Originally posted by CallMeMaury
Kubrick and Clarke wrote the screenplay together and then Clarke wrote the book based on the screenplay. That kind of puts a damper on the things
you're saying.
That's not my story; that's Stanley Kubrick's story and the damper hovers over his head, not mine. He must have confused Clarke's
Rescue
Party for
2001: A Space Odyssey. The film was originally titled
A Space Odyssey, but Kubrick insisted on the prefix 2001, because of
his visions of the future.
Clarke thought that someone was pulling his legs when he received the call from Kubrick back in 2001, but he knew Kubrick well and doubted that
someone could emulate him so well. According to Clarke, Kubrick said to him that "it takes lots of water to douse the fire." He was talking about
the burning WTC. Then he said he "knows," pointed to Clarke's that C = C and said, "Arthur, you're inviting another disaster. Just leave Sri
Lanka."
Clarke wanted to hang up on the caller, but Kubrick explain to him the C = C identity. So Clarke was looking at the paper with WT
C = Clarke
written on it but didn't understand what it meant. So he asked Kubrick about the meaning. Kubrick said that C = 3 in the alphabet and 2001 + 3 =
2004. Then he repeated that it takes lots of water to douse the fire.
Three years later Clarke was pretty much shaken when the tsunami of 2004 reached the shores of Sri Lanka and did some drowning. With all that
excitement, Clarke forgot to pick up his mail and when he did, he found a Merry Christmas card from Kubrick. When he turned the card over, he was
looking at a St. Anthony cross made of letters:
The tsunami hit on the second day of Christmas, and Clarke was pretty much familiar with the tale about where Jesus Christ spent his last hour of his
life. He went to his study, took a photo of the monolith and partially covered the cross made of letters with it:
Then he took a marker . . .
He was staring at the pic, but couldn't see more, because his eyes were wide shut.