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Ishtar
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Play It As It Lays
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Alex in Wonderland
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In The Cool of the Day
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That Cold Day in the Park
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Thumb Trippin'
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Midas Run
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When the Wind Blows
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Housekeeping
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Haunted Summer
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Kubrick Napoleon

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Four months from now another big Stanley Kubrick coffee-table book called Stanley Kubrick: The Napoleon Film will be published by Taschen, running 1900 pages and costing I don't know what....just under $300 quid? Written by Allison Castle and edited by Christiane Kubrick (i.e., Kubrick's widow), it will focus entirely on the famous Napoleon biopic that Kubrick began working on in '68 and bailed on four or five years later -- i.e., "the greatest film that Kubrick never made."

In a 1969 interview for his anthology book, The Film Director as Superstar, Joseph Gelmis asked Kubrick to define his passion about making a Napoleon movie.

"That's a question that would really take this entire interview to answer," Kubrick replied. "To begin with, he fascinates me. His life has been described as an epic poem of action. His sex life was worthy of Arthur Schnitzler. He was one of those rare men who move history and mold the destiny of their own times and of generations to come -- in a very concrete sense, our own world is the result of Napoleon, just as the political and geographic map of postwar Europe is the result of World War Two.

"And, of course, there has never been a good or accurate movie about him. Also, I find that all the issues with which it concerns itself are oddly contemporary -- the responsibilities and abuses of power, the dynamics of social revolution, the relationship of the individual to the state, war, militarism, etc., so this will not be just a dusty historic pageant but a film about the basic questions of our own times, as well as Napoleon's.

"But even apart from those aspects of the story, the sheer drama and force of Napoleon's life is a fantastic subject for a film biography. Forgetting everything else and just taking Napoleon's romantic involvement with Josephine, for example, here you have one of the great obsessional passions of all time."

It was said by Mystery Man after quoting the preceding passage that "Napoleon's obsessional passion for Josephine is second only to Kubrick's passion for Napoleon."

Here's a PDF of Kubrick's Napoleon screenplay, dated 9.29.69. And here's an IGN script review that ran in 2000.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 25, 2009 at 4:07 PM

comment #1

Joe G says ...

I'll have to check it out of the library.

Posted by Joe G at February 25, 2009 4:38 PM

comment #2

Chase Kahn says ...

I think that's a book off of the set for 'Half-Blood Prince'...

Posted by Chase Kahn at February 25, 2009 4:38 PM

comment #3

Mr. Gittes says ...

Wasn't Jack Nicholson set to pay Napoleon in Kubrick's version?

Posted by Mr. Gittes at February 25, 2009 4:46 PM

comment #4

MilkMan says ...

Yes he was, Gittes.

Posted by MilkMan at February 25, 2009 4:53 PM

comment #5

Gordon27 says ...

At the very least, he was Kubrick's pick for the role; I don't know that it ever got far enough along that anybody was set to play anything.

Posted by Gordon27 at February 25, 2009 4:57 PM

comment #6

Jeffrey Kunze says ...

Nicholson would have been too tall. Not French enough. Casting the role of Napoleon would have been damn difficult if you ask me. No actors are coming to mind, and I'm usually good at casting....

Posted by Jeffrey Kunze at February 25, 2009 5:11 PM

comment #7

MilkMan says ...

How about that Matthieu Almaric?

Posted by MilkMan at February 25, 2009 5:19 PM

comment #8

Jeffrey Kunze says ...

Yes MilkMan, he would be an excellent choice. But I meant if the movie had been made back in 1969. The closest I can think of is Warren Beatty, and that's not that great of a choice.

Posted by Jeffrey Kunze at February 25, 2009 5:33 PM

comment #9

mrmystery says ...

Quid?

Gawd.

Posted by mrmystery at February 25, 2009 5:35 PM

comment #10

mutinyco says ...

I think the real question is whether we'd be willing to give up A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon for Napoleon?

I'm perfectly happy with the way things turned out.

Posted by mutinyco at February 25, 2009 5:39 PM

comment #11

Mr. Gittes says ...

Al Pacino?

Posted by Mr. Gittes at February 25, 2009 5:40 PM

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

Gittes has got it. Pacino would have been perfect if anyone had heard of him by then. This never happening breaks my heart. But at least we got BARRY LYNDON out of the frustration.

Posted by BurmaShave at February 25, 2009 5:48 PM

comment #13

Mr. Gittes says ...

Speaking of, when do we get Barry Lyndon on blu-ray? I want to see my favorite movie of all time on the blu!

Posted by Mr. Gittes at February 25, 2009 5:51 PM

comment #14

arch451 says ...

In 40 years there is going to be a similar book about the great Lincoln movie Spielberg never made.

Posted by arch451 at February 25, 2009 6:03 PM

comment #15

Edward says ...

Barry Lyndon on blu-ray would be reason enough to buy a blu-ray player.

Posted by Edward at February 25, 2009 6:44 PM

comment #16

mutinyco says ...

If I recall correctly, WB chose not to do an HD restoration when they upgraded the other Kubrick videos in 2007.

Somebody should start a petition...

Posted by mutinyco at February 25, 2009 6:47 PM

comment #17

Gaydos says ...

Sounds cool, but for me, not quite as cool as Sam Fuller's much dreamed of Jesse James pic which would include Jesse's career as a transvestite bushwhacker of Union troops. Now THAT'S entertainment!

Posted by Gaydos at February 25, 2009 6:57 PM

comment #18

Chase Kahn says ...

that's true, I forgot Warner Bros. did the high-def Kubrick treatment on '2001', 'Clockwork', 'Full Metal Jacket' 'The Shining' and 'Eyes Wide Shut' and stamped disgusting cover art on the boxes.

Posted by Chase Kahn at February 25, 2009 7:19 PM

comment #19

Renfield says ...

There's a rumor that came to me recently that states that WB made up the whole "Kubrick's final cut" of EWS and that the person who is claiming this is Jan Harlen.

Anyone else heard this?

Posted by Renfield at February 25, 2009 11:54 PM

comment #20

Rich S. says ...

I heard Spielberg was interested in shooting this screenplay, but he wanted to cast Tom Cruise as Napoleon and change the Josephine character to Napoleon's son Joseph and cast Shia LaBeof, so it never went anywhere.

Seriously, how great would it be if a director like Paul Thomas Anderson could talk Kubrick's estate into letting him take a crack at this? I'm sure Spielberg would be interested, but he's all about the father/son dynamic rather than the husband/wife, so he'd just screw it up.

Posted by Rich S. at February 26, 2009 4:53 AM

comment #21

Floyd Thursby says ...

"I'll have to check it out of the library."

Them days is long gone, son. The few libraries able to afford this tone are likely to put it in special collections anyway.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at February 26, 2009 5:22 AM

comment #22

mutinyco says ...

I don't think anybody ever bought the notion that EWS was Kubrick's final cut. But, from what I've been told, what was released was simply the edit at the time of his death. And while the sound and color timing and so on was done after his death, the edit itself was left untouched.

Posted by mutinyco at February 26, 2009 6:44 AM

comment #23

corey3rd says ...

does this come with its own book shelf and perhaps an option to have an extra room built on your house?

Posted by corey3rd at February 26, 2009 7:59 AM

comment #24

BurmaShave says ...

Also am I the only one who likes DESIREE?

Posted by BurmaShave at February 26, 2009 8:39 AM

comment #25

Floyd Thursby says ...

Haven't seen DESIREE in years but have always enjoyed it, though Brando and Simmons reportedly hated it.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at February 26, 2009 11:42 AM

comment #26

alan says ...

How much exactly is "300 dollars quid," as you put it?

Posted by alan at February 26, 2009 12:02 PM

comment #27

Brekhunov says ...

I read the screenplay and I agree with William Goldman's comments:

"I once met Stanley Kubrick and we got to talking about what he hoped he would do next. Napoleon, he said. I asked what part and this was his reply: 'Everything. I want to do the whole sweep of a man's life.'

"Problem: movies don't do that well."

Kubrick's screenplay reads more like a history textbook than a movie: one fact following the other. It doesn't really tell a STORY.

The Goldman comment is from his book WHICH LIE DID I TELL?

Also, Kubrick's production notes at the end of the script state he wanted to AVOID casting a movie star, so I'm surprised at the comments above that he wanted to cast Jack Nicholson. If so, it was probably him buckling under to the studio's demands

Posted by Brekhunov at August 12, 2009 5:26 PM

comment #28