The Actor Who Gave Up Acting to Shadow Stanley Kubrick

No director has a stronger, more alluring, and more mysterious legacy in recent history than Stanley Kubrick. With some of the most highly regarded movies of all time under his belt, Kubrick’s meticulous craftsmanship and variety of work is known to just about anybody with even a slight interest in film. But one of Kubrick’s best movies began a unique creative partnership that had a greater impact on his work than you might realize.

In 1975, Kubrick released Barry Lyndon, a period film following a young man who lies and schemes his way into noble status in the 1700s. The movie is a sprawling epic with extravagant costumes, sets, and an ensemble of great actors. One of the most interesting performances in the film comes from Leon Vitali, who portrays Lord Bullingdon, the son of Barry Lyndon’s wife. Vitali is great in the film, but his time working on the set of Barry Lyndon was only the beginning of what became a lifelong working relationship with Kubrick.

‘Barry Lyndon’ Is Regarded as One of Stanley Kubrick’s Greatest Movies

Although Barry Lyndon is not as well known among general audiences as some of Kubrick’s most popular works, it tends to sit at the top of the critical consensus of Kubrick’s filmography. Barry Lyndon is a sprawling period drama, but the film has a notably comedic tone. Ryan O’Neal, in the titular role, journeys through a rise into nobility and a fall into disgrace, rendered in a farcical manner. Kubrick crafted a film with an unbelievable amount of effort put into every inch of the frame, whether lighting, costumes, or performance, but the tonal element that allows Barry Lyndon to stand out among stuffy period pieces of the time is that the film is incredibly funny and sharp in its view of noble life.

Even outside the boundaries of Kubrick’s own movies, Barry Lyndon is regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made by many critics and aggregates. The 2022 Sight and Sound lists ranked Barry Lyndon as the 45th best movie in the critics’ poll, and the 12th best in the directors’ poll. The refreshing approach to making a period movie that does not take itself so seriously, while also being a seriously masterful piece of filmmaking in terms of pure craft, is what makes Barry Lyndon such a delight.

Stanley Kubrick’s Filmmaking Captivated Leon Vitali During ‘Barry Lyndon’

Vitali’s performance as Lord Bullingdon is a highlight of Barry Lyndon. Bullingdon’s fraught relationship with his stepfather is central to Lyndon’s unraveling, and to many of the film’s greatest comedic moments. Vitali finds the perfect tone that Kubrick is striving for. As a character with a massive chip on his shoulder, Bullingdon’s story is tragic, but like everything else in the film, never treated as self-serious.

Vitali was fascinated by Kubrick’s craft. In the 2017 documentary, Filmworker, which was first conceived as a Kubrick documentary and eventually grew into focusing on Vitali’s relationship with the filmmaker, Vitali explained that, after filming all of his sequences, he asked Kubrick to observe the editing process. Vitali’s passion for the process clicked into place as he began working closer with Kubrick. In a conversation with the Academy about the documentary, Vitali recalled their professional relationship, saying “it was a gem in my life” to work with such a dedicated artist. Although Kubrick wasn’t exactly the easiest director to work with, Vitali bonded with him on set, and wanted to work with him in any way he could. After Vitali shadowed the director during the film’s post-production, he actually left his career as an actor to pursue working with Kubrick in any capacity that he would allow. Vitali clearly offered serious value to Kubrick, as he ended up working in the role of casting director for a few of Kubrick’s later films.

Leon Vitali Worked With Stanley Kubrick Until the Director’s Death in 1999

Vitali’s most apparent contribution to Kubrick’s filmography would be readying R. Lee Ermey to take on the iconic role of Sergeant Hartman, the vulgar and intimidating drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket, as well as working with his wife, Kersti Vitali, to cast Danny Lloyd in The Shining. Vitali only acted in a small handful of projects after 1975, and continued working with Kubrick throughout the rest of the director’s life. In March 1999, Kubrick passed away, and a few months later, on July 16, 1999, his final film, Eyes Wide Shut, was released. Vitali worked in casting and as Kubrick’s personal assistant for this final film, where he also forged a professional relationship with Todd Field, who acted in Eyes Wide Shut and eventually directed films of his own that Vitali worked on in a similar capacity. In the years following Kubrick’s death, Vitali also worked closely on restorations of many of Kubrick’s films.

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Considering the notorious and apocryphal legends about Kubrick being a difficult, borderline abusive figure on set, Vitali’s devotion to the filmmaker seems to clash with Kubrick’s reputation. The record has been set straight many times regarding his working relationship with Shelley Duvall, who was persistently reported to have been traumatized by Kubrick despite claiming she and Kubrick had a good working relationship. Duvall and Kubrick certainly clashed on the set of The Shining, and Kubrick was known to antagonize his performers. Duvall did not have the time of her life on The Shining set, and expressed to The Hollywood Reporter that he certainly could have a mean streak that arose out of his meticulous, aggressive style of directing, but the tabloid-press insistence that The Shining drove Duvall to insanity and ruined her career was something she pushed back against.

Nicole Kidman also recently shared fond memories of working with Kubrick around the 25th anniversary of Eyes Wide Shut. Scatman Crothers, who portrayed Dick Halloran in The Shining, along with Harvey Kietel (who quit work on Eyes Wide Shut) and A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell have all expressed thoughts about Kubrick’s difficult nature, so your mileage may vary in terms of both how Kubrick treated particular actors, and how actors responded to his approach. Kubrick’s tendency toward living a private life, and his uniquely perfectionist approach to filmmaking birthed many myths that the actors involved in his productions always seem to brush against. Vitali may be one of the best indicators of the unique relationship Kubrick forged with his creative partners. The iconic legacy of one of the most highly regarded directors would not be the same without Leon Vitali.

Barry Lyndon is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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