Stanley Kubrick worked.
Stanley Kubrick ( [ ˈkuːbrɪk ] July 26 , 1928 -- March 7 , 1999 ) was an American film director , screenwriter , producer , cinematographer , editor , and photographer . 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 . The scientific realism and innovative special effects of 2001 : A Space Odyssey ( 1968 ) were without precedent in the history of cinema , and the film earned him his only personal Oscar , for Best Visual Effects . With The Shining ( 1980 ) , he became one of the first directors to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots .