Stanley Kubrick: A Heritage Odyssey
- Property/Built Environment
Stanley Kubrick, the great American filmmaker of the 20th century, made England his adopted home in 1961 in order to film his production of Lolita (1962) after which he remained living here until his death in 1999.
Living in England meant that Kubrick also chose to produce many of his films here. Historic buildings and places feature prominently in several of his films, with historic locations in England even standing in for places as far afield as Vietnam and New York on the silver screen.
Here’s a film-by-film breakdown of some of the heritage locations cinematically reimagined by Kubrick. These films might include names like Tom Cruise, Matthew Modine, and Nicole Kidman, but we think the heritage is the real star of the show.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Kubrick’s controversial adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ 1962 dystopian masterpiece, which was banned from being shown in the UK from 1973 until after the director’s death in 1999, adopted the post-war architecture of London’s Thamesmead Estate and Brunel University as the backdrop for Alex and his droogs’ ‘ultraviolence’.
Thamesmead is significant as one of England’s post-war new towns (the only one in Greater London), built on marshland on the south side of the River Thames on land that was once part of the Woolwich Arsenal. The area had been flooded by the Great North Sea Flood of 1953, and remained vulnerable to future floods, so much of the accommodation was built above ground and linked by elevated concrete walkways.
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Kubrick’s acclaimed adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel ‘The Luck of Barry Lyndon’ (1844) about the colourful life of a fictional Irish adventurer, Redmond Barry, features a smorgasbord of historical locations, including some of the most famous in the country.
Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of Winston Churchill built by the Duke of Marlborough to commemorate his famous victory at Blenheim in 1704 features. Other Grade I listed buildings bringing star quality to the screen include Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, Longleat House, Corsham Court and Wilton House in Wiltshire, Petworth House in West Sussex, and the Guildhall in Lavenham, Suffolk (which also features as Godric’s Hollow in the Harry Potter films).
Historic England
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