Kubrick's Keeper - TIME
By Jess Cagle Saturday, Jun. 16, 2001
Cagle: What's something that Steven added that wasn't there in Kubrick's vision?
Harlan: The Gigolo Joe character, Steven turned it into a light-hearted colorful
figure, very funny, very witty. Stanley's Gigolo Joe was a very very serious and
dark robot. Had Stanley made this film, telling exactly the same thing, it
would've been rated R. Stanley's Gigolo Joe, forgive the double entendre, did go
all the way.
Where was the script when Steven stepped in?
There are two stages. Stanley bought the short story in '83, "Supertoys Last All
Summer Long," from Brian Aldiss. So then he worked with Brian, he worked with
Watson, he worked, mainly, himself. Very slowly. This was a long project. He
wrote a script. It wasn't a treatment, it wasn't a conventional script. Before
it was finished, he had spoken to Spielberg about all sorts of things. They were
telephone pals. In the mid '90s, he offered Steven to direct "A.I." He
completely opened up to Steven, gave him the story, gave him what he had, showed
him over 600 conceptual drawings that he had already. He said to Steven, you
have the better knack for this. It was monumental fairy tale that Stanley
wanted, and Stanley always had these kind of black notes, very dark elements.
They're completely different.
Stanley said this would be a Stanley Kubrick production of a Steven Spielberg
film. But they drifted apart, there were other things to do. Stanley had planned
to build a boy robot, failed in his attempt because the robot was totally
unattractive. It's a totally important ingredient that this boy is very very
attractive. At that time we had very rigid child labor laws and we had terrible
trouble with Danny Lloyd in "The Shining." The authorities were breathing down
our neck every day.
He also didn't consider a boy because he takes so long. If you take a year, a
young boy can really change. He decided to put it off, do "Eyes Wide Shut." Then
Stanley died. I didn't think about "A.I." at all. After all this was done and
the dust had settled, I looked at "A.I." and realized there was this treasure
that was about to collect dust. I called Steven Spielberg and Terry Semel and
started the ball rolling. I tried now over a thousand drawings, two huge boxes
full of material. I had to find it all because Stanley wasn't a very good file
clerk. I met with Steven, I gave him absolutely everything I had with the total
unlimited authority to do whatever he wanted to do. I knew that Stanley, who
never let anyone interfere with his direction, would not have interfered with
Steven. I felt totally authorized and justified in doing this.
Then Steven invited me to read, months later, his script, in his office. I was
flabbergasted. He stuck basically to Stanley's storyline and still every page
had now Steven Spielberg in it. It's a true amalgamation of the two. The two are
so different, but what connects them is talent.
Is there a particular scene in "A.I." that looks exactly like the drawings of
Chris Baker and Spielberg?
The whole Flesh Fair business. Steven was so taken with these drawings that he
hired the same guy, Chris Baker, a black guy, real charming. The whole Flesh
Fair thing, the apartment, comes from Chris Baker. I was so astonished when I
saw the film the first time. In fact, it was very much Stanley's concept. The
whole thing with the opening in the factory where the guy gives the speech and
an employee is selected and he takes the boy home and the mother makes her first
tremendous apprehension, and then the coding. All this was there.
Did Steven see this film as completing a vision by another artist?
I don't think so. He loved the story and he understood why Kubrick was
fascinated. But there's no doubt that he had to make it his own. He's saturated
with good ideas. He can't look over his shoulder. He may say he respected
Stanley Kubrick's ideas. That's not a contradiction. Stanley's a great artist
himself. But it really is a Steven Spielberg film. The same story would've
looked different had Stanley made it.
No comments:
Post a Comment