Overview

During his career Stanley Kubrick became renowned for undertaking lengthy and exhaustive research prior to the production of all his films. In the lead-up to what would eventually become Dr. Strangelove (1964), Kubrick read voraciously and amassed a substantial library of works on the nuclear age. With rare access to unpublished materials, this volume assesses Dr. Strangelove's narrative accuracy, consulting recently declassified Cold War nuclear-policy documents alongside interviews with Kubrick's collaborators. It focuses on the myths surrounding the film, such as the origins and transformation of the ""straight"" script versions into what Kubrick termed a ""nightmare comedy."" It assesses Kubrick's account of collaborating with the writers Peter George and Terry Southern against their individual remembrances and material archives. Peter Sellers's improvisations are compared to written scripts and daily continuity reports, showcasing the actor's brilliant talent and variations.

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Reviews

It is Broderick's deep involvement with the history of nuclear strategy and Cold War economics and politics that allows him to demonstrate time and again how well Kubrick's bizarre, surreal, nightmare comedy captures the actualities of what was and for all intents and purposes still is the global reliance on a delicate balance of nuclear terror.--Graham Allen Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television

It is Broderick's deep involvement with the history of nuclear strategy and Cold War economics and politics that allows him to demonstrate time and again how well Kubrick's bizarre, surreal, nightmare comedy captures the actualities of what was and for all intents and purposes still is the global reliance on a delicate balance of nuclear terror. -- Graham Allen * Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television *

Author Information

Mick Broderick is associate professor of media analysis in the School of Arts at Murdoch University, Western Australia. He is the author of Nuclear Movies, editor of Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film, and coeditor of Trauma, Media, Art: New Perspectives and Interrogating Trauma: Collective Suffering in Global Art and Media.

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