According to his co-writer, Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick was, “... one of the world’s champion worriers," and he so feared the possibility of Mariner IV ruining his movie, that he actually tried to insure himself against it. Clarke stated that the director approached Lloyd’s of London, a venerable insurance company in England with roots back to the 17th century, and actually asked them to “...quote a policy which would compensate him if intelligent life was discovered on Mars and our plot was demolished.” Even more bizarre, it appears Lloyd's actually came back with a number, though Clarke speculates it must have been a very large figure, as Kubrick did not end up going forward with the idea. In the end, the auteur director decided to just roll the dice, and ended up giving cinema one of the most enduring classics in the sci-fi genre.

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