Behind The Scenes Stills From "2001: A Space Odyssey"

    A new four-volume set from TASCHEN goes behinds the scenes of the most important science fiction film ever made.

    Dan Dalton
    by Dan Dalton

    BuzzFeed Staff

    TASCHEN

    Filming began on 2001: A Space Odyssey, in December, 1965, at Shepperton Studios, England.

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Stanley Kubrick directs the lunar monolith scenes.

    Kubrick co-wrote the film with science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, partly inspired by the latter's short story, The Sentinal.

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke inside the passenger deck of the Aries lunar ferry.

    Released in 1968 the film inspired a generation to consider our place in the universe, and influenced countless other filmmakers.

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Gary Lockwood in the main command deck of the Discovery One.

    George Lucas: "Stanley Kubrick made the ultimate science fiction movie."

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Keir Dullea in the one-man space repair pod.

    "It is going to be very hard for someone to come along and make a better movie, as far as I'm concerned."

    Dmitri Kessel / Getty Images / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Keir Dullea poses in an equipment storage corridor on Discovery One.

    Steven Spielberg: "He took you into space for the first time. Since ‘2001’, no documentary, no other movie, has ever really put me in space as much as ‘2001’ did.”

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Stanley Kubrick gives instructions through a hatch in the centrifuge.

    Martin Scorsese: “Watching a Kubrick film is like gazing up at a mountaintop. You look up and wonder, how could anyone have climbed that high?”

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Stanley Kubrick shooting the final scenes of 2001.

    The four-volume set includes film stills, interviews with cast and crew, concept art...

    Stanley Kubrick Archives / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Artist Roy Carnon’s impression of the docking area at the hub of the space station, with a winged shuttle parked after arrival.

    ...and specially commisioned new illustrations.

    Oliver Rennert / TASCHEN / Via 2014 Turner Entertainment Co.

    Artwork demonstrating how the interior sets for the Discovery would fit in to the habitation sphere if the ship were constructed at full scale.

    TASCHEN

    "The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey", will be available in June, from TASCHEN.