Cryptokubrology: Syncing Deaths

Cryptokubrology can sometimes overtake events. It appears obituaries are doing just that in recent days.

As I have noted before...

Cryptokubrology has been defined as "digging through the works of Stanley Kubrick on the premise that its body is a muted mass of coded cabalistic ministrations comparable (in scope) to the works of William Shakespeare, but incomparable (in complexity) to anything in recorded history. In fact, Cryptokubrology has led to an entirely different view of so-called 'history' itself." Source.

Cryptokubrology: "A useful methodology for deconstructing cinema, history, and synchronicity." ~ says Alex Fulton, January 31, 2017.

In November 2018, I and others, including Alex Fulton and Media Monarchy, began to notice the deaths of individuals linked to Stanley Kubrick and/or his films.

The first big obituary we all started exchanging notes about was of Douglas Rain. He died at the age of 90, on November 11, 2018.

Rain, who was a founding member of the Stratford (Shakespearan) Festival of Canada in 1953 and was a stage actor until 1998, will be remembered for his association with Kubrick. Rain provided the voice of the HAL 9000 computer for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and its sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984).

Then the death of Stan Lee happened the next day. Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber, December 28, 1922), the iconic cofounder (with Jack Kirby) of the Marvel Universe, died at the age of 95, on November 12, 2018.

Alex Fulton passed along a graph of the relationship of dates between Lee and Kubrick.

Fulton pointed out that Stan Lee was born exactly 2037 days before Stanley Kubrick was born and died in the 237th month after Kubrick died, the day after Douglas Rain who voiced HAL died. Cryptokubrology was visiting the dying.

Within four days, word came that another "Kubrick alumni has passed in the 237th month since Kubrick's death — RIP Pablo Ferro (1/15/35 - 11/16/18)," shared Alex Fulton on social media. Ferro was 83.

Pablo Ferro was an American graphic designer, film titles designer, and founder of Pablo Ferro Films, who had been born January 15, 1935, in Antilla, Cuba. He had created the powerful and influential title designs in Kubrick films Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange, as well as others, such as Being There, Bullit, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

The same day that Ferro died, another prominent figure in films passed away. William Goldman, born in Chicago on August 12, 1931, died at the age of 87, November 16, 2018.

Goldman was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, and won two Oscars for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and again for All the President's Men (1976). He is also recalled for Marathon Man, Wild Card, and The Princess Bride.

Goldman's book Which Lie Did I Tell? mentions:

I once met Stanley Kubrick and we got to talking about what he hoped he would do next (alas). Napoleon, he said. I asked what part and this was his reply: "Everything. I want to do the whole sweep of a man's life."
Problem: movies don't do that well.
I would love to know how Kubrick would have attacked the problem.

Stanley Kubrick, the revolutionary, uncompromising movie director, died in his home outside London early Sunday morning, March 7, 1999. He was 70. He only made 13 films in his life. He delivered Eyes Wide Shut right before he died suddenly.

Alex Fulton shares another tidbit:

Eyes Wide Shut released on the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the same day JFK Jr. died—this was exactly 15300 + 153 + 153 days after the Burning Secret script date. What was Kubrick's burning secret?

This all brings me to nearly 11.22.18. Who might be the next "Kubrick" alumni to make a big sad impact on Hollywood?

It could be anyone. But this name came to mind. As well as another.

Douglas Huntley Trumbull (born April 8, 1942) is an American film director, special effects supervisor, and inventor. He contributed to, or was responsible for, the special photographic effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner and The Tree of Life, and directed the movies Silent Running and Brainstorm. He is the son of Donald Trumbull (May 27, 1909 – June 7, 2004) who created visual effects for the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz as well as later movies including Silent Running and Star Wars.

Producer James B. Harris, who turned 90, on August 3, 2018, produced the early major Kubrick films - The Killing, Paths of Glory, and Lolita.

+++

Nicolas Roeg

On November 24, 2018, we heard about the death of Nicolas Roeg. 

Nicolas Jack Roeg (born August 15, 1928), died on November 23, 2018. He was an English director and cinematographer, best known for directing Performance (1970), Walkabout (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Bad Timing (1980), and The Witches (1990).

Bernardo Bertolucci

Another great director, writer, filmmaker has left us in the 237th month since Stanley Kubrick's death—Bernardo Bertolucci (March 16, 1941 – November 26, 2018). The Last Emperor, The Dreamers, The Conformist, more. R.I.P.

Samuel Hadida

Samuel Hadida, with over 70 producing credits including the Resident Evil franchise, dies unexpectedly at 64, in Santa Monica, on November 27, 2018.

Hadida, his brother & father are cofounders/coowners of Metropolitan FilmExport (American indie distributor). 

Born in Morocco, Hadida and his brother Victor have been credited with bringing popular American movies such as Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, David Fincher’s Seven and martial-arts pics starring Jean-Claude Van Damme to French theaters in the 1990s. Hadida was also well-known for his collaboration with Tony Scott on True Romance and Domino, with Constantin Film on the Resident Evil franchise and with Christophe Gans on Silent Hill.

Please note Samuel Hadida was the lead producer of the reboot of The Crow, allegedly starrring Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Aquaman) - although rumors are Momoa has withdrawn from the project. Sony announced on 11/18/18 that they’ve set the new Crow movie release for 10/11/19. Hadida died suddenly on 11/27/18. 

Other Cryptokubrology Links:

Merry Cryptokubrology Christmas

Cryptokubrology Meets Bigfoot

Sacramuccia Keeps Our Eyes Wide Shut

Cryptokubrology: Frame 237s

Birdman Copycats The Shining: Getting the Room 237 Treatment

Cryptokubrology: Two Jacks

Frame 237 to Room 237, from The Shining to Westworld

Kubrick Red: Redrum, Redrug and More

More 237: Scorpion and The Shining

IKEA Even Set The Clock At 2:37

Beyond Room 237: Pitch Perfect 237 and 9/11

Flight 237, Obama's 237, and Room 237

Synchrocinematic Willy Wonka Director Dies

"Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we daren't go a hunting, for fear of little men. You see, nobody ever goes in... and nobody ever comes out." ~ Tinker, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).

The director of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) has died. Mel Stuart (pictured), known for that synchromystically significant and scary children's film, was also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. His daughter, Madeline Stuart, said he died of melanoma Thursday night, August 9, 2012, of cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 83, born Stuart Solomon, on September 2, 1928.

Some of the titles of the works Staurt directed and produced naturally jump out to students of the twilight language: Four Days in November - about the JFK assassination (1964); Ruby and Oswald - TV movie (1978); The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal (TV movie), 1979; Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy (1998); and Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant Garde (1997). He was the executive producer of 1968's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and the 1980s' ABC series Ripley's Believe It or Not, whose host was Jack Palance.

Stuart's 1971 version of Willy Wonka (starring Gene Wilder) has a cult following today, a film that has been discussed among synchromystic bloggers as a "worm hole" metaphor and more.

"Time is a precious thing. Never waste it." 

~ Willy Wonka, as he drops an antique alarm 

clock into a vat of an undefinable candy mixture, 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) 

"I'm late

I'm late

For a very important date.

No time to say 'Hello, Goodbye'.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late." 

~ White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland (1951) 

"Follow the white rabbit...knock, knock...." 

~ Matrix, 1999.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory's beginnings were born in a milieu of coincidence, synchronicity, and genetic links. Writer J. M. Kenny told of the origins of the 1971 film adaption, in his 2001 documentary, Pure Imagination: The Story of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Once upon a time, director Mel Stuart's 10-year-old daughter read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and asked her father to make a film out of it, with "Uncle Dave" (i.e. producer David L. Wolper) producing it.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Stuart and David L. Wolper established a base of West Coast documentary production at a time when New York filmmakers and TV network news dominated the field. Before joining forces with the Wolper Organization, Stuart was a researcher for CBS News' 1950s documentary series, The 20th Century, which was hosted and narrated by Walter Cronkite. (David L. Wolper, coincidentally, died on August 10, 2010.)

Stuart showed the book to Wolper, who happened to be in the midst of talks with the Quaker Oats Company regarding some promotional ideas to introduce a new candy bar from their Chicago-based Breaker Confections subsidiary. Wolper talked the company into buying the rights to the 1964 novel by Roald Dahl and financing the motion picture for the purpose of promoting their new Quaker Oats Wonka Bar. Breaker Confections was renamed the Willy Wonka Candy Company (and has since been sold to Nestlé).

"If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it." 

~ Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) 

The filmmaking of the movie began on April 30, 1970 and ended on November 19, 1970. The primary shooting location was Munich, Bavaria, then in West Germany, because it was inexpensive compared to filming in America and the visual site was conducive to Wonka's factory. Stuart said he was in favor of the unknown nature of the setting for movie audiences. Outside visuals of the candy factory were filmed at the Munich Gaswerks (Emmy-Noether-Straße 10), and reportedly, the side buildings and entryway still exist. 

The final scenes when the Wonkavator flies above the factory are overflight views of Nördlingen in Bavaria.

Stuart's collaborator on Willy Wonka as screenwriter was David Seltzer, who at 26 obtained his first job making documentaries, from Stuart and remembered him as "a mentor by way of drill sergeant, much-feared boss and much-loved friend."

Seltzer, who also wrote The Omen (another film that is about terrorizing kids), said on August 10, 2012, that Stuart dismissed his first effort at a screenplay "with the scolding that if I didn't 'have a drawer-full of magic,' I had no business even thinking I was a screenwriter. He taught me that good enough wasn't good enough."

Two of Stuart's children, Peter Stuart and Madelaine Stuart, make cameo appearances in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). 

His son, Peter, appears as the little boy "Winkleman," who informs Charlie's teacher about Willy Wonka opening his chocolate factory. 

His daughter, Madelaine, appears as one of the little girls in Charlie's classroom. 

Stuart is survived by his wife Roberta, and his three children ~ Madelaine who grew up to be an interior designer, his son Peter, a filmmaker, and his other son, Andrew, a literary agent.

Stuart was also survived by his first cousin, Marvel Comics genius Stan Lee. Stan Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York City on December 28, 1922, in the apartment of his Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia (née Solomon) and Jack Lieber, in Manhattan. Recall that Mel Stuart was born Stuart Solomon. It was with the help of Stan Lee's uncle Robbie Solomon, Lee became an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division of pulp magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman's company. Young Stanley Lieber made his comic-book debut with the text filler "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941), using the pseudonym "Stan Lee," which years later he would legally take as his name. Lee, whose cousin Jean was Goodman's wife, was formally hired by Timely editor Joe Simon. Timely Comics, by the 1960s, would become into Marvel Comics. 

Stan Lee often is briefly seen in cameos in the Marvel movies, as he is as the "General" in the recent Captain America (which opened on July 22, 2011).

"The two of them grew up in New York and remained close to this day. They used to argue about whose characters were better, and who was more famous. Even well into their 80s they were still challenging each other, which I found rather charming," Madeline Stuart said.

"Four of the five child actors 

[in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971] 

grew up to be accountants or financial consultants. 

What are the odds of that?" 

~ Piper Weiss, Shine, May 18, 2011.

Sources as attributed above in embedded links, as well as mixes and various tidbits from Wikipedia.