‘Napoleon’: Steven Spielberg reveals initial details about his upcoming adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s passion project
In 2001, Steven Spielberg brought the late Stanley Kubrick’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence to life by finishing the project after the famed director’s death. This transpired as Spielberg had signed on to direct the project when the Eyes Wide Shut filmmaker was still alive.
Then, in 2013, it was reported that Spielberg was hoping to bring another of Kubrick’s unrealised titles to life, in the form of his passion project, Napoleon. At the time, Spielberg was thinking of creating a HBO miniseries format instead of a movie, and now, ten years later, the production is moving forward.
Famously, Kubrick wrote the script for Napoleon in 1961 and researched it for months, amassing thousands of location photos, slides and notes about his idea. However, MGM and United Artists, who were to have co-produced the film, refused it due to the high expenses and an overall fear that expansive war films rarely made their budgets back – let alone a profit. Despite this, Kubrick continued to develop his idea, but it never got made in his lifetime.
Then in 2016, True Detective and No Time To Die’s Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced as director, with David Leland, the creator of the historical drama The Borgias as a screenwriter. Presently, there’s no details on whether either is still involved. Fukunaga was accused of sexual harassment by three women in 2022.
Now, speaking at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Steven Spielberg delivered an update on Napoleon. Confirming it as a “seven-part limited series” and he said: “With the co-operation of Christiane Kubrick and Jan Harlan, we’re mounting a large production for HBO on based on Stanley’s original script Napoleon. We are working on Napoleon as a seven-part limited series”.
Steven Spielberg’s latest film, 2022’s semi-autobiographical drama The Fabelmans, is nominated for a host of awards at this year’s edition of the Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
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