How They Became Famous One of the most famous and well-respected directors of all time, Stanley Kubrick really began making a name for himself with a realistic portrayal of the horrors of war in Paths of Glory. His next film, Spartacus, a gigantic historical epic, was again politically charged. The success of Spartacus at the Academy Awards and at the box office (it won 4 Oscars and became the highest grossing film of all time) might have lead critics to believe Kubrick was ready to get comfortable in mainstream Hollywood. It turned out that couldn't have been further from the truth. What They Did Next Following Spartacus in 1962 was Lolita, based on the controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The story centres on a middle-aged man who falls in love with a 12 year old girl, effectively doing away with her mother, and taking her on a road trip across America until she is stolen from him and forced into the pornography industry. One of the most disturbing aspects of the subject matter, is that the child Lolita reciprocates with her lover. Ideal material to blow up a carefully built reputation and risk an entire career. To get it passed censors, the director had to make all sorts of concessions, and still it received an X rating. While the film was censored to the point Kubrick wished he never made it, and it received poor reviews on release, it has since become accepted as a fine, if difficult, piece of film-making. It can hardly be said a film which was followed by 2001, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining had a retrograde effect on this director's career either.
