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 lthough
he passed away two years ago, legendary director Stanley Kubrick's dream
project has been kept alive with the filming of Steven Spielberg's A.I.:
Artificial Intelligence.Kubrick had always intended to have Brian Aldiss' short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long made into a feature film. He bought the rights in 1982 and wrote an 80-page treatment to get the venture rolling. He had even tried to build a robot boy to test what range of facial expressions could be achieved. With plans to get the filming underway in the late '90s, he decided to first pursue a collaboration with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman with the film Eyes Wide Shut. It was ultimately his final film, as he shortly died before the film was released in 1999. Kubrick and two-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg had been friends ever since the filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was made on the same set as The Shining. Kubrick mentioned the idea to Spielberg on a number of occasions and was known to fax ideas and notes to Spielberg about A.I. for years. "During preparations for A.I., Stanley came to realize that Steven would actually be the ideal director for the project and I know they talked extensively about a collaboration," said executive producer Jan Harlan. Besides being Kubrick's |
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brother-in-law, Harlan has been part of
Kubrick's production team since Barry Lyndon in 1975. "I have six or
seven years worth of correspondence between them over A.I., which I
recently passed over to Spielberg along with over 1,000 drawings." In March 2000, Spielberg decided to take on the Kubrick project. It marks his first attempt of a futuristic sci-fi epic and first screenplay since Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A.I. is set in the mid-21st century. The Greenhouse effect has melted vast sections of the polar icecaps, leaving Earth's coastal cities partially submerged. Mankind now depends on computers with artificial intelligence to maintain their way of life. But with dependence comes resentment and prejudice against the computerized beings. The story revolves around a boy robot named David Swinton who goes on an emotional journey towards becoming something more. Steven Spielberg has signed on some heavy hitters to bring the story to life, including Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), who will be playing David Swinton, Frances O'Connor and Sam Robards, who portray his human parents, and Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley). Other cast members include William Hurt and Brendan Gleeson, with Robin Williams narrating the tale. "Stanley had a vision for this project that was evolving over 18 years," said Spielberg. "I am intent on bringing to the screen as much of that vision as possible along with elements of my own." - Jane Sanderson |