2001: A Space Odyssey- new book coming next month on making of the film (1 Viewer)

I hope this topic is okay to post here. A friend brought this to my attention. A new four volume book on the making of the film written by Piers Bizony. He also wrote: 2001: Filming the Future. From the description of this release, this new book appears like and updated and super expanded version. This volume would be the ultimate extra in a new Warner's remastered 3D version blu ray mega gift set box of 2001. It is expensive, but something the 2001 fan should have and Taschen makes great books. It's slated for release next month. http://m.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/03109/facts.the_making_of_stanley_kubricks_2oo1_a_space_odyssey.htm

I absolutely love their "Stanley Kubrick Archives" book that came out in the mid-2000s. That was gifted to me one Christmas, absolutely gorgeous.

I passed on their Napoleon set only because it was about $1000, and I just couldn't. Looks like this will be priced around $750, which is also probably the realm of possibility. I'm hoping that they might do a reprint of this as they did with Napeleon - if you can get a Napoleon copy now for under $100, the printing isn't nearly as deluxe but the content is all still there. Hopefully there will be such an edition of this title.

I have a copy of 2001: Filming the Future and it's utterly fascinating. As much as I'd love to explore this set, $750 is way out of my reach.

I missed out on the first 2001 book by Piers Bizony. So this is my second chance!

Yes, the SK archives book is great. The Kubrick exhibit in L.A. last summer sold out of them by the time I was able to go. I was able to pick it up later on Ebay without going into debt.

I hope they do a book on The Shining eventually.

I have that paperback too!

When I was in high school, I did an honors project analyzing a) the making of the movie, b) the similarities and differences between film and book and c) the film's themes. Built a little website with stills from the film and sound cues (this was in the 90s when "making a webpage" sounded impressive), and read probably ever book on the topic - the old Making Of 2001 was one of the first things I picked up as I started research.

I was very excited to see this news, until I checked the price tag that is! $750?!? Really? I'm sorry, but that pretty much puts it out of reach for any but the wealthiest and/or most rabid Kubrick/2001 fans. Whatever.

dpippel said:

I was very excited to see this news, until I checked the price tag that is! $750?!? Really? I'm sorry, but that pretty much puts it out of reach for any but the wealthiest and/or most rabid Kubrick/2001 fans. Whatever.

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Nothing's been announced about this, but I'm expecting there to be a lower-priced reprint when the original sells out. They made a "Napoleon" set with all of Kubrick's work from that project, and the initial printing was a ten volume set that went for $3000. After not too long (maybe even less than a year), they did a reprint, condensed all of the content into a single book, and that sold for under $100.

I'm hopeful that they'll do something like that for this set.

I think this book is as much (if not more) for art collectors as it is for Kubrick fans.

The less unreasonably priced reprint, if there is one, will be for the fans.

I'm seriously considering purchasing this despite it's very high price. It's my all-time favorite movie, and if I think of what it costs to go out to see a concert or whatever, in that context, paying a lot for a book I'll have forever maybe doesn't hurt as much. (Oh who am I kidding, if i order it, it's gonna hurt.) Anyway, if I do get it, I will definitely be happy to contribute a little review of the content.

I also look at these books as limited appeal editions, so they know there is a limited audience for them and the cost to print them will not be able to amortized over a larger print run. Plus the content is special. So part of the cost is just printing these up. It's a worthwhile purchase if one can afford it whose a fan.

I pre-ordered one of these months ago (a bit of a reach on my budget to say the least, but it's my all-time favorite movie), and after a series of publishing and release date delays, I finally got it this week.

This is absolutely gorgeous. Spectacular. Easily the most beautiful book I've ever owned.

It's actually four books, inside a sturdy cardboard box covered in "2001" images from the film. You open that up, and inside, held very securely with foam holders, is a giant metallic monolith. It looks completely seamless at first glance, but the side is magnetically attached and opens, revealing two hardcover books inside. The first is a series of frame enlargements from the film, beautifully printed, and the book itself is at a 2.20:1 aspect ratio so each frame takes up the entire page. The second book is the centerpiece of the set, with the new text by Piers Bizony. But it's not just text, it's a wealth of production art, on set and behind the scenes photographs, designs, pictures from deleted scenes, and primary source articles from the time. Many of the art pages fold out and expand. Now, I've seen this movie more times than I can count, read just about every book ever written about it, studied it in school, even made a website as a student project that the Italian video releases cited as a source in its liner notes (how crazy is that?!), and still, there were things in this book I've never seen before. I've only had a chance to skim it, but it is stunning.

Underneath the supports for the monolith are two more books, both paperbacks, nestled inside the cardboard box. One of these books is a copy of a draft of the script, and it appears to even include some annotations by Kubrick (though I haven't looked closely enough to tell if that's just on the main title page or all throughout, I suspect it's probably not a reproduction of his personal copy). When I went to school, the college library had a draft of the script, but from a quick look at this, I'm not sure it's the same one I had previously seen. Could be, but might not be, or might be a more complete version than the one I had previously seen. And the other book, which I've yet to look at beyond the first pages, is a couple hundred pages of production notes. And finally, at the very bottom, is a reproduction of the issue of Mad magazine making fun of "2001".

For someone who's been a lifetime fan of the movie, this book is the most amazing thing. It's the closest I'll ever come to being on set when they made it, and with Douglas Trumbull having unfortunately not gotten the funding to do his documentary, maybe the closest we'll ever get to a film about the film. Two thumbs up! And a grateful thank you to Nelson for having brought this book to my attention in the first place.

Hey Josh, you're welcome! My copy arrive yesterday too, still shrink wrapped. So I haven't opened it yet. I had seen pictures of it un-boxing on another forum and it wasn't clear if the box was metal as was described elsewhere. Thanks for the description. It's one big heavy package! I hesitated to order this book. All the delays caused me to almost miss this. I'm hoping the original Piers Bizony book content and artwork is really part of this new book. I missed out on that earlier book.By the way, I'll look forward to your review of the book given your perspective!

Nelson Au said:

Hey Josh, you're welcome! My copy arrive yesterday too, still shrink wrapped. So I haven't opened it yet. I had seen pictures of it un-boxing on another forum and it wasn't clear if the box was metal as was described elsewhere. Thanks for the description. It's one big heavy package! I hesitated to order this book. All the delays caused me to almost miss this.I'm hoping the original Piers Bizony book content and artwork is really part of this new book. I missed out on that earlier book.By the way, I'll look forward to your review of the book given your perspective!

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Likewise I look forward to your thoughts when you get a chance to open it up. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I'd have to dig up the Piers Bizony original book "2001: Filming The Future" to see how much is the same and how much is different. I remember that book being pretty good, but not very long -- this version seems, from quick glance, as more in depth. (I just looked it up and Amazon says the original book is about 160 pages, which seems about right. But my copy is buried in my dad's attic somewhere so no easy way for me to check at the moment.) It's not hundreds and hundreds of pages of unending text as best I can tell. Almost everything is illustrated in some way, which works for a movie as visually oriented as "2001".

Jason Charlton said:

I have a copy of 2001: Filming the Future and it's utterly fascinating. As much as I'd love to explore this set, $750 is way out of my reach.

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£447.80 WHAT! That is light-years too expensive. Not even Darth Vader, would be able to afford this on his, salary.

Guys, for fun I wanted to post a quick pic of the box. I placed the blu ray of 2001 and 2010 to show scale. If I stood the blu ray up, it's as tall as the box's side! It's one big .....If it was priced by weight, it's a deal. Regarding the cost of the book, I felt terribly guilty doing this. But I was reminded by someone who collects Taschen books from time to time that it's a guilty pleasure, so enjoy it.

Nelson, I felt the same guilt initially. And then I started thinking, how much money have I spent on seeing the movie on the big screen over the years? Or how much have I spent on a pair of concert tickets and dinner, which you can only enjoy once? Rationalizations I suppose, but it made me feel a little better. It's the most I've ever spent on a single book or movie or work of art and by far. But it's also the most definitive thing ever produced on my favorite piece of art ever. I was at the Taschen website the other day and saw that it's sold out. I think I'd feel a lot worse if I had missed out on getting a copy than I do for having spent what I did on this. It's an astonishing gorgeous piece of art. Taschen had sent me an invite to attend an unveiling of the book and release party at Kubrick's estate, hosted by his widow Christiane. (Did you get one?) I wish I had had the money to take a sudden trip to London, can you imagine how amazing it would have been to be there, in his home, the place where he dreamed and worked on so many classics? But I was pleasantly surprised to see that she had signed the book, which I don't remember seeing announced when I pre-ordered. So even if I couldn't have been there myself, this book might have been there. And Christiane held my copy and signed it. I'm really grateful we have this, and that his archives have been made available. I understand and respect Stanley's desire for privacy and secrecy while he was alive; I'm even more grateful that Christiane has been a willing participant in projects like these. There will never be another Stanley Kubrick film, and 15 years after his death, that's still a tough sentence for me to swallow. But while we won't ever get another film, we've been able to gain some more insight into the man and how he worked, things I never thought I'd see while he was alive, and I'm so glad that all of this stuff is being preserved for history's sake.

Monolithic! It looks as if the box is in the correct aspect ratio.

AdrianTurner said:

Monolithic! It looks as if the box is in the correct aspect ratio.

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The book of stills contained within is definitely 2.20:1, which both makes sense and is somehow totally awesome. I guess that means the monolith within would be as well. I don't think it's 1x4x9 which is the proportions the monolith is supposed to be...but hey, that's in the Clarke book and not the Kubrick movie so I guess that's ok