Why did Stanley Kubrick turn Dr. Strangelove from a serious story into a comedy?

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American director Stanley Kubrick — Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick during the filming of *Barry Lyndon* (1975).

Although Stanley Kubrick initially intended to treat the material for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as a serious drama, he found himself increasingly gravitating toward farce during the planning stages.12

Ultimately, Kubrick decided that the subject matter—the terrifying prospect of nuclear annihilation—would be more effective as a satire. By giving in to this impulse, he was able to create a "wickedly nihilistic" comedy that powerfully conveyed the horrors of the Cold War arms race while highlighting the absurdity of the doomsday scenarios proposed by theorists of the time.231