27 December 2013

They Played Chess with Kubrick

The caption said, 'Stanley Kubrick and George C. Scott playing chess on the set of Dr. Strangelove.'


via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1bFWfBT © Flickr user pds209 under Creative Commons.

See also Playing Chess With Kubrick by Jeremy Bernstein [NYbooks.com; The New York Review of Books]:-

All during the filming of 2001 we played chess whenever I was in London and every fifth game I did something unusual. Finally we reached the 25th game and it was agreed that this would decide the matter. Well into the game he made a move that I was sure was a loser. He even clutched his stomach to show how upset he was. But it was a trap and I was promptly clobbered. "You didn’t know I could act too," he remarked.

Although the photo is widely available on different sites, I couldn't find any info about its origin.

***

A black & white variation of this photo was featured on the cover of the January 1964 Chess Review. Inside was a smaller photo and an explanation.

It was inevitable, it seems. Stanley Kubrick was producing and directing his own screenplay: "Dr.Strangelove", and George C. Scott was co-starring, along with Peter Sellers. Kubrick and Scott discovered they both were ardent chess fans. Thereafter, there was always a chess position standing by when work was on, to which they immediately returned when time was called on the movie-making.

No photo credit was given for either photo.

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