1. 2001: A Space Odyssey is his favourite sci-fi film. Blade Runner is his second favourite.
2. He only has good memories of working with Stanley Kubrick:
“I’m often asked: was Kubrick a task master? The answer is no; anything but. He never raised his voice, he had a quiet droll sense of humor and was a man with great curiosity.”
3. In 18 months Keir will be 80. Here’s his secret to ageing so well …
“I think to some extent having great genes. Both my parents lived to 95. People were always commenting to and about my father about the fact that he always looked at least 10 years younger than his actual age. Also, I think the fact that, for the most part, I’ve been fulfilled in my life both personally and professionally and that kind of fulfilment keeps you young.”
4. He can confirm that Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist:
“On the first day of shooting, Stanley noticed my shoes and felt they weren’t right. We stopped shooting for the rest of the day until they found the right pair. Let’s face it, feet don’t play a huge role in films.”
5. Kubrick gave him minimal direction on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey:
“The only suggestion Kubrick gave overall was that he did not want us to portray scientists in the way they had been portrayed in grade B science fiction movies of the past, that is, men with goatees and outlandish clothes, speaking in some kind of pseudo babble.”
6. He has good taste in beverages:
“I don’t drink much tea, but when I do it’s usually rooibos tea. But normally I drink unsweetened black coffee.”
7. Working with Otto Preminger wasn’t his favourite experience:
“Otto Preminger was a horror to work for. If you ever saw a film called Stalag 17 you will see Otto Preminger playing the Nazi commandant of the prisoner of war camp. Perfect typecasting. Due to the stress of working with Preminger, I was constantly forgetting my lines. Laurence Olivier took great pains to run lines with me over and over again. Someone overheard him approach Preminger privately and say ‘Otto, dear boy, I wish you wouldn’t scream at the children’ and Preminger responded ‘Och, I’m too old to change!’”
8. Kubrick played music to get the right reaction out of him:
“The visual effects of my journey through time and space were created well after I had finished the film. Stanley filmed me mostly in close-up reacting to something that I actually wasn’t seeing. He created an old silent movie trick. He played some extraordinary music to put me in the mood. Specifically, a movement from Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica. That’s what helped me react to something I wasn’t seeing.”
9. He’d like to work with Roman Polanski.
“Having met him, I think his personality is very different from Stanley’s, but I think he has some of the same genius.”
10. His favourite colour is blue.
