How '2001: A Space Odyssey' Rocked Steven Spielberg’s World

Every filmmaker has that one defining moment in a theater where they feltl ike they had to pursue a dream in cinema.

And while we know Steven Spielberg had a few of these, he was recently on The Rewatchables where he talked about the magical moment of seeing Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, on its opening weekend.

Let's dive in.

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Entering the "London Fog" of 1968 Cinema

When 2001: A Space Odyssey hit theaters in 1968, it was a cultural phenomenon and a real moment for science fiction.

Crazily, Planet of the Apes had opened five days prior and was crushing at the box office.

Kubrick's movie was coming out next, and on the posters and in its marketing, it was called "The ultimate trip."

This was not a kids movie with monkeys; this was a psychedelic journey into the unknown.

In the podcast, Spielberg notes that the word-of-mouth surrounding the film framed it less as a traditional narrative and more as a "drug trip." He went opening weekend to see the movie, probably at the Pantages in Hollywood.

The atmosphere inside the theater was chaotic before the projector even rolled. Spielberg recalls:

"I had never been to a movie where I smelled marijuana as thick as a London fog inside that movie palace."

With the crowd making a massive amount of noise, a young Spielberg actually worried he wouldn't be able to hear the dialogue. What he didn’t know yet, of course, was just how little dialogue Kubrick had actually written into the film.

That's when the overture started, and it changed everything.

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The Power of Sonic Silence

When 2001 opens, you just have a black screen and music. It's kind of the ultimate starting gun for such a contemplative movie.

Kubrick chose Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra to start his cosmic epic. For Spielberg and the rest of the rowdy theater, that musical choice was a physical force.

As the iconic chord hit the speakers, the entire atmosphere shifted instantly. Spielberg remembers the sudden, profound silence that washed over the crowd:

"It shut everybody the f ** up. Everyone just got completely quiet... I was aware that everyone was still. It was kind of in itself, before the film started, mind-blowing."

From that moment onward, Spielberg was enraptured by the film.

The structural choices of 2001 were on another level. The massive time jumps, the visual storytelling, and the ambiguous narrative choices left Spielberg stunned.

"For me, it was... one of the most audacious films I had ever watched in my life. The audacity and the risks he took telling that story—if you could even call it a story—set me back and, I think, just rocked my world."

The Takeaway for Filmmakers

Man, go listen to the whole Rewatchables episode. It is Spielberg nerding out for over two hours, and that rocked my world.

Spielberg’s recollection is a beautiful reminder of why we make movies and why we go to the theater. Those are our churches, and they're where we can worship an art form that can inspire us, push us to take chances, and help us be our best, too.

What was the "audacious" movie that rocked your world and made you want to become a filmmaker?

Let us know in the comments below!