In 1977, George Lucas was busy. It showed the world a film that would become the basis for a billion-dollar science fiction franchise and one of the biggest fantasy films of the 1970s: “Star Wars.” Few other directors have managed to create a world as expansive and revolutionary as this one, but the director made it clear that, even with his universe of warring rebels and angry Wookiees, a film had reached levels that Lucas could only dream of.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the “Star Wars” director discussed what he thought was the best of the best in science fiction at the time and proclaimed that Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” was light years ahead of the competition. “Stanley Kubrick made the ultimate science fiction film, and it’s going to be very difficult for anyone to come along and make a better film, as far as I’m concerned. Technically, it can be compared (to ‘Star Wars’), but personally, I think ‘2001’ is far superior.”
Lucas’s opinion has remained common since apes were throwing bones in the air in 1968, almost a decade before he introduced us to Luke Skywalker and his adventures. He’s also not the only legendary filmmaker to look to and draw inspiration from Kubrick’s earth-shattering space film.
Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan consider 2001 a daring and extraordinary experiment
During an appearance on The Rewatchables for “Disclosure Day,” Spielberg recalled seeing “2001: A Space Odyssey” for the first time and the audience’s collective reaction when that iconic score reached its climax: “As the music faded away after that big, explosive chord, I was aware that everyone was standing still. That in itself, in itself, before the movie started, was mind-blowing. And then what started, I think, for many people in that theater, was a religious experience fueled by what they were doing.
Fortunately, Spielberg had the chance to collaborate with Kubrick on “Artificial Intelligence,” a film that, much like “Disclosure Day,” remains one of Spielberg’s most underrated sci-fi films — and is home to a great cameo from Robin Williams.
Another director who marveled at Kubrick’s world is often considered to be on the same level as him. In 2013, Christopher Nolan recalled his reaction to seeing Kubrick’s classic. “I just felt this extraordinary experience of being taken to another world. You didn’t doubt that world for a moment. It had a larger-than-life quality to it,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I vividly remember the experience of being transported to another world. I was a huge Star Wars fan at the time. But it was a completely different way of experiencing science fiction. I was seven years old, so I couldn’t claim to have understood the movie.” Luckily, whatever it included was enough, because without “2001: A Space Odyssey” we might not have had “Interstellar” or so many other films influenced by a true master at work.
