#stanleykubrick

"I always wanted to play Napoleon. There was even a time when Stanley Kubrick had me in mind, but that never got off the ground…”

**Al Pacino**, *Sonny Boy: A Memoir* (2024) 📖

It is perhaps cinema history’s greatest “what if.” In his newly published memoirs, Al Pacino reflects on the ghost that haunted his career—the dream of playing Napoleon Bonaparte, a dream that almost converged with Stanley Kubrick’s grandest obsession.

Between 1967 and 1970, fresh off *2001: A Space Odyssey*, Kubrick dove into preparation for what was meant to be the definitive film on Napoleon. It wasn’t just pre-production; it was an acts of fanatical research. 🎞️

Kubrick didn’t just want to tell a story; he wanted to reconstruct history. To do this, he created a massive analog database—a legendary file cabinet filled with over **15,000 index cards** (swipe to see our visual tribute to this archive 👉). These cards tracked the daily whereabouts of Napoleon and key historical figures throughout their lives. He knew what the weather was like during specific battles and what the emperor ate for breakfast.

Costumes were prototyped, Romanian army divisions were secured as extras, and a young, intense Al Pacino—possessing the perfect age and temperament—was in Kubrick’s sights for the lead role. Pacino writes that Kubrick saw Napoleon as a man “obsessed with details, much like Stanley himself.”

Impossibly Smooth, Unnaturally Cold

Remembering her role as a princess, Twilight Sparkle makes the decision to be the first pony to touch it. Nothing bad happens, but Twilight can only report that the Monolith is impossibly smooth and unnaturally cold.

Starlight Glimmer is right there with Twilight, she allows her teacher to probe while she observes. Starlight strains, she forces her attention upon the object. Starlight attempts to commit every single detail to memory as carefully as possible. But the details are actually quite few. It is a dark rectangle which mysteriously appeared while they were asleep. It is too dark, not reflective enough, unnervingly smooth, and too cold for the environment which they are in. And that is about all there is to say for the moment.

Rarity has given up trying to flee, but she refuses to even try and process what is going on. She is scared, the moreso because all of her friends are too. She refuses any attempt to understand this new aberration, and so she must endure its presence, even if doing so is barely tolerable.

Applejack cannot understand the object, but one thing is certain. The Monolith's arrival is a very important event. Whether for the better or the worse is not yet clear. Applejack falls back on tradition, the ways and the manners of the Apple clan. Removing her hat, she pays her respects to the gravity of situation, and silently tries to offer the newcomer a sincere Apple Welcome to Equestria.

Spike is no longer worried about report forms, or the chain of command. The Monolith is a monstrosity of the unknown, or perhaps the unknowable. Their Majesties' government in Canterlot is entirely unequipped and unprepared for this. Continued exposure to the Monolith's mere presence begins to threaten the very idea of the only world Spike has ever known.

Fluttershy maintains a stand-off. She has spent her whole life trying to understand creatures who are different, and to embody Kindness. The Monolith hasn't done anything hostile, but there seems to be a deliberateness behind its serenity. Fluttershy does not know how to interpret that. Even predators, monsters and enemies feel something. All that Fluttershy senses is the embodiment of absence.

Rainbow Dash continues her futile attempts to display competency and prowess. She tries to touch the thing, since Twilight already has. Rainbow Dash cannot bear the thought that she might look like a spooked horse. But the thought of touching the Monolith is equally unbearable. Not because Rainbow Dash feels threatened, but because she is terrified that nothing will happen. That nothingness will be a final and irrefutable confirmation that the Monolith regards her as irrelevant. For Rainbow Dash, literally nothing could be worse.