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Lolita (1962)
Lolita is a 1962 black comedy-psychological drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The black-and-white film follows a middle-aged literature professor who develops an infatuation with an adolescent. It stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Shelley Winters as Mrs. Haze, Peter Sellers as Quilty, and Sue Lyon as Dolores "Lolita" Haze.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick · Shot by Oswald Morris · Cut by Anthony Harvey · Music by Nelson Riddle, J. Robert Harris · 152 min
How it was made
- Kubrick restructured Nabokov's novel by moving its ending to the start of the film, judging that audience interest sagged once Humbert “seduced” Lolita halfway through the book.
- Because financing conditions required the money to be spent in Britain, Kubrick shot most exteriors in England, using back-projected American scenery and disguising a road in Oxhey Village, near Watford, as an American mid-western town.
- Nabokov's first screenplay draft ran over 400 pages; producer James Harris said simply, “You couldn't make it. You couldn't lift it,” and almost none of it was used in the finished film.
- Peter Sellers's role as Clare Quilty was greatly expanded from the novel specifically so Kubrick could have him adopt a series of disguises across the film, including a playwright, a policeman, a school psychologist and a photographer.
Elsewhere
More by Stanley Kubrick
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