Steven Spielberg Is Picking Up Stanley Kubrick's Baton For The 2nd Time To Launch A Napoleonic War Of Bonaparte Projects For HBO
YOOOOOOO. In case you didn't know, Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence was a movie that legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick had developed for years, but couldn't get to before his death. That sci-fi epic stars peak Haley Joel Osment and is pretty damn underrated in the Spielberg filmography.
Welp, Spielberg is at it again — and this time it's even juicier: A seven-part limited series based on Kubrick's original script about Napoleon Bonaparte, the military commander and emperor who rose to power amid the upheaval of the French Revolution.
Kubrick wanted nothing more than to make his Napoleon biopic/historical drama/sweeping war epic the literal greatest movie ever made. This was the passion project for a guy who obsessed over everything he created down to the smallest details.
As he was wont to do, Kubrick dove balls deep into research, spending countless hours reading countless books and prepared the movie for production. Unfortunately, he could never secure the adequate finances to make the flick, and even Jack Nicholson starring as Napoleon wasn't enough to get the green light.
Here's the crazy part: There's already a fucking incredible Napoleon movie in the pipeline that began production a full year ago, so that thing i coming out this year in all likelihood, although an exact release date hasn't been specified. It's directed by Ridley Scott, and stars Joaquin Phoenix. As if Apple TV+ wasn't already having a killer 2023, they're distributing that film. I'd expect it out around November or December to inject itself into the Oscars/awards season conversation.
I still can't believe that Steven Spielberg actually picked up an unfinished Stanley Kubrick project and saw it through to relative success. Granted, Kubrick had already handed it off to Spielberg in 1995 prior to his passing in 1999, but still, if I'd understood the gravity of that situation when I was younger, I don't now if I would've ever looked forward to a single movie more in my entire life.
Circling back to the current Napoleon situation: It's incredible to see two of the greatest directors ever in Spielberg and Scott keep working at a prolific rate at this late stage of their respective careers. Spielberg is 76 and raking in all kinds of acclaim and awards for his latest, most personal work yet, The Fablemans, while Scott is still an absolute firecracker who makes movies with the urgency, flourish and vivacity of a 35-year-old at age 85.
It almost goes without saying how awesome it is that Spielberg is attached to this, has been since 2013, and is more determined than ever to see it through. Whatever Kubrick's grand vision was, the medium of TV will help it become even more fully realized than Kubrick could've conceived of during his lifetime. Just wish he was still around to execute the damn thing, because if he was, we might've seen the best damn TV show ever made.
Spielberg's chops in period war pieces are pretty much unparalleled. On the big screen you have Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and even War Horse. In TV, he served as executive producer on Band of Brothers and its companion series, The Pacific.
I seriously cannot wait to see how the Joaquin Phoenix-Ridley Scott Napoleon turns out, but knowing the history behind this particular Bonaparte-driven narrative and how passionate Kubrick was about it, we're in for a hell of a war between the big and small screens about one of the most compelling characters in the history of the world.
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