It's been one of those conspiracy theories that's been around since before the Internet and has fascinated film lovers and conspiracy theorists for many years.

The theory goes that Stanley Kubrick was responsible for filming the moon landings by NASA in the '60s, thanks to his expertise with backlighting, special effects and filmmaking. Kubrick was directly involved with it and was required to keep his involvement a secret from everyone, including his wife and family.

As for proof, there is none that's verifiable as such. However, many people have pointed to The Shining as Kubrick essentially confirming that he was involved. How's that, you ask? Let's look at the scene where Danny throws out his ball and it's returned to him. Firstly, the carpets are eerily reminiscent of the launch pads at Cape Canaveral, where the Apollo 11 mission took off from.

Secondly, Danny is wearing a knitted jumper that says Apollo 11 on it. Thirdly, Danny is being brought into a secret room - Room 237 - where he learns the true nature of the Overlook Hotel and, when he returns, he is badly bruised. Furthermore, many have talked about Jack Nicholson's breakdown in character as being paralleled with Stanley Kubrick's own breakdown from keeping it all a secret.

If you've got time, watch the documentary Room 237 because it explains it all so much better than we can.

So, that's the theory. Here's the proof. Sort of.

Vivian Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick's daughter, took to Twitter and addressed the long-standing rumours with a statement. She explained that her father would be "the very last person EVER to assist the US Government in such a terrible betrayal of its people" and that the whole idea was a "grotesque lie."

Here's the statement in full.

Whether you believe it or not, you'd have to admit that it's stretching the bounds of credulity to think that Stanley Kubrick would work on something like this and not tell anyone about it or even keep it a secret for so long.

What do you think? Is this proof enough?

 

Via Twitter