Three films that Stanley Kubrick put a great deal of energy into - Napoleon, The Aryan Papers and A.I. - were eventually shelved and never produced by the director.
Some great filmmakers, like Alfred Hitchcock, make dozens upon dozens of films, striking gold with a career-defining masterpiece from time to time. Others, like the great Stanley Kubrick, are well known for taking years in between every release, but crafting fantastic films every time. Kubrick directed only 13 feature films in a career spanning 47 years. Considering his strong following, and his small portfolio, it is valuable to venture into the handful of films that Kubrick attempted to create, but was unable to.
Napoleon
Kubrick was obsessed with the story of Napoleon, and it was his lifelong dream to direct it. After the monumental success of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Kubrick reportedly read over 500 books on the general as preparation for making Napoleon the subject of his next film. Warner Brothers accepted his plan, and Kubrick began pre-production on the film, completing a screenplay and engaging practicalities such as ways to manufacture period soldiers’ uniforms at a manageable price. Before principal photography could begin however, Warner took note of Sergei Bondarchuk’s box office failure with Waterloo (1970) and decided to shut down the production, concluding that audiences were not interested in the story of Napoleon.
During planning, Kubrick had excitedly predicted that Napoleon would be “the greatest film ever made.” This may sound arrogant, but considering that Napoleon was planned at the height of Kubrick’s greatest creative streak, and how personally engaged he was in the project, the results may have been magnificent. It is telling that Napoleon would have been the only post-The Killing (1956) film in Kubrick’s entire filmography to feature a screenplay written exclusively by Kubrick. The screenplay can be found online.
The Aryan Papers
As early as 1976, Kubrick’s friends and family recollect his desire to make a film about the Holocaust. Although Kubrick considered tackling the subject only to quickly reject it as impossible to do justice to, in 1991 he found the proper story with which to attempt it: Louis Beglery’s novella “Wartime Lies,” about Jewish fugitives hiding in Poland posing as Catholics. Many close to him remember the excitement with which he approached the project.
Kubrick went quite far into the pre-production of The Aryan Papers and received a go-ahead from Warner Brothers. For the role of the protagonist he had begun to consider Julia Roberts or Uma Thurman. However, when Kubrick heard that Steven Spielberg was making a Holocaust movie, he decided that the competition would be too damaging and shelved the project. Sadly, Kubrick did not feel that Spielberg achieved the goal that Kubrick had set for himself. About Schindler’s List he said, “think that’s about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn’t it? The Holocaust was about six million people who get killed. Schindler’s List is about 600 who don’t.”
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Kubrick’s other legendary unproduced film is A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001). Kubrick developed the idea for years during the nineties, concluding that it would be best postponed until better special effects became available. During planning, he asked Steven Spielberg to take the project, reasoning that it fit Spielberg’s sensibilities more than his own. Spielberg refused at the time, feeling that Kubrick had become too attached to the project and should attempt it himself.
Following Kubrick’s death, wishing to pay tribute, Spielberg reconsidered, resulting in the 2001 film. A mixed bag and awkward conjunction of Kubrick’s clinical detachment with Spielberg’s sentimentality, the film is nevertheless an invaluable piece for those interested in what could have been another entry in the short and highly exclusive list of Stanley Kubrick motion pictures.
