Filmworker

A fascinating account of working alongside Stanley Kubrick – by one of his closest collaborators.

Leon Vitali first encountered Stanley Kubrick in the 1970s, when the young actor was cast in Barry Lyndon. It started a close and exacting collaboration that continued up until Kubrick’s death in 1999, and which this documentary chronicles with absorbing insight. Spellbound by Kubrick, Vitali gave up a promising on-screen career to work for the filmmaker – first on the casting of The Shining, but with his duties expanding over the years (everything from helping craft the performances of Full Metal Jacket to looking after Kubrick’s dogs).

Reflecting on his relationship with him, Vitali is faithful to the memory of Kubrick, but also candid about the enormous pressures of working with such a singular individual. It is a revealing, admiring and occasionally poignant study of a life devoted to cinema.