NAPOLEON

Started by cowboykurtis, April 05, 2003, 10:08:47 PM

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Ordet

 :bravo:
let us in on the details.
cheers :yabbse-grin:
were spinning

Xx

#61
...

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Did you see his wardrobe?  What kind of shirts does he wear?
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

MacGuffin

Kubrick's Napoleon complex
Taschen publishes account of "lost epic"
Source: Variety

Beginning as early as 1967, even as he was still in post on "2001: A Space Odyssey," Stanley Kubrick spent the better part of the next three years meticulously, comprehensively, obsessively researching the life of Napoleon, a project that would combine the themes of social revolution, political corruption, star-crossed romance and the kind of hubris that had become the filmmaker's trademark.

A notorious perfectionist, Kubrick, with the help of a research team, pored through hundreds of books on the subject, amassed 17,000 images from the period, cross-referenced events in the lives of key figures and wrote a voluminous treatment followed by a literate screenplay featuring a voiceover from three different POVs. Budgets were drawn, costumes were made, locations were scouted and photographed, actors approached (Oskar Werner was offered the title role, while Audrey Hepburn turned down the part of Josephine) and even the armies of Romania and Yugoslavia were approached for the requisite "cast of thousands" accuracy that Kubrick demanded in his battle scenes, which he described as "vast lethal ballets."

But even while Kubrick wasattaining visionary status inside and outside Hollywood, timing conspired against him. Historic costume epics on the scale of Napoleon had gone out of vogue, and with a competing film in the works, the ill-fated "Waterloo" (1970), MGM pulled out of the project, followed by the financially strapped United Artists. Along with Orson Welles' "The Big Brass Ring" and Warren Beatty's long-planned Howard Hughes biopic, Kubrick's "Napoleon" might be the most compelling what-could-have-been in the annals of filmmaking.

But art book publisher Taschen, with the aid of the Kubrick estate, has mounted a lavish package devoted to the project, with an equally lavish $700 pricetag. The limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies, titled "Stanley Kubrick's 'Napoleon': The Greatest Film Never Made," edited by Alison Castle, contains all the aforementioned materials, as well as production notes, the director's correspondence with MGM and such figures as Oxford professor and Napoleon biographer Felix Markham -- all in 10 volumes.

The set of books not only takes the reader deep into Kubrick's mindset, but suggests aspects of "Napoleon" foreshadowed future Kubrick hallmarks: the omniscient narrator and the high-speed lenses that made the candle-lit scenes in "Barry Lyndon" so revolutionary; the boundary-pushing nudity and sex of "A Clockwork Orange" and "Eyes Wide Shut"; the horrors of war made apparent in "Full Metal Jacket."

It might not be the most realistic gift of this recessionary holiday season, but the value to filmmakers and Kubrick fanatics may be priceless.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

modage

Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pozer

Quote from: modage on December 15, 2009, 03:43:28 PM
Quote from: flagpolespecial on December 08, 2009, 06:16:09 PM
details to come later.

Give us the scoop.

yes, as well as on

Quote from: ρ on September 18, 2009, 10:53:12 AM
The Best Book Ever Made of the Best Movie Never Made that We'll Never Own.

for petes sake

http://www.viceland.com/blogs/uk-film/2010/02/10/stanley-kubricks-napoleon-a-lot-of-work-very-little-actual-movie/

Not a particularly informative article/interview but some wonderful images for those of us who can't afford the book.

children with angels

Two videos of a discussion that went on at the BFI about Napoleon, called 'The Greatest Movie Never Made?'...

Part 1: http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/273

Part 2: http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/274
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

Pubrick

Quote from: children with angels on April 21, 2010, 03:16:39 AM
Two videos of a discussion that went on at the BFI about Napoleon, called 'The Greatest Movie Never Made?'...

Part 1: http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/273

Part 2: http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/274

there's some really good insight in these clips. mostly from jan harlan in the second one.

the first one is basically them reading the book out, or at least some tame presentation that is just advertising the book. the second one reveals that DAVID HEMMINGS was the frontrunner to play napoleon at the time that they were ready to shoot, before MGM pulled the plug.. that's news to me, i knew there were other names in the running but i didn't think that he'd actually decided on who would play the part at any point (other than jack which must have been an overblown rumour). David Hemmings would have been great, he has a MUCH more intense look than jacky boy and looks way more intelligent.

another reveal is not so much fact but Jan Harlan's speculation that the film for stanley would be intended to be relevant to modern times. i think there's a lot truth in this insight (and here's where it gets slippery cos it's my interpretation of jan's interpretaion of possibly kubricks interpretation of his own film) but not limited to a topical analysis like Jan suggests by contextualizing the production around the time of the vietnam war. that's fine but kubrick DID address the vietnam war and when he did he wasn't really just talking about the vietnam war. so by this, taking the scope of what napoleon the film would hav been (global), and the scope of his most recent film up to that point (2001 - universal) he would hav DEFINITELY been making parallels to modern times, but probably about superpowers in general. that in itself makes me wish i hadn't said it cos nothing kubrick ever did was ever just about ONE thing. anyway, Jan is to be trusted at least when he offers his insights.

i think Jan Harlan is one of the most genuine ppl when it comes to talking about kubrick, he isn't trying to sell himself or make amends for the past like Malcolm McDowell, and his relation to kubrick seems less reverent than the one Leon Vitali had -- both Harlan and Vitali are the ones to believe when it comes to kubrick stories but the latter i think feels much more protective about his information, or in any case less forthcoming, and i think it's due to kubrick being a kind of father figure for him. Harlan on the other hand, feels like he would hav had a brotherly relation with kubrick, being his brother-in-law and all.

i wonder what will happen when jan and christiane and leon pass on, who will take up the duties of keeping up the standards of kubrick's legacy? the university of the arts in london has his archives now, so they've clearly thought about the future in this way.. but they're not spokesman. and i left out kubrick's other assistants in the list (anthony frewin, brian cook) cos i don't know how much work they still do for the SK estate. as well as his daughters, who should be allowed to live their own lives.

it's common for these arrangements to be made when it comes to authors, cos their work needs to be protected from FILMMAKERS and other ppl. see: Tolkien. but i think kubrick is one of the rare cases where we will see increased or at least sustained interest in his work from a historical and artistic perspective. and information on his innovations, influences, concerns, methods, and insights will be highly sought after as it becomes more apparent that he was THE significant artist of the 20th century, on the scale of the great rennaissance painters and early 20th century authors like Joyce or Proust.
under the paving stones.

New Feeling

just ordered the fuck out of the cheap ($50) version of this book which I guess was released this week.  Very much looking forward to it's arrival.   

tpfkabi

Seems to be a few complaints with this version on Amazon, but it also appears to come with a download code for Taschen's site.

Anyone seen this in person?
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

P Heat

I have this scripted bookmarked on my browser. I don't get to read it much but what i have reminds me alot of Barry Lyndon and full metal jacket :yabbse-grin:
Quote from: Pubrick on September 11, 2012, 06:33:41 PM
anyway it was after i posted my first serious fanalysis. after the long post all he could say was that the main reason he wanted to see the master was cos of all the red heads.
:P

MacGuffin

Baz Luhrmann Circling HBO's Stanley Kubrick-Scripted Napoleon Miniseries For Steven Spielberg
BY MIKE FLEMING JR | Deadline
   
EXCLUSIVE: Back when he was in France to head the Cannes Film Festival jury, Steven Spielberg dropped a bombshell when he announced that he would turn an un-produced Stanley Kubrick screenplay about Napoleon Bonaparte into a miniseries. Well, here's another bombshell: They are courting Baz Luhrmann to direct the mini at HBO.

Deals are a long way from being made, but I'm told the plan is for Luhrmann to take on what becomes the highest-profile miniseries at that payweb. When Spielberg first revealed the project in an interview with Canal Plus on French TV, he said that this was the project Kubrick had dreamed of making, only to drop it when Hollywood studios refused to fund it, even after Kubrick promised in a letter to studio executives in 1971 that it would be the best movie ever made. Indeed, the movie has been coined "the greatest movie never made."

Luhrmann, who last directed the hit The Great Gatsby, isn't the only helmer interested in the diminutive French conqueror. Warner Bros just set Snow White And The Huntsman helmer Rupert Sanders to direct a feature about Napoleon. This isn't the first time Lurhmann has been in a competitive situation on an historic project: He was gearing up to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in Alexander The Great, but was beaten to the punch back in 2003 by the Oliver Stone-directed Alexander, with Colin Farrell in the title role. The nice thing here is that these are very different projects — HBO's will be much longer — but for Luhrmann, the payweb tends to move quickly. He's repped by WME.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

socketlevel

I hate Baz, I love Stanley, I guess i can only be impressed with the end result at this point.
the one last hit that spent you...

Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.