The Greatest Lie Ever Told

This is far and away my favorite story about Stanley Kubrick.

One of the funniest parts of Dr. Strangelove is General Buck Turgidson, played by George C. Scott. But Scott didn’t want to play such a cartoony character, but Kubrick convinced him to do takes as wacky as possible, calling it an “acting exercise,” and afterwards they’d shoot a more serious take, and that would satisfy Scott.

Except that Kubrick didn’t use a single serious take. He ONLY used the goofy takes, which pissed off Scott so much that he swore never to work with Kubrick again. It took decades for Scott to admit that he liked the performance and appreciated it, but still felt lied too. And… Well, he was.