Gene Kelly vs. Kubrick

Started by cowboykurtis, March 17, 2003, 11:36:27 AM

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cowboykurtis

Has anyone heard the story about  Gene Kelly giving Kubrick the permission to use the song  singing in the rain for A Clockwork Orange. Supposedly kubrick called him up and asks his persmission -- mr. kelly said go ahead, without bothering to ask in what context it would be used. so when the film was released, gene kelly saw alex singing it during the rape scene and was extremely pissed. they supposedly bumped into eachother at the academy awards and there was some exchange of unpleasant words. does anyone know of this sotry -- is there any truth to this? i found it amusing regardless.
...your excuses are your own...

polkablues

I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm getting a good mental image of them in a "West Side Story"-style dance-brawl.
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

According to IMDB:

Malcolm McDowell chose to sing "Singin' In The Rain" during the rape scene, because it was the only song he knew all the lyrics to.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

cowboykurtis

even if that was the case with mcdowell -- kubrick still had to call gene kelly after the fact and get permission.
...your excuses are your own...

Victor

thanks for that. i was thinking that same question two nights ago, watching clockwork. how the fuck did he ever get permission to use that?
are you gonna eat with us too?

MacGuffin

From the Turner Classic Movies website:

The song "Singin' in the Rain" has been featured in many films, but it was Stanley Kubrick who made ironic use of the song in his bleak vision of a dystopian future, A Clockwork Orange (1971). Kubrick mulled for days over a way to shoot the scene where Alex (Malcolm McDowell) brutalizes a woman. Out of the blue, he turned to McDowell and asked, "Can you sing?" McDowell replied, "I only know one song," and he started to do "Singin' in the Rain." Kubrick then left the room and called Warner Bros. in Hollywood to ask if he could obtain the rights to "Singin' in the Rain." He came back to the set an hour later and wryly told Adrienne Corri (cast as the rape/murder victim), "You're playing the Debbie Reynolds part, Corri." Coincidentally, Stanley Donen was in London at the time and not far from the location site for A Clockwork Orange. When Kubrick asked Donen for his opinion of this new use of the song, Donen surprisingly raised no objections.

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From American Cinematographer Magazine October 1999:

Perhaps the most audacious scene in Clockwork is the ruthless attack on the writer (Patrick Magee) and the rape of his wife (Adrienne Corri) by Alex and his gang. Little was accomplished during the first two days of shooting, but on the third day, Kubrick blocked out a portion of the action with McDowell, instructing him to knock Magee to the floor and begin kicking his guts out. The director then suddenly asked McDowell, "Can you sing?" It was suggested that the actor could improvise a song-and-dance number while administering the savage beating. McDowell confessed that "Singin' in the Rain" was the only tune he knew by heart. This resulted in what Kubrick calls the CRM, or "critical rehearsal moment," during which the director and actors come together to create a defining scene. Kubrick immediately looked into obtaining the rights to the song, and discovered that the fee was $10,000 to use it for 30 seconds. Once the rights were in hand, shooting proceeded immediately. Kubrick later invited Stanley Donen, the director of the musical classic, to view his scene and then asked Donen's personal permission to use the song for the sequence. "He wanted to make sure I wasn't offended," Donen reports in the biography Dancing on the Ceiling. "Why would I be? It didn't affect the movie Singin' in the Rain." Gene Kelly, who had performed the famous number in the 1952 film, felt otherwise. When Kelly and Kubrick met at an awards ceremony following Clockwork's release, the danceman refused to talk to the director.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Duck Sauce

Quote from: cowboykurtisthey supposedly bumped into eachother at the academy awards and there was some exchange of unpleasant words.

Quote from: MacGuffinWhen Kelly and Kubrick met at an awards ceremony following Clockwork’s release, the danceman refused to talk to the director.

So whats it going to be then eh?

©brad

knowing that kind of spoils it for me b/c singin in the rain works PERFECTLY in the film, esp. when it plays over the end credits- "...what a glorious feeling I'm happy again." you'd like to think they planned to use the song.

Pubrick

Quote from: cbrad4dyou'd like to think they planned to use the song.
the CRM certifies it as if it were planned since the beginning of time. movies evolve, it's cool like that.
under the paving stones.

Holden Pike

Gene Kelly would have nothing to do with the rights to "Singin' in the Rain" anyway, nor would Stanley Donan. That song was an old standard back when it was used for the famous 1952 MGM Musical. Most of those songs were "oldies" then. That's part of the genesis of that project, that to keep the rigts to the old songs, MGM had to use them in a new project immediately. Thus the '20s setting, and all of those tunes fit right into place. "Moses Supposes" and "Make 'em Laugh" were the only two original songs written for Singin' in the Rain. That it tuned out to be one of the greatest Musicals of all tme was really an accident, since the main point of the project originally was to keep the rights to the song catalogue.



So whether or not Gene Kelly approved (and it doesn't surprise me he would have been pissed after seeing Clockwork), it never would have gone through him for permission in any way, legal or otherwise. Even if Singin' in the Rain had been written for the '52 movie, Kelly, as multi-talented as he was (actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, producer, director), he wasn't a songwriter, and the rights still wouldn't have been his to give or deny...unless he had bought them at some point. He certainly had no authorship, just by virtue of his cover of it being far and away the most famous verson. Tha's not how publishing rights work.
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film."
- Frank Capra

cowboykurtis

Quote from: Holden PikeGene Kelly would have nothing to do with the rights to "Singin' in the Rain" anyway, nor would Stanley Donan.. He certainly had no authorship, just by virtue of his cover of it being far and away the most famous verson. Tha's not how publishing rights work.

when saying kubrick asked gene kelly's "permission", i was not referring to legal rights...rather, asking persmission out of respect for his material. obviously when people think "singin in the rain" they think gene kelly -- no one gives a shit who wrote the song -- so kubrick wanted to clear it with him out of courtesy.
...your excuses are your own...

Holden Pike

So to you, calling for permission could just extend to whoever has used it best, not to who actually owns it? That makes perfect sense.
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film."
- Frank Capra

MacGuffin

Read again. Kubrick asked for permission both legally and artistically:

Quote from: MacGuffinKubrick immediately looked into obtaining the rights to the song, and discovered that the fee was $10,000 to use it for 30 seconds. Once the rights were in hand, shooting proceeded immediately. Kubrick later invited Stanley Donen, the director of the musical classic, to view his scene and then asked Donen’s personal permission to use the song for the sequence. "He wanted to make sure I wasn’t offended," Donen reports in the biography Dancing on the Ceiling. "Why would I be? It didn’t affect the movie Singin’ in the Rain."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

cowboykurtis

Quote from: Holden PikeSo to you, calling for permission could just extend to whoever has used it best, not to who actually owns it? That makes perfect sense.

you're not very smart are you? if you actually read my post i said he called gene kelly asking "permission" out of courtesy -- he obviously had to aquire the legal rights as well. it's like asking your girlfriend's father's for his daughter's hand in marraige -- it's out of courtesy -- do you have to legally have the father give away his daughter when getting married? NO...but it's out of respect that one asks. the same with kubrick and gene kelly -- the reason he asked "permission" from kelly is: the song is directly associated with kelly, more so than whoever else may be "creatvely invested" in the song ... i hope this explanation raises your intellect and prevents you from making sarcastic comments in my regard...
...your excuses are your own...

bonanzataz

Gene Kelly sang the song however, and the recording used was in the production that Stanley Donen produced and directed. That recording belonged to them even if the song rights didn't. A somewhat similar case is that of the Beatles, who refuse to allow their recordings in films but will lend out the song rights to other performers which may be placed in films.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls