PREMIERING IN THE US the week before Christmas 1971, A Clockwork Orange is the perfect festive film, warm-hearted and fuzzy. Hang on, no: it’s a bleak, dystopian nightmare, just as shocking today, 50 years after its release. Stanley Kubrick’s truly iconic adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel, about psychopathic delinquent Alex (Malcolm McDowell), became legend a mere year after its UK release when, due to a handful of controversies and accompanying press hysteria, the director withdrew it from British distribution. To this day, many erroneously believe it was banned; over the decades, other myths about the film have grown too. We sat down with the lead droog himself, clamping open his eyes as we ask him if those tales are true or false. Viddy well…
MCDOWELL DIDN’T AUDITION FOR THE FILM TRUE