<Li> Kenneth Kendall as the BBC announcer (uncredited) </Li> <P> After completing Dr. Strangelove (1964), director Stanley Kubrick became fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and resolved to make "the proverbial good science fiction movie". Kubrick's interest in science fiction films was sparked by Japanese tokusatsu films such as Warning from Space (1956). According to his biographer John Baxter, despite their "clumsy model sequences, the films were often well - photographed in colour...and their dismal dialogue was delivered in well - designed and well - lit sets ." </P> <P> Searching for a collaborator in the science fiction community, Kubrick was advised by a mutual acquaintance, Columbia Pictures staffer Roger Caras, to talk to writer Arthur C. Clarke, who lived in Ceylon . Although convinced that Clarke was "a recluse, a nut who lives in a tree", Kubrick allowed Caras to cable the film proposal to Clarke . Clarke's cabled response stated that he was "frightfully interested in working with (that) enfant terrible", and added "what makes Kubrick think I'm a recluse?" Meeting for the first time at Trader Vic's in New York on April 22, 1964, the two began discussing the project that would take up the next four years of their lives . Clarke kept a diary throughout his involvement with 2001, excerpts of which were published in 1972 as The Lost Worlds of 2001 . </P> <P> Kubrick told Clarke he wanted to make a film about "Man's relationship to the universe", and was, in Clarke's words, "determined to create a work of art which would arouse the emotions of wonder, awe...even, if appropriate, terror". Clarke offered Kubrick six of his short stories, and by May 1964, Kubrick had chosen "The Sentinel" as the source material for the film . In search of more material to expand the film's plot, the two spent the rest of 1964 reading books on science and anthropology, screening science fiction films, and brainstorming ideas . They spent two years transforming the short story into a novel, and then into a script for 2001 . Clarke said that his story "Encounter in the Dawn" inspired the film's "Dawn Of Man" sequence . </P>

Why is there an intermission in 2001 a space odyssey