In 1963, Stanley Kubrick filmed “Dr. Strangelove” at Shepperton Studios in England. The central set was the War Room, which was designed by Ken Adam. Kubrick wanted a specific look that conveyed power and secrecy. He ordered the giant circular table to be covered in green felt to resemble a high-stakes poker table. He did this even though the movie was filmed in black and white because he wanted the actors to feel the atmosphere of a game. A massive ring of lights hung directly above the table to create harsh, vertical shadows on the actors’ faces. The walls of the room slanted inward at a 30-degree angle. This design made the set look like a deep, impenetrable concrete bunker buried beneath the earth.
The production crew built a full-scale B-52 bomber cockpit. They had to do this without any assistance from the United States military. The Air Force refused to let Kubrick see a real plane because they feared he would reveal top-secret technology. Production designers used a single tiny photograph from a magazine to recreate every switch, dial, and lever. They placed the entire cockpit on a gimbal system, which allowed the set to tilt and rock to simulate the movement of flight. The interior was so accurate that military officials later questioned how Kubrick obtained the classified information. Kubrick also used a “Big Board” map in the War Room that used thousands of small light bulbs to show the movement of planes across the globe.
Read more..
Peter Sellers played three separate roles in the film. He portrayed President Merkin Muffley, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, and the scientist Dr. Strangelove. Sellers originally had a fourth role as the pilot, Major Kong, but he broke his leg during filming. This led to the casting of Slim Pickens, who was a real cowboy. Pickens arrived on set in his own boots and hat, which added to the realism of his character. For the role of Dr. Strangelove, Sellers sat in a wheelchair and wore a black leather glove. He improvised many of his most famous lines and physical movements during long takes. Kubrick encouraged this creativity and often kept the cameras rolling for hours to catch a single perfect moment.
The production originally ended with a massive pie fight in the War Room. Actors threw thousands of custard pies at each other for several days. The President and the Russian Ambassador were covered in cream and crust by the end of the session. Kubrick eventually cut the entire scene because the humor felt too light for a movie about nuclear war. He decided the slapstick comedy ruined the tension he had built throughout the rest of the story. The camera crew used high-contrast lighting and wide-angle lenses to emphasize the starkness of the sets. Every technical choice was made to support the film’s cold and tense atmosphere.
