Gary Lockwood & Keir Dullea Were Stunned Working On ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

Seminal sci-fi outing 2001: A Space Odyssey may have been released 50 years ago, but that doesn’t mean its film’s lead actors, Supa-Stars Gary Lockwood & Keir Dullea, aren’t still in awe about their contributions to the game-changing flick.

The film legends stopped by Supanova TV for a chat with host Quinny and took us behind the scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Keir Dullea

STANLEY KUBRICK

“Can you believe [Kubrick] never won an Academy Award? Out of all the directors that should have won and didn’t.”

THE FILM’S LEGACY

“I suppose it’d be as if you were to interview any of the actors who were in Citizen Kane. Could they have possibly have known that 75 years later they’d be studied in film school? The fact that we’re sitting here 50 years later. I knew that I was in an immaculate film. I was stunned when I was cast because I had no idea I was being considered; it was out of the blue.”

GETTING CAST

“I came home after work one day and my wife said, ‘Call your agent.’ And I said, ‘Why?’ [My agent] said, ‘Are you sitting down? You’ve just been offered the lead in Stanley Kubrick’s new film.’”

Gary Lockwood

WORKING ON THE FILM

“It was beyond belief, it was so good. Kubrick was a gentleman and fantastic, Keir’s a very nice man, he’s easy to work with, the schedule was very simple. I did stay very fit, so the only thing that was a bore was to eat all those vegetable for lunch when I wanted to have a steak and a sausage. I had to stay in shape – 70mm [film], by the time you blow it up, you look like a balloon if you don’t.”

THE RUMOUR STANLEY KUBRICK IS HARD TO WORK WITH

“I’ve often wondered why that got out there, and I guess Stanley and Shelley Duval didn’t get along and that started this kind of landslide… be cautious of what you read, because everything is designed to sell a product or whatever, and when it comes to things about Kubrick, believe me, you can ask any actor that ever worked with him… Kubrick was such an interesting human being to work for. He was so intelligent and so on top of it.”

Keep an eye on our website for the full Supanova TV video!

Lead image: Keir Dullea @ Supanova Adelaide. Image by Ewan Ly