"The Kubrick Edit"
AI:"The Kubrick Edit" was mentioned in the following articles:
Makingthefilm.com: Interview
The Toronto Star: "When Movie Fans Make the Final Cut" by Peter Howell
The Salon.com : "Bootleg Culture" by Peter Rojas
The Guardian: "Hollywood: The People's Cut" by Peter Rojas
The L.A. Times: "A Phantom Menace" by Richard Fausset
Backstory
Over 20 years ago, Stanley Kubrick read the short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss. The Story inspired
Kubrick to develop the film "Artificial Intelligence". In 1982, Kubrick bought the rights to the story and over the following 17 years,
he worked on developing it into a feature length film. Kubrick worked with writers, concept artists, effects specialists, and artifical
intelligence specialists during the development process
As the story goes, Kubrick met Steven Spielberg in 1979, they became friends and collaborated on the development of AI. In 1994
Kubrick proposed the idea to Spielberg that he should be the one to direct AI and Kubrick would be producer. Spielberg agreed to
do it, but he chaged his mind a few months later. It wasn't until after Kubrick died in 1999, that he reconsidered. Jan Harlan, Kubrick's
brother-in-law (and producer on many of his films), knew that Kubrick wanted Speilberg to direct the film. He handed over all of the
material concerning the development of AI, including over 1000 conceptual drawings and an 80-90 page script treatment.
The resulting film is neither a "Kubrick film" nor a "Spielberg film". The basic storyline is very dark and Kubrickesque but many of the
scenes in the film have a very light and sometimes silly feel that is inherent to Spielberg's style. There is no doubt that if Kubrick had
made the film (or even been around to oversee the production) it would have been much darker and without the disneyesque feel that
Spielberg contributed to the film.
As a tribute to Stanley Kubrick, I have re-edited the existing footage of AI in an attempt to create a film that I feel is more consistant with
Kubrick's vision of the story. I call it "The Kubrick Edit". It turned out to be about an hour and 54 minutes, thats 30 minutes shorter than
the original film.
Research
The following excerpts are from articles with information about what aspects of the film were part of Kubrick's treatment and what
was added or removed by Speilberg.
"I did depart [from Kubrick's vision] certainly when there was nothing to guide me. But when there was dialogue in the first act and
relationship to guide me, I structured that in complete [adherence to Kubrick's treatment]..." Steven Spielberg Interview
"[In the original concept], once David was dumped he met up with a more adult mecha who led him through a more adult mecha
world, and Gigolo Joe was much darker, much more aggressive, much more twisted."Jude Law Interview
"[Kubrick's verision of] Gigolo Joe was, and forgive the double-entendre, Stanley went all the way with this guy. It was an interesting,
black figure who was to make a lot of money and was as greedy as his masters who built him. A very interesting character, but
it would be an R-rated film, and it would be a different story. It would still be the story about the boy who wants to become real, and
the fairy tale, all of that was untouched by Steven, that's all in Stanley's script. It is just individual characters that were much more
pessimistic and much darker." Jan Harlan Interview
Kubrick and Aldiss developed the story further, expanding the timeline so that thousands of years later, David would be discovered
by advanced androids that would resuscitate him and learn about their extinct human heritage.Kubrick's Android Odyssey
It was the relationship between David and his mother that most occupied Kubrick and Ms. Maitland. An alcoholic whose Bloody
Marys David would mix for her in a vain attempt to win her affection, the mother was the emotional center of the film.
"The Masterpiece a Master Couldn't Get Right"
Other Resources:
"Speilberg's Strangelove"
BBC News Article
Super Toys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss
Excerpts from: Stanley Kubrick-A Biography
Details
The Characters
Professor Hobby (William Hurt)
This character had a couple scenes with unneccessary exposition and too much back story on him. I removed some of those
scenes to make his character less important so this it would not detract from the main story.
Gigalo Joe (Jude Law)
Several articles point out that this character is much different than what Kubrick had in mind so I removed as many scenes as
I could, without interfering with the main storyline. I also removed some of the silly lines he says as way to make his character
less cartoony.
Dr. Know (voice of Robin Williams)
I cut out this character and any mention of it in the movie. I think that this character is the worst part of the whole film. 90% of
this movie has a dark tone and the Dr.Know scene is 9 of the 10% of the movie that ruins the dark mood. If it wasnt for the
10 minute Dr. Know scene, I would never had bothered to re-edit the movie. The other 20 minutes that I cut out of the movie
makes up the remaining 1% that is wrong with this movie.
The Story
Act I
This act includes one of the Professor Hobby scenes that I removed; However, every scene with the Swinton family, I left alone.
This is the only part of the story that I know for sure stuck to Kubricks version.
Act II
Most of the stuff I cut out is from this act. In addition to scenes with Professor Hobby, Gigalo Joe, and Dr. Know; I also removed
several lines that no longer made sense after those scenes were removed. I also removed several lines from the flesh fair scene
that detracted from the dark mood of the story.
Act III
I cut down this act significantly. There is very little dialogue, its mostly just visuals put to music, reminescent of the ending of 2001
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