Ronson's intent was not to create a biography of the filmmaker but rather to understand Kubrick by studying the director's vast personal collection of memorabilia related to his feature films. The documentary came about in 1998 when Ronson received a request from Kubrick's estate for a copy of a documentary Ronson made about the Holocaust (Ronson was unaware that it was Kubrick who was asking for the film until months later). A year later, as Ronson was making plans to conduct a rare interview with the director, Kubrick suddenly died after completing work on his final film Eyes Wide Shut (1999). To his surprise, Ronson was invited to Kubrick's house by his widow. When he arrived, he found that half the house was filled by more than one thousand boxes containing snap shots, newspaper clippings, film out-takes, notes, and fan letters which the director used for research towards each of his films.
