Ears Wide Open
24. May, 2018 
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Filmworker
Kubrick’s Right AND Left Hand Man
Official Site | Trailers & Mo
Not Rated | 94 min
Leon Vitali was once an actor on the up and up. He was the prissy Lord Bullingdon in Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, and after working with the director, he wanted to work for him, and did, FOR LIFE! AND BEYOND KUBRICK’S LIFE!!!Â
Most people would give their left testicle to have worked with Stanley, and Vitali did (and gave up acting to do so), and he also gave his right testicle and every other appendage to be his right hand man from The Shining til Eyes Wide Shut, and everything in between – including all the unrealized projects, and minutia that came from Kubrick’s direct demanding demeanor Â
Sounds like the most amazing job of all time, right? Amazing, if you don’t like having a life, or a moment to sleep, or yourself. Such was and IS Vitali’s life – that of a Filmworker, the title of the doc by Tony Zierra that is a BEYOND MUST SEE for anyone that’s a fan of Kubrick and his work (which I would assume is 100% of people who have ever seen a motion picture)
Besides the wonderful reflections and insight from Vitali himself, we get a lot of great additional tidbits from those who worked with both Leon and Stanley (and watched Leon suffer for Stanley and his art), from the UK Warner Bros staff, to Lyndon co-star Ryan O’Neal, the rarely seen or interviewed Danny from The Shining, Full Metal Jacket‘s Matthew Modine, newly dearly departed R. Lee Ermey, and the poor guy who had Ermey’s drill sergeant role before losing it to him - Tim Colceri (HEARTBREAKING!!!). Not sure what the point of interviewing Phil Rosenthal was or the other people who didn’t seem to have a connection were, but lets just assume Zierra couldn’t get Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Tom Cruise or Nicole Kidman to sit down with him and chat
Kubrick didn’t make it to the 21st century, but his legacy lives on and his presence STILL looms large thanks to Leon Vitali. No one outside of his family knew him and his work better than perhaps Vitali did. When one of Stan’s films need to be restored or re-released, Leon’s the guy they call on, cause that’s the guy Kubrick called on. Vitali = vital, like this doc
Also, had ZERO idea he was the dude in the red cloak with that awesomely scratchy voice in Eyes Wide Shut (along with the 2833128238 other jobs he had on and off set)!!! EYES WIDE OPEN!!!
Verdictgo: Breast In Show
Filmworker works it in limited release – SEE IT!!!
and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…
