We had fights, but I appreciated Kubrick's talent:Kirk Douglas

On his 100th birthday Kirk Douglas has opened up about his relationship with "Spartacus" director Stanley Kubrick saying the filmmaker was not a great person to work with but was very talented.
Their partnership started in 1955, when Douglas roped in Kubrick to direct the film "Paths of Glory."
The duo always had creative differences but a major clash happened during the filming of "Spartacus," when Douglas forced Kubrick to go through with the now-iconic "I am Spartacus!" scene, which Kubrick was reported to have changed.
"He was a bas****! But he was a talented, talented guy," Douglas said.
"Difficult? (Kubrick) invented the word. But he was talented. So, we had lots of fights, but I always appreciated his talent," he added.

According to Douglas, their arguments were so heated and stretched that his wife suggested that the two should attend therapy together.

Douglas said the psychiatrist asked Kubrick to read the 1926 "Traumnovelle," which later become his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut."
"It was the lousiest picture," the actor said jokingly.
The Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman starrer erotic drama was shot in England, where Kubrick moved in 1961 after clashing with Universal Pictures on "Spartacus" when they refused to give him final cut.
The filmmaker died of heart attack in 1999, six days after showing Warner Bros the final version of "Eyes Wide Shut.