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| Star John Malkovich looks flamboyant and ridiculous on this simple poster for Brian W. Cook's Colour Me Kubrick |
The story of the deceitful Alan Conway, who in the gay circles of 1990's London consequently presumed to be master filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.
Colour Me Kubrick is written by Anthony Frewin (Anthropoid (2016)) and directed by Brian W. Cook (Barry Lyndon (1975, assistant director), whose only feature it is. Frewin was Kubrick's assistant in real life, accruing knowledge of the shameless swindler Conway over the years, and Cook was a productive assistant director for decades for, among others, Kubrick.
There is nearly no actual plot or development in Colour Me Kubrick; instead it has an endless mass of scenes of Conway conning, stealing and drinking on the expense of various gullible nincompoops. It is actually wildly depressing, dull and frustrating to witness.
John Malkovich's (Ripley's Game (2002)) performance as Conway, however, is totally whole-hearted and uncompromising, and the costumes (by Victoria Russell (The Broken (2008))) are right on-spot and often hilarious. Colour Me Kubrick is a film that never steers off its misanthropic path.
Watch a 1 minute scene from the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 497k $
= Uncertain - but most likely a box office disaster
[Colour Me Kubrick premiered 6 October (Dinard Festival of British Cinema, France) and runs 86 minutes. Frewin got the idea for the film and started work on the script during the making of Kubrick's great Eyes Wide Shut (1999), at which time Kubrick and Frewin were made aware of the prodigal conman Taylor's existence. Shooting took place in England, including London, from January - March 2004. The film opened #53 to a 37k $ first weekend in 19 theaters in North America, where it only declined from there, grossing a measly 71k $ (14.3 % of the total gross). The biggest markets were Australia with 208k $ (41.9 %), France with 190k $ (38.2 %) and North America. The film's budget is unknown, but if we set it at a very conservative 2 mil. $, the film should count as a box office disaster. Cook did not return to helm another film, - but did return as assistant director. Malkovich returned in Art School Confidential (2006). Colour Me Kubrick is rotten at 50 % with a 5.55/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Colour Me Kubrick?
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