Kubrick's Napoleon - The Greatest Film Never Made... @ BFI

To coincide with the release of Alison Castle's epic book on Kubrick's unmade masterpiece Napoleon, her follow up to the fantastically insightful and comprehensive Kubrick Archives, the BFI last night presented a lecture on the film and the compilation of the book. Unfortunately the books editor Alison Castle was unable to attend, and present her lecture (another victim of the recent weather) but to make up for it, and at very late notice Christiane Kubrick stepped into the breach along with her brother, and Kubrick collaborator Jan Harlan.

Harlan began by giving, first a brief background to his relationship with Kubrick and his collaboration with the filmmaker, before discussing how he came to work on the aborted project for Napoleon. Christiane followed this reading through Castle's lecture, explaining how she first ventured into Kubrick's archives and how when she arrived she was overwhelmed by the level of research and information Kubrick housed in his Estate. Despite the fact that Napoleon was never made the research Kubrick undertook far surpassed any of his other completed films.

The slides which accompanied the talk demonstrated the vast amounts of research and the obsession and dedication Kubrick had for the project. Trunks full of draft scripts, box files upon box files of location photography, production notes, transcripts of interviews, costume fittings etc. All of which is compiled in extensive detail and beautifully reproduced in the book.

Following the talk, Jan Harlan and Andrew Birkin had a discussion with Rhidian Davies, the Curator, Public Programmes for BFI Education. Both worked on the project at different stages, and Birkin, for example, who began working with Kubrick on 2001 A Space Odyssey. He finally came to Kubricks attention suggesting a British location for the dawn of man. Kubrick then made him Assistant Director on Special Effects and he shot the front projection plates for the Dawn of Man sequence. His work on Napoleon involved scouting and photorgraphing locations in France, visiting every place Napoleon have ever visited. Birkin revealed that Kubrick had intended to shoot many of the interiors scenes - such as Napoleon's throne room - using a more advanced front projection system he developed on 2001. Birkin was engaging, informative, and had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Napoleon.

Jan revealed many of the key developments of Kubrick's thinking on the film, and the development of the project including, rather mouthwateringly the potential cast members including David Hemmings, Ian Holm and Jack Nicholson all in contention for Napoleon, although when MGM pulled the plug, Hemmings had apparently secured the part. Audrey Hepburn was approached to play Josephine, but turned down the role. Alec Guinness and Peter O'Toole were amongst the actors considered from supporting roles.

There was also some discussion on the screenplay Kubrick wrote, which exists on the internet here. What was most intriguing, both in the scripts discussion and also in reading the script, which I did in preparation for the event, is Kubrick's grappling with a strong, central story, and the vast sums of history which he clearly, at this early stage, felt was necessary to convey the magnitude of Napoleon's life.

In conclusion, Kubrick's Napoleon: The Greatest Film Never Made was a fantastic look into the mind of a genius, and his pursuit to tell an epic historical film about the life of what he considered to be the most interesting man who ever lived. As with all of Kubrick's films the story and man explored a central theme Kubrick repeatedly explored; the fallibility of man. It emerged that Kubrick was fascinated with a man who was so brilliant and yet failed. A man who above all else was human - this, explained Christiane is why Kubrick chose to begin and end the film with Napoleon's childhood toy; a teddy bear.

What the script also achieves is to portray Napoleon in a complete unsympathetic, unsemtimental and unbiased way. He presents the man, and tells the story, through the aid of a detached narrator from a distant point of view, presenting Napoleon as a gifted, brilliant but ultimately fallible man. What the script also offers is a crash course in Napoleonic Era history.
There are problems in the script, but as it was revealed, this is merely a first draft, and Kubrick was known to rewrite even on set.

What Kubrick's Napoleon could have been is anyone's guess. But by looking first 2001 A Space Odyssey, and then Barry Lyndon you can begin to imagine just how inspiring and brilliant the film could have been. What's left is possibly the greatest film never made and an archive which stands as a testament to one of the most uniquely brilliant artists not just of the 20th century but of any age.