Is the potential reality of extraterrestrials too overwhelming — or too frightening — for our human brains to absorb?
While preparing to shoot 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick obsessed over the look of his cinematic extraterrestrials. For three years, the director fussed over proposed models, even recruiting his wife, Christiane, to sculpt aliens out of clay in her art studio. He dragged his visual effects team to a Giacometti exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and pointed to the humanoid sculptures. He wanted his ETs to be just as thin and gangly ... Read even more
