Colour Me Kubrick

This article is from 2006.

What do you get if you cross Six Degrees of Separation with Catch Me If You Can? The answer is, of course, Colour Me Kubrick. Based on a story by long time Kubrick friend, writer and fellow photography enthusiast Anthony Frewin, Colour Me Kubrick is the marginally fictionalised tale of the bizarre events surrounding the shooting of Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut in London. Centred around the true story of Alan Conway (John Malkovich in his second film of the festival), a man who posed as Kubrick (despite looking absolutely nothing like him), during the production and in the process managed to infiltrate the upper echelons of London high society.

This funny meditation on a change in consciousness towards celebrity and celebrity power at the end of the 20th century is actually a much better film than the one Kubrick was breaking his ailing body to make. First time 'name' director Brian W Cook is a highly seasoned Second Unit Director (Last Action Hero, The Pledge and, inevitably, Eyes Wide Shut), so he knows exactly what he's doing and his clever homages to different Kubrick movies are just terrific. A great Brit supporting cast includes Linda Bassett, Peter Bowles, Phil Cornwell, Jim Davidson (yes that Jim Davidson), Leslie Phillips and Robert Powell. There's even a cameo from the great underrated filmmaker Ken Russell in a nightgown. For God's sake, people, what more do you want?