Stanley Kubrick worked.
Stanley Kubrick ( [ ˈkuːbrɪk ] July 26 , 1928 -- March 7 , 1999 ) was an American film director , screenwriter , producer , cinematographer , editor , and photographer . After working as a photographer for Look magazine in the late 1940s and early 1950s , he began making short films on a shoestring budget , and made his first major Hollywood film , The Killing , for United Artists in 1956 . Creative differences arising from his work with Douglas and the film studios , a dislike of Hollywood , and a growing concern about crime in America prompted Kubrick to move to the United Kingdom in 1961 , where he spent most of the remainder of his life and career . His first British productions were two films with Peter Sellers , Lolita ( 1962 ) and Dr. Strangelove ( 1964 ) . A demanding perfectionist , Kubrick assumed control over most aspects of the filmmaking process , from direction and writing to editing , and took painstaking care with researching his films and staging scenes , working in close coordination with his actors and other collaborators .