2001: A Space Odyssey

"An epic drama of adventure and exploration.."

Location:

Back in the 1960's, the Isle of Harris was to reach a new place in the cosmos when Stanley Kubrick, flying low over the hills in the Bays of Harris, found the ideal location for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Nearly everyone who sets foot on the east coast of Harris is struck by the other worldliness, the lunar landscape and just how exciting and remote it feels. Kubrick found there the ideal earthly representation of the surface of Jupiter!

A Cult Movie for all Time: "Still the Ultimate Trip"

2001 was released in 1968 and proved a landmark movie for its genre and generation. The visually stunning nature of the film has earned it a place in cinema history. With its complex plot and psychedelic images, the film was not always easy to understand, which meant fantastic box office returns as people kept going back determined to grasp more of the film. 2001 has stood the test of time: it can stand up to today's space epics because of the diligent attention that went in to the model making and special effects, which won the film an Oscar.

Stanley Kubrick and Arthur.C.Clarke wrote the original screenplay for 2001:A Space Odyssey. Arthur C. Clarke went away to turn the screenplay into the 2001 novel, and when Stanley Kubrick began filming changed the shooting script, and in addition removed many entire scenes from the film in the editing. Editing was allegedly done in part on the QE2 on his way to the Hollywood Premier of 2001 (Stanley Kubrick will not travel by air).

For three years 2001 occupied all nine stages at the MGM Borehamwood studio, and at times borrowed yet more space down the road at the Elstree EMI studios, and on occasions when all available stages in Borehamwood were fully occupied travelled over to Shepperton some 15 miles away in suburban West London which housed the giant Moonbase set.

Cast

To Find Out More:

For Space Odyssey fans, here are some good sources of further information:

2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive
The Internet Movie Database: us.imdb.com/Title?0062622
Elstree Studios profile of the film www.elstree.co.uk/2001.html