Stanley Kubrick was a person.
Stanley Kubrick . He is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in cinematic history . 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 . His reputation as a filmmaker in Hollywood grew , and he was approached by Marlon Brando to film what would become One-Eyed Jacks ( 1961 ) , though Brando eventually decided to direct it himself . 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 .