Despite the infamous reputation of the enigmatic Stanley Kubrick, Matthew Modine couldn’t refuse his offer. Faced with the prospects of a career-defining role and mentorship by a cinematic great, the 24-year-old Hollywood actor arrived in London armed with a large-format Roliflex camera–inspired by Kubrick’s early career as a Look photographer–and a notebook to record his own on-set reportage; preparation for his starring role as a Marine Corps journalist.
But expectations eroded as a strange, creeping sickness pervaded the set, a horrific accident sidelined a principal, and an unexpected rivalry arose with a co-star. And as the months dragged on, take-by-take, Modine realized he was falling victim to a manipulative mind-game of the Grand Master himself.
By the time his tour of duty ended a year and a half later, Modine had shot hundreds of photos and written countless entries. Only now–after two decades and the death of Kubrick–can Modine look back on his images and words. The result–a coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of a seminal Vietnam saga.
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