Kubrick's Story, Spielberg's Film

In 1963 Stanley Kubrick declared, Dr. Strangelove came from my desire to do something about the nuclear nightmare. Thirty years later, he was preparing to film another story about the human impulse for self-destruction. Unfortunately, the director passed away in 1999, before his project could be fully realized. However, fellow visionary Steven Spielberg took on the venture, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence debuted in theaters two years after Kubricks death. While Kubricks concept shares similarities with the finished film, there are significant differences between his screenplay and Spielberg's production. In Kubricks Story, Spielbergs Film: A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Julian Rice examines the intellectual sources and cinematic processes that expressed the extraordinary ideas of one great artist through the distinctive vision of another. A.I. is decidedly a Kubrick film in its concern for the future of the world, and it is both a Kubrick and a Spielberg film in the alienation of its central character. However, Spielbergs alienated characters evolve through friendships, while Kubricks protagonists are markedly alone. Rice explores how the directors disparate sensibilities aligned and where they diverged. By analyzing Kubricks treatment and Spielbergs finished film, Rice compares the imaginations of two gifted but very different filmmakers and draws conclusions about their unique conceptions. Kubricks Story, Spielbergs Film is a fascinating look into the creative process of two of cinemas most profound auteurs and will appeal to scholars of film as well as to fans of both directors.