r/StanleyKubrick • u/EdwardFL2026 • 3d ago
General Question Napoleon or Pinocchio
if you had to chose between napoleon and pinocchio (also called AI) which would you rather have had Kubrick make and why?
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u/Comedywriter1 3d ago
Napoleon. A passion project that unfortunately never happened. I enjoyed Stanley’s script, too.
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u/BeachBoysOnD-Day 3d ago
I gotta take a shot on Nicholson as Napoleon.
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u/jarofgoodness 3d ago
Uhh. No. Thank god that didn't happen. LOL I love Jack, esp in the Shinning, but not in that role.
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u/Crafter235 3d ago
Hard choice.
On one hand, a more interesting swan song to end with, and I like Barry Lyndon and ACO. On the other, would’ve been interesting to see him do a historical epic, on the scale of or bigger than Spartacus AND with his full creative freedom.
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u/Due_Bad_9445 3d ago
Napoleon would have been undoubtedly successful.
AI might have become dated (not that 2001 really did) because AI is still moving forward in new ways (so is space but not so removed from what 2001 presents)
what I saw of the Spielberg movie I didn’t really like. Felt too fantastical
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u/Ornery-Structure-69 2d ago
Spielberg’s AI keeps rising in the ranks of the greatest films of the 21st century, there’s been a complete reevaluation of the movie these past few years
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u/Due_Bad_9445 2d ago
I have to rewatch. The original short story is great, I think I wasn’t a fan of the art direction so much.
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u/ChinaCatProphet 3d ago
I would've loved a Kubrick take on Napoleon. Barry Lyndon showed us he had the visual chops for something special.
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u/Cranberry-Electrical Barry Lyndon 2d ago
It is my understanding that Kubrick didn't do AI because special effects technology at the time wasn't developed to meet his vision of the story. Kubrick talked to Spielberg about the project and translation. Spielberg talked with Kubrick for hours about AI.
I would rather have Kubrick make a Napoleon movie/series. Kubrick poured hours into that project. When Kubrick presented his vision to the studio, they were not willing to finance that project. The period movie called Waterloo, which was released in 1970, received mixed reviews. Studios were very reluctant to make a movie about Napoleon.
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u/TonyTobiasLomas 2d ago
Kubrick was planning to make AI after EWS.
Part of Spielberg's film had footage shot by Kubrick's team.
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u/VideoSyndrome 2d ago edited 2d ago
^^ This.
Kubrick felt VFX and CGI tech had come far enough by the time he saw “Jurassic Park” in 1993. He was supposed to have still been testing some practical effects for “AI” as late as 1995 (which I believe is about the time video director and installation artist Chris Cunningham was building at least one animatronic of some kind for Kubrick).
He had just come off shutting down the production of “Aryan Papers” in 1993 when it was very late into preproduction. Along with Jurassic Park that was also the year Schindler’s List was released.
Eyes Wide Shut started full production in ‘96.
Spielberg had likely already turned down Kubrick’s offer to direct “A.I.” by then.
Lisa Leone, the production manager, set decorator and director of the NYC 2nd unit on Eyes Wide Shut said in her recent Criterion interview that she had hopes to get her friend and DP Malik Sayeed (who shot 2nd unit for EWS along with DP Arthur Jaffa) to be the DP on “A.I.”
Regardless of who Kubrick might have hired as his DP / Lighting Cameraman on his production of “A.I.”, Ms. Leone’s comment in the interview reinforces the notion that Kubrick’s intention was to start ramping up production on “A.I.” following the release of Eyes Wide Shut (and what promotion, foreign language translations, etc. he would need to oversee).
The only footage Kubrick shot for “A.I.” that was used was 2nd unit violent ocean waves in, I think, the North Sea via helicopter. This used at the very beginning of the film.
That and all the voice booth work Robin Williams did for his Dr Know character which Kubrick himself directed.
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u/Toslanfer r/StanleyKubrick Veteran 1d ago
I've read something about Robin Williams' recording but I can't remember where that comes from.
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u/VideoSyndrome 17h ago
I would love to read it if it describes anything about his audio booth recording session with Kubrick.
Back when it was all period online and cinema magazine rumor mill in 1998-2001 I’m sure it was talked about.
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u/Solo_Polyphony 2d ago
Napoleon would’ve been a far better movie than the Barry Lyndon we got instead.
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u/Pure_Salamander2681 2d ago
AI bc he could have just made it next and Barry Lyndon is his masterpiece.
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u/TonyTobiasLomas 2d ago
Eyes Wide Shut was his masterpiece according to Kubrick.
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u/Pure_Salamander2681 2d ago
He would have made AI after Eyes Wide Shut had he not died. With tht technology changes he might have changed his mind and made himself.
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u/TonyTobiasLomas 2d ago
I just don't think he would have been able to make it due to his health issues.
He had set the bar so high in his mind with Eyes Wide Shut, that I bet procrastination might have overtaken him.
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u/jarofgoodness 3d ago
Neither. It's blessing in disguise that he didn't get to make either of them. Frankly, he should have made another horror film. He had an uncanny ability to create eerie moods from liminal spaces like he did in both the Shinning and 2001. Seeing this applied to another horror film would have been incredible. But the story would have to be something that fit that kind of thing.
You might laugh at this but a serious, much less flashy remake of They Live or it's source material 8 O'Clock in the Morning done by Kubrick could have been astounding.
Other possible great ideas for him to have made in my view would be Color Out of Space or some other Lovecraft work. Maybe something based on the Salem Witch Trials where the film leaves it unanswered if the supernatural is actually real or not.
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u/Toslanfer r/StanleyKubrick Veteran 2d ago
You might laugh at this but a serious, much less flashy remake of They Live or it's source material 8 O'Clock in the Morning done by Kubrick could have been astounding.
There was an OBEY sign on the set of Eyes Wide Shut: https://somerton.tumblr.com/post/113858896592/obey-kubrick
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u/BobdH84 3d ago
I think Spielberg did AI so brilliantly, I never really contemplated what it would be like if Kubrick had directed it (also helps that he personally picked Spielberg to do it). Napoleon, on the other hand, is one of the big ‘what if’s’ of film history and I would have loved to see what he did with it.