Kubrick Napoleon film: The Greatest Film Never Made – 7 Shocking Facts About Hollywood’s Most Legendary Abandoned Project

In the world of cinema, no abandoned project haunts film lovers more deeply than Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon. Widely called the greatest film never made, this legendary Kubrick Napoleon film was years in the making — meticulously researched, brilliantly scripted, and staggeringly ambitious. Jack Nicholson was cast in the lead role. Audrey Hepburn was Kubrick’s choice for Josephine. Armies of real soldiers were lined up as extras. And then — nothing. The film was cancelled. And the world never got to see what might have been the most extraordinary historical epic in cinema history.

Here are 7 shocking facts about Kubrick’s Napoleon — one of the greatest abandoned film projects in Hollywood history.

Fact 1: Kubrick Called Napoleon “The Greatest Movie Ever Made” — Before He Shot a Single Frame

After completing 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968, Kubrick turned his obsessive attention to what he privately described as his most ambitious project yet. In letters to his financial backers at MGM — preserved in the Kubrick Archives at the University of the Arts London — he described Napoleon Bonaparte’s life as “the greatest movie subject ever” and stated his absolute conviction that he could make the definitive cinematic portrait of the most complex and fascinating figure in modern history. This was not modesty. This was Kubrick — a man who had already made Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001 — declaring that Napoleon would be his masterpiece.

Fact 2: The Research Was So Thorough It Became Legendary in Its Own Right

The Index Card System

Kubrick’s research process for the Napoleon film was unlike anything Hollywood had ever seen. He and his assistants created an exhaustive card catalog system — thousands of individual index cards cataloguing every known fact about Napoleon’s life, cross-referenced to an almost obsessive degree. Every person in Napoleon’s inner circle. Every location he visited. Every battle he fought. Every letter he wrote. Every meal he ate.

The Art Research

He attempted to view every film ever made about Napoleon. He read dozens of biographies. He searched for every portrait of Josephine that existed — reportedly amassing a collection so comprehensive that searching “Josephine” in his archive would return virtually every painted portrait made of her during the period. He scouted locations across Europe. He planned battle sequences involving up to 50,000 soldiers, 10,000 horses, and period-accurate costumes for every single one of them. The research alone represented years of work — and none of it ever made it to the screen.

Fact 3: Jack Nicholson Was Cast as Napoleon

Kubrick’s final casting choice for the title role in his Napoleon film was Jack Nicholson — at the time a rising star who had recently appeared in Easy Rider. Earlier in the process, Kubrick had also considered David Hemmings, who had starred in Blow-Up, for the role.

For the role of Josephine, Kubrick’s preferred choice was Audrey Hepburn — though this was never formally confirmed. The combination of Nicholson and Hepburn under Kubrick’s direction, in a sweeping Napoleon epic with unprecedented production values, would have been one of the most extraordinary casting decisions in cinema history. It never happened.

Fact 4: Another Film’s Failure Killed It

The Waterloo Effect

The death blow to the Kubrick Napoleon film came not from Kubrick himself but from another director’s failure. In 1970, Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk released Waterloo — a lavish Napoleon-themed epic featuring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plum, and a cast of thousands. The film was a catastrophic commercial failure, losing enormous amounts of money despite its spectacular production.

MGM Gets Cold Feet

MGM — already nervous about the staggering budget Kubrick was projecting for his Napoleon — used Waterloo’s failure as justification to pull out. Kubrick’s brother-in-law and collaborator Jan Harlan later revealed that MGM had only ever signed a pre-production agreement, not a commitment to make the film itself. When they discovered Kubrick wanted tens of thousands of extras, thousands of horses, and period-perfect costumes for every single one of them, the studio got cold feet — and Waterloo’s box office disaster gave them the excuse they needed to walk away.

Fact 5: The Research Wasn’t Wasted — It Became Barry Lyndon

The years Kubrick spent researching the Napoleonic era were not entirely lost. When he redirected his attention to an adaptation of William Thackeray’s novel Barry Lyndon — set in the mid-18th century, roughly 15 years before the Napoleonic Wars — his immersion in the period proved invaluable. Barry Lyndon became one of the most visually extraordinary period films ever made, famous for its use of natural candlelight and its meticulous recreation of 18th-century Europe. Kubrick’s abandoned Napoleon research had quietly shaped a masterpiece.

Fact 6: Spielberg Has Been Trying to Revive It for Over a Decade

The Kubrick Napoleon film may yet reach an audience — in a different form. Steven Spielberg, who previously completed Kubrick’s abandoned project A.I. Artificial Intelligence after Kubrick’s death in 1999, has been publicly committed to developing a Napoleon miniseries based on Kubrick’s original screenplay for HBO.

The project was first announced in 2013. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga was attached in 2016. As of the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, Spielberg confirmed the HBO Napoleon project — planned as 7 episodes — was still in active development. As of 2026, it has still not been made. The Kubrick Napoleon curse apparently extends beyond Kubrick himself.

Fact 7: The Screenplay Exists — And Film Scholars Call It a Masterpiece

Unlike many abandoned film projects where only fragments survive, Kubrick’s Napoleon screenplay is complete. It has been published in a book called The Greatest Movie Never Made, edited by Alison Castle, which also includes Kubrick’s research notes, location photographs, and production planning documents. Film scholars who have read it describe it as one of the finest unproduced screenplays in cinema history — dense, intelligent, and utterly unlike any Napoleon film that has ever been made.

The screenplay charts Napoleon’s entire life from birth in Corsica to death on Saint Helena — and does so with the precision, moral complexity, and visual imagination that defined every Kubrick film that did get made. According to Wikipedia’s detailed article on Kubrick’s unrealized projects, the Napoleon screenplay remains one of the most celebrated unproduced scripts in film history.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kubrick’s Napoleon

Why did Kubrick never make his Napoleon film?

Kubrick’s Napoleon was cancelled primarily because MGM withdrew funding after the commercial failure of Bondarchuk’s Waterloo in 1970. The staggering budget Kubrick required — including tens of thousands of extras and horses — made the studio unwilling to proceed.

Who was cast in Kubrick’s Napoleon?

Jack Nicholson was Kubrick’s final choice for the title role. Audrey Hepburn was Kubrick’s preferred choice for Josephine, though this was never formally confirmed. Earlier in development, David Hemmings had also been considered for Napoleon.

Does the Kubrick Napoleon screenplay exist?

Yes. The complete screenplay has been published in the book The Greatest Movie Never Made alongside Kubrick’s extensive research notes and production planning materials.

Is the Kubrick Napoleon project still happening?

Steven Spielberg has been developing a 7-episode HBO miniseries based on Kubrick’s Napoleon screenplay since 2013. As of 2026, the project has not yet been produced or given a release date.

Fascinating by things that were abandoned before the world could see them? Explore our stories about abandoned [Beelitz-Heilstätten] and other forgotten places from history.

What do you think — should Spielberg finally make Kubrick’s Napoleon? Or would it be better left as the greatest film never made? Share your thoughts in the comments below.