Stanley Kubrick's "Napoleon" swept the 1972 Academy Awards winning Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Best Actress for Audrey Hepburn - who came out of retirement to do the film. Starring Jack Nicholson as Napoleon, Hepburn as Josephine, and Malcolm McDowell as Tsar Alexander, the film is an epic three hour chronicle of Bonaparte's rise and fall that remains the highest grossing movie of Kubrick's career.

But the movie was almost never made. MGM threatened to pull the plug on the project, feeling it was too risky. But Kubrick convinced the studio that he could deliver them a cult hit as he'd done with "2001," so ultimately MGM gave him the greenlight in exchange for a reduced budget. What if Kubrick failed and MGM had shut down the project?
 
Well, Kevin Brownlow might not have found the help that enabled him to produce a restoration of Abel Gance's classic silent movie Napoléon. When it was shown in 1976 at Radio City Music Hall, Gance (who introduced it) was heralded as a great innovator of cinema. Kubrick was generous, saying, "Without Gance to lead the way, I might not have done so nearly as well."

However, Kubrick's next project, a filming of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, never got off the ground. Kubrick attempted to work as closely with Burgess as he had with Arthur C. Clarke (on 2001: A Space Odyssey) and when Burgess pointed out Kubrick was using the truncated American edition, Kubrick gave up in spite. He would not do a movie for another five years, when he reteamed with Clarke to do 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
 
Well, Kevin Brownlow might not have found the help that enabled him to produce a restoration of Abel Gance's classic silent movie Napoléon. When it was shown in 1976 at Radio City Music Hall, Gance (who introduced it) was heralded as a great innovator of cinema. Kubrick was generous, saying, "Without Gance to lead the way, I might not have done so nearly as well."

However, Kubrick's next project, a filming of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, never got off the ground. Kubrick attempted to work as closely with Burgess as he had with Arthur C. Clarke (on 2001: A Space Odyssey) and when Burgess pointed out Kubrick was using the truncated American edition, Kubrick gave up in spite. He would not do a movie for another five years, when he reteamed with Clarke to do 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

2010 has some cool scenes but it wasn't as good as the original. Kubrick was smart to never make a sequel again. His next movie, a drama about the Holocaust, was much better. Though it was snubbed for Best Picture in favor of The Deer Hunter.
 
Stanley Kubrick's "Napoleon" swept the 1972 Academy Awards winning Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Best Actress for Audrey Hepburn - who came out of retirement to do the film. Starring Jack Nicholson as Napoleon, Hepburn as Josephine, and Malcolm McDowell as Tsar Alexander, the film is an epic three hour chronicle of Bonaparte's rise and fall that remains the highest grossing movie of Kubrick's career.

But the movie was almost never made. MGM threatened to pull the plug on the project, feeling it was too risky. But Kubrick convinced the studio that he could deliver them a cult hit as he'd done with "2001," so ultimately MGM gave him the greenlight in exchange for a reduced budget. What if Kubrick failed and MGM had shut down the project?
It was his greatest masterpiece comparable to his 60es LOTR adaption.
 
OOC: What is the timeline of events here? So far it seems that Kubrick still made 2001 in 1968, while Napoleon came out in 1971.
Iam not so familiar with Kunrick' s Work but heard that he wanted to adapt LOTR with the Beatles playing the Hobbits. Somewhere in the 60es ? It hadn't Tolkien's approval.
 
Iam not so familiar with Kunrick' s Work but heard that he wanted to adapt LOTR with the Beatles playing the Hobbits. Somewhere in the 60es ? It hadn't Tolkien's approval.

OOC: Actually it was the Beatles who approached Kubrick but he declined the offer, saying that Tolkien's work couldn't be filmed. But you're right that Tolkien was opposed - not to Kubrick, but to the involvement of the Beatles. Ultimately it was Tolkien's disapproval and Kubrick's lack of interest that doomed the project.
 
OOC: Actually it was the Beatles who approached Kubrick but he declined the offer, saying that Tolkien's work couldn't be filmed. But you're right that Tolkien was opposed - not to Kubrick, but to the involvement of the Beatles. Ultimately it was Tolkien's disapproval and Kubrick's lack of interest that doomed the project.

OOC: Still one of my favorite trivia bits- it’s such a random thing to hear, so bizarre that it could be mistaken for a Mad Lib. Even better is the fact that John Lennon wanted to play Gollum in the picture, which, from pictures I’ve seen of him post-1970, seems like a role he could have, at least visually, pulled off.
 
However, Kubrick's next project, a filming of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, never got off the ground. Kubrick attempted to work as closely with Burgess as he had with Arthur C. Clarke (on 2001: A Space Odyssey) and when Burgess pointed out Kubrick was using the truncated American edition, Kubrick gave up in spite. He would not do a movie for another five years, when he reteamed with Clarke to do 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Unfortunately for Burgess, Kubrick's backing out cleared the way for Bob Guccione's godawful exploitation film of Clockwork Orange in 1980.
 
Unfortunately for Burgess, Kubrick's backing out cleared the way for Bob Guccione's godawful exploitation film of Clockwork Orange in 1980.

Interestingly Malcolm McDowell, who played Tsar Alexander in Napoleon, was set to play Alex in Kubrick's version.
 
A quite interesting story, at least to me, is Marlon Brando's pursual of the role of Wellington, which of course went to Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was mostly just known as an especially good stage performer prior to the casting. Apparently, Brando went so far as to speak in an accent for three weeks, including his appearances at several awards ceremonies, just in an attempt to draw Kubrick's attention and interest. In the end, he filmed his audition way too overweight (after hearing that Wellington was "imposing" and taking it as just meaning incredibly large) and in such a melodramatic style, that Kubrick apparently laughed so hard he fell out of his chair upon his first viewing of the tape. I guess Brando's status as a falling star (pre-Godfather) and still-outrageous (allegedly) pay demands didn't help that.
 
A quite interesting story, at least to me, is Marlon Brando's pursual of the role of Wellington, which of course went to Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was mostly just known as an especially good stage performer prior to the casting. Apparently, Brando went so far as to speak in an accent for three weeks, including his appearances at several awards ceremonies, just in an attempt to draw Kubrick's attention and interest. In the end, he filmed his audition way too overweight (after hearing that Wellington was "imposing" and taking it as just meaning incredibly large) and in such a melodramatic style, that Kubrick apparently laughed so hard he fell out of his chair upon his first viewing of the tape. I guess Brando's status as a falling star (pre-Godfather) and still-outrageous (allegedly) pay demands didn't help that.

If Brando had gotten the part of Wellington he might have never been in "Godfather." All the same playing Wellington helped put Hopkins on the map.
 
If Brando had gotten the part of Wellington he might have never been in "Godfather." All the same playing Wellington helped put Hopkins on the map.

And the age-old question still remains: would you rather take "Napoleon" or one of the "Godfather" films? All could claim the "Best Film of the 70s" title, and all are among the "Greatest Film of All Time" discussions.
 
If Kubrick had never made "Napoleon," maybe he wouldn't have made the 1995 Holocaust drama "Aryan Papers." Many people today are still angry that "Aryan Papers" lost Best Picture to "Braveheart," which ironically was inspired in part by "Napoleon."
 
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