When one thinks about Stanley Kubrick’s unmade films, Napoleon, Aryan Papers and A.I. Artificial Intelligence easily come to mind. A few other projects are known to have been developed or considered by the director during the 1950s...
moreWhen one thinks about Stanley Kubrick’s unmade films, Napoleon, Aryan Papers and A.I. Artificial Intelligence easily come to mind. A few other projects are known to have been developed or considered by the director during the 1950s (One-Eyed Jacks, The German Lieutenant, The Burning Secret, etc.); recently, three even enjoyed wide media recognition (Lunatic at Large, The Downslope, God Fearing Man).
However, these are only the top of a remarkably vast amount of stories, ideas and literary properties that Kubrick examined during his career.
Making extensive use of trade magazine back issues, rare archival sources, and several interviews with James B. Harris, Kubrick’s former producing partner during the 1950s and ‘60s, this presentation reveals around forty projects that were considered and abandoned by Kubrick at various stages of completion. This exploration of Kubrick’s unmade cinema illustrates both his catholic and dynamic range of interests, and his recurring thematic fascinations, such as a life-long attempt to make a film about World War II and the Nazi Germany.
A particular focus will be given on the hectic years of the late ‘50s when Harris-Kubrick Pictures desperately tried to develop a number of original screenplays achieving “nothing but failure”, as Kubrick himself had to admit in a private letter. This analysis will thus shed light on the birth of a key feature of Kubrick’s cinema: the crucial discovery of a good story.
