"It's Futura Extra Bold," explains Tony. "It was Stanley's favourite typeface. It's sans serif. He liked Helvetica and Univers, too. Clean and elegant."

"Is this the kind of thing you and Kubrick used to discuss?" I ask.

"God, yes," says Tony. "Sometimes late into the night."

Tony goes to his bookshelf and brings down a number of volumes full of examples of typefaces, the kind of volumes he and Kubrick used to study, and he shows them to me. "I did once get him to admit the beauty of Bembo," he adds, "a serif."...

The above is from a 2004 interview with Stanley Kubrick's associate Tony Frewin in The Guardian. The whole article is a fantastic view into Kubrick's secretive life and creative process.



Kubrick's favor for Paul Renner's Futura is now a well discussed matter among designers. In-fact, while I was researching the entry you're reading right now, I came across this post from Coudal uploaded just a few minutes ago.

Futura was used extensively in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and played a key role in the visual language of the film (along with the iconic ultra-modern sets and those perfectly narrow suits that must make Dior envious.) It was used in the posters, the titles, and throughout the information graphics and signage in the scenes. Futura was used again in the titles for 1999's Eyes Wide Shut, though it isn't known if the titles were completed before Kubrick's death, or afterwards as an homage to 2001.