Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon , 2009
Hardcover with 10 smaller books inserted, image database, 29,5 x 37,3 cm, 10,83 kg, 2874 pages
Edition of 1000 plus 100 artist's proofs
9783822830659
Copyright The Artist
Photo: TASCHEN
Further images
For 40 years, Kubrick fans and film buffs have wondered about the director’s mysterious unmade film on Napoleon Bonaparte. Slated for production immediately following the release of 2001: A Space...
For 40 years, Kubrick fans and film buffs have wondered about the director’s mysterious unmade film on Napoleon Bonaparte. Slated for production immediately following the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick’s Napoleon was to be at once a character study and a sweeping epic, replete with grandiose battle scenes featuring thousands of extras.
To write his original screenplay, Kubrick embarked on two years of intensive research; with the help of dozens of assistants and an Oxford Napoleon specialist, he amassed an unparalleled trove of research and preproduction material, including approximately 15,000 location scouting photographs and 17,000 slides of Napoleonic imagery. No stone was left unturned in Kubrick’s nearly obsessive quest to uncover every piece of information history had to offer about Napoleon. But alas, Kubrick’s movie was not destined to be: the film studios, first MGM and then United Artists, decided such an undertaking was too risky at a time when historical epics were out of fashion.
TASCHEN’s sumptuous Collector’s Edition tribute to this unmade masterpiece makes Kubrick’s valiant work available to fans for the first time. Readers can peruse a selection of Kubrick’s correspondence, various costume studies, location scouting photographs, research material, script drafts, and more, each category of material in its own book. Kubrick’s final draft is reproduced in facsimile while the other texts are tidily kenneled into one volume where they dare not interfere with the visual material. All of these books are tucked inside of—or shall we say hiding in?—a carved-out reproduction of a Napoleon history book.
The book of texts features the complete original treatment, essays examining the screenplay in historical and dramatic contexts, an essay by Jean Tulard on Napoleon in cinema, and a transcript of interviews Kubrick conducted with Oxford professor Felix Markham. The culmination of years of research and preparation, this unique publication offers readers a chance to experience the creative process of one of cinema’s greatest talents as well as a fascinating exploration of the enigmatic figure that was Napoleon Bonaparte.
Limited Collector’s Edition of 1,000 copies
The designer: M/M (Paris) is an art and design partnership consisting of Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag. Their portfolio includes art direction and collaborations with Björk, Balenciaga, and Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, as well as with magazines including Vogue Paris, Interview, and Purple Fashion.
The editor: Writer and editor Alison Castle studied philosophy, photography, and film at Columbia (B.A.) and NYU (M.A.). Her publications include The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon, and The Complete Jacques Tati, and her writing has appeared in Gagosian Quarterly, Vogue Italia, Vogue China, The Road Rat, and Chaos 69. She is also the president of Wendell Castle Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the late artist's legacy and archives.
To write his original screenplay, Kubrick embarked on two years of intensive research; with the help of dozens of assistants and an Oxford Napoleon specialist, he amassed an unparalleled trove of research and preproduction material, including approximately 15,000 location scouting photographs and 17,000 slides of Napoleonic imagery. No stone was left unturned in Kubrick’s nearly obsessive quest to uncover every piece of information history had to offer about Napoleon. But alas, Kubrick’s movie was not destined to be: the film studios, first MGM and then United Artists, decided such an undertaking was too risky at a time when historical epics were out of fashion.
TASCHEN’s sumptuous Collector’s Edition tribute to this unmade masterpiece makes Kubrick’s valiant work available to fans for the first time. Readers can peruse a selection of Kubrick’s correspondence, various costume studies, location scouting photographs, research material, script drafts, and more, each category of material in its own book. Kubrick’s final draft is reproduced in facsimile while the other texts are tidily kenneled into one volume where they dare not interfere with the visual material. All of these books are tucked inside of—or shall we say hiding in?—a carved-out reproduction of a Napoleon history book.
The book of texts features the complete original treatment, essays examining the screenplay in historical and dramatic contexts, an essay by Jean Tulard on Napoleon in cinema, and a transcript of interviews Kubrick conducted with Oxford professor Felix Markham. The culmination of years of research and preparation, this unique publication offers readers a chance to experience the creative process of one of cinema’s greatest talents as well as a fascinating exploration of the enigmatic figure that was Napoleon Bonaparte.
Limited Collector’s Edition of 1,000 copies
The designer: M/M (Paris) is an art and design partnership consisting of Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag. Their portfolio includes art direction and collaborations with Björk, Balenciaga, and Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, as well as with magazines including Vogue Paris, Interview, and Purple Fashion.
The editor: Writer and editor Alison Castle studied philosophy, photography, and film at Columbia (B.A.) and NYU (M.A.). Her publications include The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon, and The Complete Jacques Tati, and her writing has appeared in Gagosian Quarterly, Vogue Italia, Vogue China, The Road Rat, and Chaos 69. She is also the president of Wendell Castle Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the late artist's legacy and archives.