1968

Screenshots: A Space Odyssey

• Realism: The special effects were decades ahead of their time. The space scenes looked indistinguishable from reality.
• Theory: Theorists believe this movie was essentially an audition. NASA saw Kubrick’s work and realized that if anyone could convincingly fake a moon landing, it was him.

The Technique

Front Screen Projection Method

Kubrick did not use green screens, which look fake. He invented a technique called Front Screen Projection.

• Technique: The background image is projected from the front onto a special highly reflective screen made of material called Scotchlite. The actors stand in front of it.
• Result: It creates a perfect, seamless blend between the studio actors and the fake background.
• Evidence: In many Apollo photos, there is a sharp line separating the foreground dirt from the background mountains. Theorists argue this is the seam where the stage floor meets the projection screen.

The Deal

Payment with Lenses

Kubrick was obsessed with technology. For his later movie Barry Lyndon, he wanted to film by candlelight.

• Lens: To do this, he needed a camera lens that was impossibly fast. He used a Zeiss f/0.7 lens.
• Origin: These lenses were not sold to the public. They were built specifically for NASA to take pictures of the dark side of the moon.
• Deal: Kubrick is one of the only civilians in history allowed to own one. Theorists argue this was his payment for directing the moon landing.

1980

Hidden Confession in The Shining

Conspiracy theorists believe Kubrick could not talk about his secret, so he hid a confession inside his horror movie The Shining.

• Room 237: In the original book, the scary room is Room 217. In the movie, Kubrick changed it to Room 237.

• Meaning: The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 237,000 miles.
• Sweater: In a key scene, the child Danny stands up. He is wearing a hand knit sweater with a massive rocket on it and the text “Apollo 11.”

• Carpet: The pattern on the carpet in the Overlook Hotel matches the aerial view of the Apollo launch pad.

• Bear: There is a weird scene of a man in a bear costume. Theorists say this represents the Soviet Union (the Bear), implying the Cold War pressure was the reason for the fake.

1999

Shoemaker Interview

Years after Kubrick died in 1999, a mysterious video surfaced online.

• Video: It shows a bearded man claiming to be Stanley Kubrick. He is being interviewed by a filmmaker named T. Patrick Murray.
• Quote: The man says, “I perpetrated a huge fraud on the American public, which I am now about to detail, involving the United States government and NASA… The moon landings were faked, and I was the one who filmed them.”
• Controversy: Most historians call this a hoax. They say the man in the video is an actor named Tom Key who does not even sound like the real Kubrick. However, for believers, this is the smoking gun.

The Impact

Why It Matters

This lesson provides the How.

• Capability: It explains how the government could create realistic footage in 1969.
• Motive: It connects the government to Hollywood, suggesting that the Moon Landing was just a very expensive movie production designed to win the Cold War.