Kubrick Rejected the Original ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ Monolith
Cool: For his famous film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick originally planned a crystalline, transparent monolith for the iconic scene in the movie.
However, he scrapped the idea and then opted for the dark, ominous basalt mined in Scandinavia.
The rejected clear plastic monolith was eventually used to mystify modern primates.
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The (rejected) 2001 Monolith is on display by Tower Bridge
By Ian Mansfield | IanVisits
It may not look like it, but this 11 foot wide sculpture is the original model for the iconic Monolith used in the film, 2001 and it is on permanent display in St Katherine Docks, next to Tower Bridge.
When Stanley Kubrick wanted a monolith for the making of 2001, he commissioned a local plastics firm, Stanley Plastics to cast the monolith out of a solid lump of transparent plastic. However Kubrick was disappointed with screen tests and the sparkling clear polymer block was eventually rejected as a prop in favour of the dense, black basalt that was imported from Scandinavia and is now such an icon of film history.
Personally I am quite pleased as the black monolith is more mysterious a shape in large part to being opaque. A transparent monolith would have lacked mystery.
Anyway, that unwanted, and quite massive lump of perspex then sat in the Boreham Wood film studios until the Bratislavan born, London resident, sculptor Arthur Fleischmann acquired it.
His interest being no doubt the fact that this was at the time the largest single block of perspex ever cast – and he was a noted artist working with plastics. The block was kept in storage by Talbot Designs until Fleischmann received the commission to make a crystal crown for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Celebrations in 1977.
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Read the full article at: ianvisits.co.uk
Tune into Red Ice Radio:
Jay Weidner - Kubrick’s Odyssey: How Stanley Faked the Moon Landings & Alchemical Kubrick: The Great Work On Film
Jay Weidner - Kubrick’s Odyssey, The Brotherhood of Saturn & The Clash of Civilizations
Rodney Ascher & Andras Jones - Room 237: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining
Kent Daniel Bentkowski - Eyes Wide Shut & Goals of the Global Elite
