“Many people talked about how the humans in the film were
more machine-like than the machines, but that was intentional. The only time my character showed any type of
emotion was when HAL [super-computer HAL-9000] wouldn’t let him back inside the
ship, and I had to go inside the emergency hatch. And there was the scene where you see me
taking HAL’s [intelligence machinery] apart, and it was not easy for my
character to do that because it was like taking the persona of a human being
apart, and I’m saying “Yeah, Hal. It’s OK,”
or “Sing ‘Daisy’ for me, HAL.”
- Keir Dullea discusses his character, Astronaut Bowman in 2001:
A Space Odyssey (1968), here.
John, fascinating quote. There is a 2008 documentary that unfortunately is not on dvd yet, but if you can see Stanley Kubrick's Boxes(2008), see it. It is an interesting account of the career of Kubrick. I am a fan of his 2001:A Space Odyssey, but the detailed research in the making of the other films are interesting too.
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