2001: A Space Odyssey was directed by Stanley Kubrick (who also directed A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket) and released in 1968. It follows a voyage to Jupiter with the sentient (very intelligent) computer HAL after the discovering an alien monolith affecting human evolution. The movie deals with themes of existentialism (meaning of life), human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. Over the years, critics have praised its effects, music, direction and philosophical ideas, with director Martin Scorsese calling it one of his favourite films of all time.

• The idea for the film came from a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, who would write the novel of the film.
• The original soundtrack was to be composed by Alex North, but it was scrapped as Stanley Kubrick thought classical music would fit better.
• Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke worked the film and the book at the same time as each other.
• There was going to be an introductory scene for the film.
• The apes at the beginning of the film were played by human actors as computer generation hadn’t been invented at the time.
• The director, Stanley Kubrick, destroyed most of models for the spacecrafts fearing that other directors might borrow them for their own films.
• The main characters were originally supposed to travel to Saturn, but Stanley Kubrick thought the special effects team couldn’t properly depict Saturn’s rings, so it was changed to Jupiter.
• The actor Keir Dullea, who plays Dave Bowman, is actually terrible at electronics even though his character is a skilled technician.
• The film nearly depicted an internet-like system in the ship’s computers.
• The first frames of the film were shot in an abandoned bra factory in New York.
• The lead actor, Keir Dullea, was hired without an audition.
• Stanley Kubrick wanted the film to be as scientifically accurate as possible, so he consulted NASA scientists to help.
• At the film’s release, it received poor reviews as it left viewers confused and baffled.
• The total footage shot was some 200 times the final length of the film.
• A working title was “Voyage Beyond the Stars” but when the film Fantastic Voyage came out, Kubrick hated it so much that he changed the title to not sound anything like it.
• Originally, Hal, the ship’s computer, was going to be called Athena and have a female voice.
• While the film bombed at first, it gained further popularity when young adults booked to see it just to take psychedelic drugs during the “Star Gate” sequence.
• Stanley Kubrick provided his own breathing for the sound of the astronaut suits.
• The film was shot and edited almost entirely in England as there were sound stages larger than those in the US.
• Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder and David Lean were suggested to direct in case Kubrick was unwilling or unable to.