Filmworker
Directed by Tony Zierra
2017/US
True Studio Media
First viewing/Netflix Instant
[box] If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed. — Stanley Kubrick[/box]
Fascinating documentary about an actor who gave up fame and fortune to become Stanley Kubrick’s unsung right-hand man.
Leon Vitali was having a promising career on British TV when Stanley Kubrick hired him to act in Barry Lyndon (1975). Vitali became so fascinated with the technical process that he asked if he could sit in the cutting room, gratis, when Kubrick made his next film. So began a 40-year relationship with an irascible, amazingly gifted fellow filmworker. Vitali went on to do just about every job required on the set and more in service of his master’s vision. His relationship with the director extended after Kubrick’s death to a central role in the preservation of his films.
I love documentaries about niche jobs in the film industry and you can’t get more niche, yet more all-encompassing, than Leon Vitali’s. He’s a very sweet man, with a continued unsullied idolatry of Kubrick, and a good talker. There’s also a number of interviews with actors and others that worked with Vitali on Kubrick’s films. Recommended. If you are a Kubrick fan, possibly essential.
Scene from Barry Lyndon. Vitali is seated on the grass front and center.
