While Stanley Kubrick‘s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Shining” tend to dominate online conversations about his work, with no shortage of supercuts and tributes to choose from, one of the more overlooked films in his filmography is his adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov‘s (still) controversial and sensational “Lolita.” But what started as a spirit of collaboration between Nabokov and Kubrick, quickly fragmented, with both geniuses at odds with how to bring the story to the big screen.
Vice has a pretty good breakdown of what happened (among other things, Nabokov’s first draft of the screenplay ran over 400 pages long), but this quote by the writer sums it up: “A few days before, at a private screening, I had discovered that Kubrick was a great director, that his ‘Lolita’ was a first-rate film with magnificent actors, and that only ragged odds and ends of my script had been used.” Indeed, Kubrick gutted Nabokov’s script, rearranged the order, told his actors to improvise and much more, but it’s not like Nabokov didn’t know what he was doing.
In these unpublished screenplay notes, you can see Nabokov working things out as the draft developed. Check it out below, click here for more, and let us know if Kubrick would’ve been wise to try and stick more closely to Nabokov’s vision.
