Malcolm McDowell Addresses Lasting Impact Of Injury From Filming Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 Classic

Malcolm McDowell suffered a real injury while shooting A Clockwork Orange. Inspired by Anthony Burgess’ book, the renowned Stanley Kubrick movie explores the perils of unethical psychological experimentation on prisoners. McDowell played Alex DeLarge, who leads a group of criminals and often engages in horrific actions. After his imprisonment, Alex agrees to participate in a clinical trial that sees his eyes forced open as he is forced to watch scenes of depraved violence. The imprisonment changed Alex’s life, but it also seriously impacted McDowell.

In an interview with The Guardian, McDowell opened up about the consequences of the famous brainwashing scene. Despite having anesthesia in his eyes to avoid feeling actual pain while filming the scene, the doctor administering his eye drops neglected to give him adequate attention. Because of the doctor’s dialogue and intense acting, McDowell suffered from an eye injury. Thankfully, he reflects that there were no long-term consequences. Check out his full explanation below:

I did scratch my corneas
, that is correct. My eyes were anaesthetised so I couldn’t feel those lid locks scraping down my eyes. The doctor was a real doctor from Moorfields eye hospital who kept putting in artificial teardrops because you can’t leave your eyes dry too long, you have to keep them moist. That was his job. Stanley decided to put him in the scene and give him a line, which was a big mistake. He was more concerned with his stupid line of dialogue, something like: “How are we feeling today, little Alex?” He kept saying: “What’s your name again?” “I mean, Jesus, doc, it doesn’t matter, just get those drops in.” I was home an hour later when the anaesthetic wore off and I’ve never felt pain like it. My own doctor came around and gave me a shot of morphine in my ass, which sent me to sleep. When I woke up the next day, it felt like I’d had a whole sack of sand in my eyes. The eyes heal themselves very quickly, so I didn’t suffer any permanent damage, only psychological.

McDowell’s Injury Was Completely Preventable

The Injury Only Had Short-Term Implications For Him

McDowell’s scratched cornea is an injury that could have caused long-term issues without adequate care and attention. While it is something that many people experience in day-to-day life, experiencing an eye injury while unable to feel pain or the consequences of that injury is a serious situation. If McDowell’s eye became severely hurt, he might not have known at all, and the doctor would have been distracted by his upcoming line. The precautions taken on set were evidently inadequate, given McDowell’s experience afterward.

The injury was completely preventable, as not issuing the doctor a spoken line would have allowed him to focus solely on protecting McDowell’s eyes. The doctor should have been left to care for McDowell and prevent a potential injury, rather than having a distraction in his way. It could have also been prevented by offering the doctor a line off-screen, which could have allowed for some measure of voice-over later in the production cycle. Either option could have prevented McDowell from experiencing an eye injury on set.

Kubrick might have intended to remain faithful by offering the doctor some agency during the experiment, but he was not opposed to making changes when discovering issues in the story. The Clockwork Orange book’s original ending was different, after all, and presented an entirely different perspective on Alex’s story. A Clockwork Orange could have been a safer environment for McDowell. Luckily, his injury was nothing more than a short-term issue, rather than a life-long complication.

Stanley Kubrick Was Infamously Tough On Actors

Malcolm McDowell’s Eye Injury Is Just One Example

Kubrick is widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, in large part because of his intense attention to detail. However, his meticulous approach to filmmaking is also what caused him to be infamously tough on actors. Kubrick’s intense attention to detail manifested in various aspects of his directorial style and often had a detrimental effect on his actors. McDowell’s eye injury on A Clockwork Orange is just one example of this, with the most famous example being perhaps Kubrick’s treatment of Shelly Duvall on set of The Shining.

On A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick demanded that McDowell actually wear the eyelid locks to make the scene look as realistic as possible. While Kubrick’s penchant for realism is what certainly made him such a great filmmaker, it’s also what frequently endangered his actors. Furthermore, during the famous brainwashing scene, Kubrick used a real doctor to administer the eye drops, but was still required to deliver dialogue as an actor. Perhaps if he had been able to fully focus on McDowell’s safety during the scene, his eye injury could have been prevented.

Another one of the most notorious aspects of Kubrick’s directorial style was his penchant for numerous takes. He believed that repeated performances allowed actors to transcend rehearsed responses and tap into more authentic and spontaneous emotions. While effective at times, this method was infamously applied in The Shining, where Kubrick pushed Duvall to her emotional limits, reportedly performing the baseball bat scene over a hundred times. Kubrick’s relentless pursuit of the perfect take wasn’t just about capturing a flawless performance, but slowly breaking down an actor’s defenses to make their reactions more genuine and raw.

On set of The Shining, Duvall collapsed due to exhaustion and after filming was over, she presented Kubrick with clumps of her hair that had fallen out due to the extreme stress of filming. In a 2021 interview, Duvall spoke candidly about the intense emotional and physical toll of the role. While, thankfully, there were no long-term consequences from McDowell’s eye injury on A Clockwork Orange, the same can’t be said for Duvall, as The Shining caused significant psychological stress that left a lasting impact on her and likely stayed with her until her death.

Source: The Guardian

A Clockwork Orange

4.0

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange presents a dark future where violent gangs roam the streets. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is a sadistic gang member who gets arrested and subjected to a controversial form of behavior therapy.

Release Date

February 2, 1972

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributor(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

Malcolm McDowell , Patrick Magee , Michael Bates , Warren Clarke , John Clive , Adrienne Corri

Runtime

136 minutes

Budget

$2.2 million

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