How Stanley Kubrick’s Cat Obsession Secretly Shaped His Masterpieces

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Over a laborious span of more than four decades until his passing in 1999, the career of director Stanley Kubrick was marked by several distinctive traits: an obsessive attention to seemingly trivial details, a passion for classical music, a drive to explore technological frontiers, and uncompromising realism. However, one lesser-known aspect of his personality often overlooked when analyzing his work in the Criterion collection is that many of his later films were influenced, and perhaps molded by, the felines that were part of his life. In total, he owned seven cats.

By taking a closer look, you can notice cat hairs stuck to his films. In Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s New York City apartment, where they lived during the filming of their final movie, “Eyes Wide Shut,” there was a large portrait of Polly, his supposed favorite cat, hanging in the foyer. For cinephiles scrutinizing every detail of Cruise’s films for secret messages and Illuminati hints, disregard the cat symbolism. It’s simply Stanley Kubrick sharing images of his pets. The character of the Cat-lady in “A Clockwork Orange” may be more autobiographical than you realize. Kubrick was known to have numerous pampered cats, and as an overprotective owner with trust issues towards the outside world, he might have identified with this character.

The Cuddly Side of an Intimidating Control Freak

Despite being challenging for many people he collaborated with, particularly Shelley Duvall, he occasionally formed significant relationships. Notably, he developed a strong bond with long-term associate and musician Wendy Carlos over their shared passion for cats. Carlos noted that when Jack Nicholson’s acting was not under scrutiny off-camera, he often carried a cat in his arms at the end of the day. Additionally, in his office, it wasn’t uncommon to find a cat lounging on his editing table.

In another side of his life, the usually difficult artist, Stanley Kubrick, was revealed to be quite affectionate towards his tomcat Freddie. While he often pushed his actors to their limits on set, causing some to suffer mental breakdowns, at home, Kubrick went to great lengths to keep Freddie safe. In the documentary “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes”, Tony Frewin, one of Kubrick’s assistants, recounted a story about creating a special collar for Freddie. This collar was designed to detach in case of an emergency if the cat got caught on a tree branch, thus preventing injury, as per Kubrick’s specifications.

Stanley Kubrick’s Guide to Pet Care

In the later stages of his life, it appears he largely confined himself at home in England, possibly due to concerns about his cats’ welfare and compiling an extensive guide on their care while away. This could account for why he ventured out only to shoot two films over the last 19 years, as detailed by a friend who wrote the book “Stanley Kubrick and Me.” The book also reveals that he would make meticulous notes to ensure his pets were secure and peaceful, spending much of his free time playing with them and analyzing beer commercials in great detail.

In a bold, error-ridden text with an undercurrent of passive-aggressiveness, he outlined the management of his household. The sixth rule amusingly read: “Try to be smarter than animals, if you manage.” The guidelines encompassed meal times, nightly safety checks for unplugged appliances, fire safety plans, handling quarrelsome pets, and specific lighting arrangements. Yes, even at home, he maintained control, micromanaging his daughter to shield her cat Penny from the stress of rowdy guests. It’s said that owners start taking on the traits of their pets, and in this case, it seems accurate.

Part-Time Filmmaker, Full-Time Cat Psychic

It is evident that he shared an extraordinary bond with the animals in his care, which sometimes became apparent in unexpected ways through his films. During a French radio interview, he expressed a strong belief that extrasensory perception (ESP) and mind reading were genuine abilities, despite lacking scientific evidence. He suggested that his own experiences with his challenging cats supported this claim. In the film “The Shining” from 1980, when the character Dick Hallorann discusses his ability to communicate with his grandmother without speaking and mentions that most people shy away from acknowledging the supernatural due to embarrassment, Kubrick was essentially revealing his private thoughts.

It appears that Hallorann’s harsh criticism of caretakers being unreliable might seem too obvious given Kubrick’s meticulous attention to detail in The Shining, which is suggestive of his personal connection to the novel’s themes (like work-life balance, perfectionism, and isolation).

In other words, it seems as though Kubrick found resonance with Stephen King’s story, and this connection was further emphasized by his own observations.

And when we consider the inclusion of cat telepathy in The Shining, it feels like an unexpected twist that only adds to the film’s surreal quality. However, if you’re a cat lover, you might agree that cats having control over their owners is not at all abnormal!

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2025-01-20 01:01