Although without a doubt one of the most talented filmmakers of all time, visionary auteur Stanley Kubrick was never able to tap into his true potential because of his toxic masculinity and obsession with the gender binary, among other things. His films are so colorful and artistic, yet never allow women to be the main focus. It felt like Kubrick was almost afraid of femininity unless it was there to serve a man or please the eyes.
Despite his immense talent, Kubrick was so stubborn and close-minded and never allowed himself to receive feedback from his cast and crew. He also refused to treat them as his team, as if he always needed to be in control, which in turn hurt his films more than he ever knew. To put it simply, if Kubrick was never brainwashed by stereotypes, who knows what kind of masterclass filmmaking he could have achieved.
Kubrick was a perfectionist who was terrified of failure, and that fear held him back from being the best artist he could truly be. Instead of properly directing his actors and giving them the chance to truly become their characters, Kubrick forced them to do takes over 100 times in order to make it "perfect." At that point, if an actor is not allowed to fully express themself in a scene because the director wants it to be an exact way, they are being stunted. A great filmmaker is not only great because of their talent, but also for the way they cooperate with others. Kubrick's treatment of his cast and crew seem closer to the actions of a dictator than a film director.
Kubrick's poor treatment of actors also affected A-listers as much as it did smaller character actors. The filmmaker famously forced Tom Cruise to walk through a door ninety different times, but no actor may have suffered more at the hands of Kubrick then The Shining star, Shelley Duvall. Duvall played the lead female role of Wendy Torrance opposite Jack Nicolson, but while Nicolson and Kubrick developed what was described as a bromance, Duvall worked for what appeared to be a different director.
Kubrick acted like a tyrant towards Duvall in order to instill what he thought would seem like genuine fear. His unprofessional behavior included changing her lines constantly and keeping her isolated. He also forced her to shoot the famous baseball bat scene on the long staircase a record-breaking 127 times, which left her with raw, bloodied hands and caused her hair to fall out from stress. Duvall wanted to quit acting after her negative experience with Kubrick, and the shoot seemed to have long-lasting effects on her mental state, even to this day.
The director's behavior towards women almost makes him seem like a misogynist, but the truth is, he may have felt insecure about his abilities, and because of his toxic masculinity, never wanted to let a woman have any power when he was around. However, women were not the only people disrespected on his sets. During the shoot of the 1957 war film Paths of Glory, Kubrick butted heads with star Kirk Douglas, changing the script on him without his knowledge, which caused Douglas to convince the studio to change the script back to its original form. Kubrick also reportedly worked the actors from that film to death, not even allowing them to break for lunch sometimes.
He also forced his obsession with control into every aspect of his films, including the editing and cinematography. He did not trust any of the professionals he hired to be part of his team, and one of the key ingredients to good filmmaking is teamwork. If Kubrick took any criticism or advice, the women in his films may not just feel like objects, and some of the artistry may feel deeper instead of plain old self-indulgence. Kubrick's perfectionism really hurt him as well, due to the fact that it took him twice as long to finish a film than many other directors, and the films of directors like Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese who push movies out constantly are sometimes considered just as good or even better.
One interesting idea to ponder about Kubrick is the thought that possibly, the reason he always needed to be in such control is that he had low-self esteem and was overcompensating. He also may have suffered from fragile masculinity, hence why he treated actresses differently than their male counterparts, and why women were never at the forefront of his work. Provocative filmmakers like Nicolas Winding Refn and David Lynch are examples of filmmakers who have a clear vision but listen to their cast and crew and treat them like a team. If Kubrick treated people with more respect and was introspective about why he wanted to make what he did, he could have become the true masterclass filmmaker he always wanted to be perceived as, but instead, his behavior has caused him to be remembered as a visionary yet tyrannical filmmaker who wouldn't listen to anyone but himself.