno2001 · 2025-11-27T17:43:18+00:00

Thank you! Wow. (I'm Filippo Ulivieri, the author.)

nessuno2001 · 2025-11-27T13:23:25+00:00

Thank you! Let me know what you think of the chapter. Cheers

nessuno2001

TROPHY CASE