Barry Lyndon - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Barry Lyndon or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Barry Lyndon

[gabriel]

Barry (Ryan O'Neal) received two "Friedrich d'or" coins as a reward for his bravery when rescuing Captain Potzdorf (Hardy Krüger). A "Friedrich d'or" was a Prussian gold coin, made of 21-carat gold.

[jeffrey]

Stanley Kubrick based his original screenplay on "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" (republished as the novel "Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq."), a picaresque tale written in serial form in 1844 by William Makepeace Thackeray. The serial, which is told in the first person and "edited" by the fictional George Savage FitzBoodle, concerns a member of the Irish gentry trying to become a member of the English aristocracy. Thackeray based the novel on the life and exploits of the Irish rakehell and fortunehunter Andrew Robinson Stoney, who married (and subsequently was divorced by) Mary Eleanor Bowes, the Countess of Strathmore, who became known as "The Unhappy Countess" due to the tempestuous liaison. The Countess of Strathmore is one of the ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II. The revised version, which is the novel that the world generally knows as "Barry Lyndon", was shorter and tighter than the original serialization, and dropped the FitzBoodle, Ed. device. It generally is considered the first "novel without a hero" or novel with an antihero in the English language. Upon its publication in 1856, it was entitled by Thackeray's publisher "The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. Of The Kingdom Of Ireland Containing An Account of His Extraordinary Adventures; Misfortunes; His Sufferings In The Service Of His Late Prussian Majesty; His Visits To Many Courts of Europe; His Marriage and Splendid Establishments in England And Ireland; And The Many Cruel Persecutions, Conspiracies And Slanders Of Which He Has Been A Victim."

[mathew]

Despite the stunning visual effects and technical achievement, this movie was not the financial success for which Stanley Kubrick and Warner Brothers had been hoping. The lack of financial success at the time factored into Stanley Kubrick's decision to make The Shining (1980).

[christina]

This is Martin Scorsese's favorite Stanley Kubrick movie.

[jessica]

Stanley Kubrick hoped to shoot the entire movie in England, preferably within driving distance of his London house, but he didn't like the look of most period pieces, which were largely re-created on soundstages, and insisted upon shooting it entirely on-location, exteriors and interiors alike. That was a challenge for Production Designer Ken Adam, and his crew had to expand their search and scout locations throughout England and Ireland.

[kenzi]

It has been alleged that Stanley Kubrick re-cast at least fifty U.K. actors and actresses while working on this movie.

[jeffrey]

In a scene where Patrick Magee (Chevalier de Balibari) was supposed to deal cards, he began to sweat, and the sweat on his palms made it nearly impossible to deal cards smoothly. Writer, Producer, and Director Stanley Kubrick brought in a professional card dealer, and then realized that the card dealer's hands were smooth, while Magee's were hairy. To prevent continuity problems, Magee's hands were shaved so the cuts would both look like him.

[harry]

Filming took three hundred days over a two-year span, beginning around May or June of 1973. The production suffered two major shutdowns, resulting in what was then considered a bloated eleven million dollar budget. It was finally released in December of 1975.

[ava]

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Stanley Kubrick (wheelchairs): Sir Charles Lyndon (Frank Middlemass) in a wheelchair depicts his impotency or, in this movie's case, the inability to protect one's wife.

[ava]

Stanley Kubrick: [three-way] Barry vs. Bullingdon vs. Bryan.

[albert]

Vivian Kubrick: The young girl sitting behind Lady Lyndon's left shoulder during the magic show is Stanley Kubrick's daughter.

[leo]

Marisa Berenson described Stanley Kubrick as being uncharacteristically shy around her, and that he would often prefer to communicate his direction with numerous handwritten notes.

[lena]

This was the last Stanley Kubrick movie to have an intermission.

[ronnie]

Stanley Kubrick: [three-way] Barry vs. Captain Potzdorf vs. The Chevalier du Balibari.

[russell]

Ryan O'Neal later said of this movie, "Oh it's all right, but he (Kubrick) completely changed the picture during the year he spent editing it."

[cameron]

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Stanley Kubrick (faces): Captain Quin's (Leonard Rossiter's) face during his duel with Barry (Ryan O'Neal) when he goes to raise his pistol.

[camila]

Several of the interior scenes were filmed in Powerscourt House, a famous eighteenth-century mansion in County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. The house was destroyed in an accidental fire several months after filming (November 1974), so this movie serves as a record of the lost interiors, particularly the "saloon", which was used for more than one scene. The Wicklow Mountains are visible, for example, through the window of the saloon during a scene set in Berlin.

[ethel]

Marisa Berenson recalled that she was cast without a screentest and that she knew little of the project beyond the era, but she agreed immediately.

[kristina]

One of Lars von Trier's favorite movies. It is clear how the chapters and narration inspired the structure for the likes of Dogville (2003), Antichrist (2009), and Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013).