The Legacy Handed to Spielberg: His next major project after Eyes Wide Shut (1999) was to be A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which he had worked on for years. After his death, his close friend Steven Spielberg took over the project and released the film, dedicating it entirely to Kubrick's memory.
A Napoleonic Epic with 40,000 Soldiers: Following the massive box-office success of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he set to work on what would have been the greatest Napoleon biography in cinema history. He signed an official protocol with the Romanian army; the Romanian army committed to placing exactly 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 cavalrymen at Kubrick's disposal, dressed in paper period costumes. He considered Jack Nicholson for the lead and Audrey Hepburn for the role of Josephine (Hepburn politely declined the offer in a letter). In notes to his financiers, he said the film would be "the best film ever made." However, the astronomical location costs in France and the box-office failure of the similarly themed Waterloo (1970), released at the time, led the studio to pull the plug on the project entirely. The vast historical research Kubrick did for this project later fed the visual language of Barry Lyndon (1975).
"Aryan Papers," Left in the Shadow of Schindler's List: In 1980 he began pre-production on Full Metal Jacket, but the film's release did not come until 1987. During this period, the release and award haul of Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) wounded Kubrick deeply; he felt almost as if he had been defeated by others who moved first in his own game. He experienced a similar frustration in the early 1990s. He had finished the screenplay for the Aryan Papers project, an adaptation of Louis Begley's novel "Wartime Lies" about a boy and his aunt hiding from the Holocaust, had cast the actors (Johanna ter Steege and Joseph Mazzello), and had arranged locations in Denmark and the Czech Republic. Warner Bros. officially announced the film. But at that very moment, Steven Spielberg was shooting Schindler's List (1993). Because the subjects were so similar and because researching the subject had driven his psychology too far into depression, Kubrick halted the project entirely. This major cancellation is the biggest reason for the famous 12-year silence between Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut.
The Beatles and The Lord of the Rings: In 1969, when J.R.R. Tolkien sold the film rights to The Lord of the Rings, The Beatles wanted to adapt the work for the screen as a musical film and knocked directly on Kubrick's door to direct it. Meeting with John Lennon in person, Kubrick turned down the offer, saying, "The immense size and depth of this book cannot fit into a motion picture, it cannot be adapted to cinema." Years later, Peter Jackson would explain that another major hidden factor in the project's cancellation was that the author Tolkien himself was absolutely opposed to a Beatles project.
Umberto Eco's Resistance: In 1988 he wanted to adapt Umberto Eco's newly released masterpiece Foucault's Pendulum for the screen. However, Eco rejected the offer in harsh terms, because he had hated the earlier adaptation of The Name of the Rose (1986) and because Kubrick kept complete control of the screenplay and would not let Eco write it.
Woody Woodpecker's Insistence: His favorite cartoon character was Woody Woodpecker. He found the character so iconic that he wanted to place a Woody Woodpecker animation in each of his films in some way. However, the owner of the copyright, Walter Lantz, would not allow it. In his last interview, Lantz admitted that when he watched dark films such as The Shining or A Clockwork Orange he was pleased with his decision, but that when he watched 2001: A Space Odyssey or Dr. Strangelove he regretted it, saying, "I wish I had let Kubrick."
A Viking Epic for Children: In that intense period between the projects Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), he was seriously interested in veering onto a completely different track for children and young adults and adapting an epic Viking novel titled "Eric Brighteyes" for the screen.
Curiosity About Warhammer 40,000: While working with the writer Ian Watson on the story stage of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, he asked for an as-yet-unpublished copy of Watson's novel "Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor." After reading the book, he turned to Watson and hinted at the wild vision in his head with these words: "Who knows, Ian? Maybe my next film will take place in this universe?"
Willie Sutton and the Lost Bank Robbery Film: He wanted to direct "I Stole 16 Million Dollars," about the life of the legendary 1930s bank robber Willie Sutton. The project was to be financed by Kirk Douglas's production company Bryna, but Douglas found the screenplay very bad. Kubrick tried his luck with Cary Grant, but when he too showed no interest, the project was buried on dusty shelves.
Jim Thompson and Lunatic at Large: In the 1950s he commissioned the legendary pulp-noir writer Jim Thompson to write a film treatment titled "Lunatic at Large." The project was thought to be lost, but after his death his son-in-law Philip Hobbs found the original manuscript in the archive at home. The project is still in development, with Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell attached.
The Wind on the Roof and the Incest Obstacle: He wanted to adapt V.C. Andrews's famous novel Flowers in the Attic for the screen. However, because the explicit incest relationship between the two main characters would run afoul of the censorship and distribution rules of the time, he had to cancel the project before it began.
The Lost UN Documentary: In addition to The Seafarers (1953), his first professional job, it is rumored that in the early 1950s he directed a secret commissioned project for the United Nations titled "World Assembly of Youth." No copy of this film, which told of the meeting of the world's youth in New York, has ever been found, and its existence has never been proven; just as Kubrick himself never admitted it publicly.
Pinocchio and Monte Cassino Dreams: Emilio D'Alessandro, who served as his assistant for many years, revealed shortly before his death that Kubrick had had Italian sources gathered in order to make a huge Pinocchio film, entirely his own, that would truly make children laugh and be happy (this idea later turned into the Pinocchio subtext in A.I. Artificial Intelligence). He was also obsessed with the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War II; he studied the distances from there to the train stations and the flight routes on a map, and listened to the battle from an old pilot friend who had personally taken part in bombing it.
Patrick Süskind and Perfume: He admired Patrick Süskind's novel "Perfume" and seriously considered adapting it for the screen, but he never got moving. Years later the novel was brought to the screen by Tom Tykwer under the title Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006).