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Spielberg (And Kubrick)'s A.I.
Ainonymous Coward writes " A teaser trailer was released for Steven Spielberg's A.I. For those who know, Stanley Kubrick had been working on this film for nearly 20 years; it is based on the Brian Aldiss short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long. Here is
the trailer (Quicktime).
The link comes from Ain't it Cool. Putting aside the obligatory Kubrick lamentation, I'm looking forward to this one. " I wish I could see this thing... I'm really excited about this movie.
Maybe if we're lucky, crowds will see the Spielberg name and think "Oh, A.I.? That must be like E.T.! Let's go see it!"
Yea, unfortunately you're absolutely right. It's a sad commentary on American taste when "Steven Spielberg's AI" will bring a bigger audience than would "Stanley Kubrick's AI".
With more and more vital functions of our nations government, banking infrastructure, and military defense relying on machines to perform increasingly complicated tasks, one must wonder what precautions the government is taking to prevent the machines from turning against us. I realize that this seems a bit absurd to most people, but just look at how quickly computer science is advancing. We may not have a machine with the processing power to act as a conscious being right now, but the day that we will is much sooner than you think.
We need a strong, powerful government as proposed by such sensible leaders as George W. Bush to implement measures to ensure that a scenario will remain just fiction. I am calling for immediate government regulation and supervision of all artificial intelligence research programs. Take my advice, when the time comes for the robots to take over, you'll either be enslaved by your mechanical masters, or you'll be ground up for axle grease if you resist.
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
Let's squash some urban legends here:
1) For a long time, there were rumors that Kubrick was considering filming _AI_ with the same boy actor from Jurassic Park (the kid who says, "Hey, this is UNIX!"), filming scenes months or years apart as the boy aged. From what I've been able to find, this rumor referred to another, dropped project that Kubrick had in mind, a Holocaust story called _The Aryan Papers_. Kubrick decided not to do _AP_ after _Schindler's List_ became The Holocaust Picture of the Decade.
2) To my knowledge, Kubrick first started actively toying with developing the story for _AI_ in 1989, after he had taken a break after _Full Metal Jacket_. The "20 years in making" thing is, as far as I know, Taco foaming at the mouth. However, Kubrick was known to kick ideas around in his head for as long as 30 years (_Eyes Wide Shut_/_Traumnovelle_), it just might be that he didn't talk to scriptwriters and WB before 1989.
2b) Soon after Kubrick died, the _New Yorker_ carried a "Talk of the Town" piece by someone who had worked with Kubrick on the story/script for _AI_ in the early 90s; apparently Kubrick went through a lot of writers, and worked at a very leisurely pace, meeting with the writer(s) once or twice a year.
3) As Kubrick died quite suddenly (my theory is that a combination of stress and fatigue made him vulnerable to heart attack while laughing at the last line of _EWS_), it is improbable that he handed Spielberg the script and said "You are the HAL's last hope...make...this...movie." However, Kubrick frequently talked with other directors, especially those who used F/X well (Jim Cameron), so it's quite likely that he had "talked AI" with Spielberg. Despite some of the things slashdotters are saying about him today, I think Spielberg is a decent enough man to think to himself, "Would Stanley _really_ have wanted me to do this movie?"
Sometimes it puzzles me that AI is a hot topic right now. Why so much fuss, don't people realize that AI is being used right now, every day? This isn't some far flung theory, AI is working wonderfully. There are many industries that require AI to function.. farming for example! Sure AI needs to be controlled, I can see that, and yes, it could be dangerous if it gets of hand. There is an easy solution to this though, we need to teach our kids that sex is better than AI.
I implore you! Educate your kids now on the dangers of Artificial Insemination.
uhh....it took over 4000 years to put man on the moon.
"the devil finds work for idle circuits"
Kubrick would never have let a clip of his movie be leaked by the studio who gave him carte blanche because of his legend (not Sony whom he did not work for of course). His obsessive and highly secretive filmaking process which also whetted the anticipation for his work is sorely missed.
It's small but you can find a copy that will play on RealPlayer here.
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
HERE
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
One question though:
Who gets the product placement rights? Will it be Intel? Will he say "Intel inside"?
Will Sun make a comeback and have the child say "I am his Sun"
Maybe Moto can steal a march and have him say, "Well, it was a RISC to build me, but I think it was a success".
A sig?!? I don't think so.....
A little-known fact about A.I. is that Kubrick was initially working with Chris Cunningham on it. Cunningham (a film prodigy who designed creatures for Clive Barker's Nightbreed at age 16) is best-known for directing several music videos, including ones for Aphex Twin (Come to Daddy and Windowlicker), Bjork (All is Full of Love), Madonna (Frozen), Squarepusher (Come on My Selector), Portishead (Only You), Leftfield (Africa Shoxx), and several Auteurs videos.
Cunningham was working with Kubrick on A.I. for about a year and a half, and now he's working on a film version of Gibson's Neuromancer. Personally, I can't think of anyone who I'd rather have work on Neuromancer, especially since I'm sure Cunningham would kill anyone who even suggested he make it like that POS Johnny Mnemonic. It's too bad that he didn't continue work on A.I., as his artistic style could have doubtless made it a mind-blowing experience.
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4-star general in a one-man army.
Quoth CmdrTaco:
Indeed.. Well, considering the fact that the new Linux distributions are coming with XFree86 4.0, which has built-in YUV->RGB conversion support through the XVideo extension, I think it may be yet again time to campaign for a QuickTime client for Linux. Maybe something will happen once MacOS X comes out, since it's based on BSD. I suppose I shouldn't hold my breath..
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i recall reading (not sure where, though) that Kubrick had already done a lot for A.I. himself, and just about all that was left was the transferrence of his ideas to film, via the whole filming process, plus casting, scouting and all that mess. he even had storyboards done (a rarity for kubrick.)
in the mid-90's he found himself in a position where he had to make a choice. There were two movies he wanted to make: an adaption of Arthur Schnitzler's Traumnovelle, and A.I. He decided to adapt Traumnovelle first, and it became Eyes Wide Shut. However, days after completing that project, he died.
However, before he died, he decided to pass the film, storyboards, and all of that on to Spielberg for him to complete the work on what had been his project for so many years. It *was* his intention for the film to be completed, and he realized he couldn't do it. He just chose somebody else to work on it in his place.
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The music was neat, very Pink Floydish. And I liked the way they did the title at the end.
Maybe if we're lucky, crowds will see the Spielberg name and think "Oh, A.I.? That must be like E.T.! Let's go see it!" And the sad thing is I'm not trying to be funny.
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