Kubrick veteran Peter Sellers HATED ‘A Clockwork Orange’

In the June 25, 1972 issue of the Chicago Tribune there appears a profile of Peter Sellers written by the paper's film critic Gene Siskel. The article focuses on some serious health problems Sellers had recently undergone, specifically "eight heart attacks in one day." Sellers seemed to be recovering well, in part due to a newfound interest in yoga.

The article does not mention what triggered those "eight heart attacks in one day."  According to Wikipedia, on the night of April 5, 1964, prior to having sex with his wife Britt Ekland, Sellers took amyl nitrites as a sexual stimulant in his search for "the ultimate orgasm" and suffered a series of eight heart attacks over the course of three hours as a result. This unfortunate medical outcome forced Sellers to withdraw from the filming of Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid; he was replaced by Ray Walston.

Knowing that Sellers was likely the world's most famous actorly collaborator of Stanley Kubrick's, having appeared to spectacular effect in Dr. Strangelove and Lolita, Siskel naturally inquired as to Sellers' opinion of A Clockwork Orange, which had been out for a few months and had sparked intense discussion over the role of violence in the movies.

Much to Siskel's surprise, it turns out that Sellers' opinion of the movie was unequivocal: he hated it.

Sellers: I hated 'A Clockwork Orange.' I thought it was the biggest load of crap I've ever seen for years. Amoral. I think because of the violence around today it's lamentable that a director of Stanley Kubrick's distinction and ability should lend himself to such a subject. I'm not saying that you can't pick up that book [the Anthony Burgess novel upon which the film is based], read it, and put it down. But to make it as a film, with all the violence we have in the world today – to add to it, to put it on show – I just don't understand where Stanley is at.
Siskel: Are you saying that it will influence people to commit violence that they would otherwise not commit?
Sellers: I think it adds to it.

Most fascinating (and in a way, hilarious) is a passage later in the profile, which comes when Siskel is trying to get Sellers to admit that it's okay for movies to handle violence as a subject. Sellers interrupts: "I must tell you first of all that I'm a yogi. I am against violence completely. Hare ommm. So you now know why. So there's really no point in asking any more questions about it."

Via A Stanley Kubrick Tumblr

Evernote helps you remember everything and get organized effortlessly. Download Evernote.