Baz Luhrmann In Talks To Direct Kubrick’s NAPOLEON Script For HBO

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Back in March, Kubrick fans got news that Steven Spielberg, who was hand-selected by Stanley Kubrick to direct A.I., would shepard a production of Kubrick’s Napoleon script for an HBO miniseries. At the time, there was no word on who exactly would helm the production, though it obviously wasn’t going to be Spielberg.

Now comes word that Baz Luhrmann is in talks to direct the miniseries for HBO. Luhrmann can certainly do period, as he’s shown with both Moulin Rouge!, Australia and Gatsby. But he’s a bold, left-field choice for a production based on Kubrick’s script. But with a miniseries length and Spielberg producing, we might get a decent character out of the oh-so-hopelessly superficial director. (I love his style, don’t get me wrong.)

All I have to say is bring it on.

Kubrick’s screenplay is the stuff of legend. The meticulous director left an extensive collection of notes, photographs and drawings to go along with his complete screenplay. I’ve been through Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made a few times now, and you can very easily see the expansive vision for the movie. Of course, thanks to the box office flop Waterloo, we never got to see it, and Kubrick made the masterpiece Barry Lyndon instead.

It’s a great screenplay and handled with care, as I’m sure Spielberg and the Kubrick estate will, this could be the best miniseries HBO has ever produced. That’s a big job for Luhrmann, though. We’ll have to wait and see if he has it in him.