Colour Me Kubrick

Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story (released in the U.S. as Color Me Kubrick) is a 2005 comedy-drama film directed by Brian W. Cook and released in 2005. The film draws its inspiration from actual events. Starring John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a British con-man who had been impersonating director Stanley Kubrick since the early 1990s, the film follows the exploits of Conway as he goes from person to person, convincing them to give out money, liquor and sexual favours for the promise of a part in "Kubrick's" next film. The soundtrack, Colour Me Kubrick: The Original Soundtrack featured five songs co-written by Bryan Adams. Plot Colour Me Kubrick begins with a direct homage to A Clockwork Orange in the aftermath of one of Alan Conway's (Malkovich) minor cons: two thugs are sent to collect a bar bill that Conway has generated by impersonating Kubrick. Unbeknown to them, Conway has provided the address of an elderly couple as Kubrick's home address. Conway is nowhere to be seen and after the thugs cause a ruckus outside the house, the police are called and they are arrested. Following these events, the audience is taken through several of Conway's scams, including tricking a fashion designer, members of a heavy metal band, and a popular bar owner. All of the victims are deceived into giving "Kubrick" sums of money, free food and drinks, and even sexual favours. Conway actually knows little about Kubrick or his films, so he simply puts on a different persona—from reserved English gentleman to flamboyant Jewish stereotype—with each victim. Conway deceives just about everyone he meets into believing he is the reclusive director, except for a rent boy at a bar, who tests Conway by saying that his favourite Kubrick film is Judgment at Nuremberg; when Conway begins an anecdote about directing the film, the young man tells him casually that Judgment at Nuremberg was in fact directed by Stanley Kramer, and Conway walks away. Conway also has a run-in with Frank Rich (William Hootkins), a journalist from The New York Times. He meets Rich and his wife in a restaurant and confronts him about an article The New York Times ran on the real Kubrick. He is personally offended that the paper called Kubrick a recluse, and wants them to know that he shaved off his beard. After this chance meeting, Rich investigates Kubrick and finds a picture of him, learning that the real Kubrick looks nothing like the man he met in the restaurant.