I think if Kubrick had kept all of the explanatory things it wouldn’t it wouldn’t be the classic that it is.

So how did Mr. Rain move from there to becoming HAL?

It was going to be Martin Balsam’s voice. And even before that it was going to be a female voice. HAL was going to be an Athena.

So the voice was probably just a combination of circumstance and a gut choice by Kubrick. He literally said to Rain, ‘I’m not happy what I have in the can,’ meaning the Martin Balsam recording that had been done a year before. ‘Would you like to play the computer?’ And then, in a day and a half, it was done.

When I spoke to a linguist he said absolutely that HAL does not have a mid-Atlantic accent as Kubrick kind of thought. It’s Standard Canadian English.

Why is Mr. Rain indifferent toward the film?

Even though it was done quickly and I don’t think Rain had a very good time doing it, it was fantastic combination of Rain’s performance, Kubrick’s decision to use that voice and to edit it in a way that really brought that character to life.

But I’m sure if I were Rain I wouldn’t want it to define my career. It would be like Alec Guinness being known just for Obi-Wan Kenobi and nothing else.