6. Stanley Kubrick Deceives Slim Pickens and George C. Scott Into Completely Bonkers Performances Dr. Strangelove
You just cant keep a good nutcase down, so heres Stanley Kubrick again, this time in his earlier satire Dr. Strangelove. Though he was a comparative greenhorn at this stage, he still knew his way around deceiving actors and proceeded to do so with aplomb over filming. The thing with a satire is that needs to teeter on the line between normal and ridiculous. The actors are usually playing it straight-faced, maybe with a knowing wink to the camera but without the intentional clowning around which would make the whole thing a spoof. As a master of his craft, Kubrick was aware of this, and knew hed have a hard time getting satirical performances out of most actors if he went ahead and told them they were supposed to be acting out a satire. Its a weird paradox, but if you think about it, it does actually make sense. So with this in mind, Kubrick misled two of his actors Slim Pickens and George C. Scott. You may recognise Pickens as the man who rides the nuke down to the ground like a rodeo bull, yet the strange thing is that he didnt know he was giving a humorous performance. The auteur wanted a well-known cowboy actor to fit the satirical bill, so passed the script on to Pickens with only his pats, assuring him that it wasnt a comedy and he was playing the hero. Say what you like about Kubrick (and people have, many times and often) but youve got to admire his sheer audacity. Convincing a man that hes a hero when hes riding an apocalyptic nuke must take some doing. His deception of George C. Scott the actor behind General Turgidson seems almost mundane by comparison. Scott thought he was playing a cerebral character and intended to give an understated, measured performance. Kubrick agreed with this, telling him it was a great idea and that he should expend all his excess emotion in a hammy, over-the-top first take. What the director didnt mention was that these were the takes he wanted and that he discarded Scotts intentional efforts. Scott was pretty livid, although it mustve been funny to watch him at the premiere.