--- title: Stanley Kubrick on the Set of '2001: A Space Odyssey': Photos description: Photos from the set of '2001' that suggest the astonishing lengths to which Kubrick was willing to go to make his vision a reality. canonical: https://time.com/3754644/life-on-the-set-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-07-24T16:54:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:55.147Z og:title: Stanley Kubrick on the Set of '2001: A Space Odyssey': Photos og:description: Photos from the set of '2001' that suggest the astonishing lengths to which Kubrick was willing to go to make his vision a reality. og:url: https://time.com/3754644/life-on-the-set-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba0620fa8068868/698784cccd1bba315e6f5d0e/150323-stanley-kubrick-03.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stanley Kubrick on the Set of '2001: A Space Odyssey': Photos twitter:description: Photos from the set of '2001' that suggest the astonishing lengths to which Kubrick was willing to go to make his vision a reality. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba0620fa8068868/698784cccd1bba315e6f5d0e/150323-stanley-kubrick-03.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE on the Set of '2001: A Space Odyssey' by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 24, 2012 4:54 PM UTC  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey.Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 24, 2012 4:54 PM UTC Few movies are as polarizing as Stanley Kubrick’s sui generis 1968 sci-fi opus, _2001: A Space Odyssey_. A good number of film critics and movie buffs argue that it’s an indispensable cinematic masterwork. Others admire its technical brilliance and the uncompromising strength of Kubrick’s vision, but find the movie’s impenetrable philosophy — whatever it might be — forbidding, or off-putting, or both. And then there are those (few, and not terribly convincing) naysayers who deride _2001_ as little more than self-absorbed, emotionally sterile twaddle not far removed from an elaborate, unfunny hoax.  Film director Stanley Kubrick holding polaroid camera during the filming of his movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images But even the film’s most strident critics acknowledge that there’s something about Kubrick’s strange, insular onscreen universe that commands our attention. In fact, _2001_ remains one of those exceedingly rare works of popular art that feels, somehow, intrinsically indifferent: indifferent to the usual laws of filmmaking; indifferent to criticism (or praise); indifferent even to the audience for which it was ostensibly created. No one who makes movies wants his or her work to go unseen; but with _A Space Odyssey_, one gets the sense that Kubrick would have pursued his wholly unique cinematic quest even if he had somehow learned, or if someone had categorically guaranteed, that no one would ever experience the finished work. There’s something so self-contained about _2001_, something at-once so hermetic and so original that it somehow feels as if it’s always been here, or was always out there, waiting for a genius to give it expression. Like Beethoven’s Fifth, Joyce’s _Ulysses_ or almost anything by, say, Picasso, Rodin or Prince, Kubrick’s _2001_ doesn’t feel like it was assembled or crafted, but instead that it emerged, full-blown, from its creator’s mind. Here, LIFE.com offers a series of photos from the set of _2001_ — pictures that suggest the astonishing lengths to which Kubrick was willing to go in order to make his vision a reality. That the futuristic technology he envisioned feels authentic today speaks volumes about the man’s intellect, his dedication to the details of his craft and the boundless capacity for the human imagination to not only see, but to shape what’s to come. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood listen to Stanley Kubrick on set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keir Dullea on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  On the set of the motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey with director Stanley Kubrick lining up a shot through a camera. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Gary Lockwood on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey with a Polaroid camera. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3754644/life-on-the-set-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3754644/life-on-the-set-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/"},"headline":"LIFE on the Set of '2001: A Space Odyssey'","datePublished":"2012-07-24T16:54:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:55.147Z","description":"LIFE.com offers a series of photos from the set of '2001' -- pictures that suggest the astonishing lengths to which Kubrick was willing to go to make his vision a reality.","url":"https://time.com/3754644/life-on-the-set-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/","keywords":["Hollywood","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba0620fa8068868/698784cccd1bba315e6f5d0e/150323-stanley-kubrick-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ba0620fa8068868/698784cccd1bba315e6f5d0e/150323-stanley-kubrick-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey","caption":"On the set of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'","creditText":"Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3754644/life-on-the-set-of-2001-a-space-odyssey/","name":"LIFE on the Set of '2001: A Space Odyssey'"}}]}] ```