Sir Ken Adam talks about Kubrick and 'The Spy Who Loved Me'

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Sir Ken Adam talks about Kubrick and 'The Spy Who Loved Me'
Bond News - 01-09-13

Legendary production designer Sir Ken Adam has given a new interview to the BBC to reflect on his time spent working with visionary director Stanley Kubrick.

After a traumatic time on the 1975 film "Barry Lyndon", Sir Ken decided, whatever his admiration for Kubrick, the two would never work together again. It was a vow he adhered to with one brief and slightly bizarre exception.

In 1977, designing the Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, Sir Ken had built a vast set at Pinewood studios. It included a supertanker which was proving hard to light.

"So I called Stanley up and asked him down to Pinewood to give me ideas. At first he said I was out of my mind but eventually he agreed to come on a Sunday when only security were around.

"He spent three or four hours with me telling me how he would light the stage. And of course the whole thing being in secret appealed to Stanley's sense of drama. But I knew we would never work together again. And Stanley didn't ask - he'd been so scared when he saw what happened to me half way through Barry Lyndon."

In 2003, Ken Adam received a knighthood - the first for a film production designer. Kubrick died in 1999 at the age of 70, one of the world's most admired and most demanding directors.