Originally posted by PopsiclePete
Frosty, everyone knows AI is a pinnochio story set in the future...
I also noted some "Wizard of Oz" in there, as David and Teddy go looking for the "Blue Fairy" and also travel through the dark, dark woods with a "Tin Man".
What I was trying to say is that although it was a project he really wanted to do, Kubrick didn't get to do it partly because he wasn't sure he could do this kind of movie right.
Um, no.
Kubrick bought the rights to the short story it was based on "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (Or something like that, I'm a bit out of my Kubrick phase) and wrote a treatment that the original writer found insulting since it was such a hardcore Pinnochio alligory. Kubrick, of course, told the man to go to hell.
Kubrick shot SFX footage in the early 1980s, most of it being for the "City in the Water" footage. I think he also attempted to hire a child actor to give some dialouge, with the thought of recasting him when he was 20 or so.
Kubrick died. I nearly bawled. Me and two of my close friends wore black armbands for two days and posted memorial pictures of Kubrick all over the school walls.
Spielberg had discussed a tiny bit of AI with Kubrick before his death. It should be noted, Spielberg sent a copy of his films to Kubrick weeks before they came out to get the man's approval. Kubrick never sent a single one of his, and very rarely talked about his projects.
Steven took over using Stanley's notes and Jan Harlan's (Kubrick's producer and brother-in-law) advice.