BREAKING MOVIE/TV NEWS

Saturday, August 04, 2018

Spielberg Goes To War With "Napoleon"



With many big-budget film-makers comparing themselves to military generals, in charge of thousands of people working on a single campaign, director Steven Spielberg continues to develop writer/director Stanley Kubrick's anti-war "Napoleon" project as a TV mini-series.


"I’ve been developing Stanley Kubrick's screenplay," said  Spielberg, "for a miniseries, not for a motion picture — about the life of Napoleon. Kubrick wrote the script in 1961...a long time ago."


Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the 'French Revolution' and its associated wars in Europe. As 'Napoleon I', he was 'Emperor' of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the 'Napoleonic Code', has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best known for his role in wars led against France, by a series of coalitions, during the 'Napoleonic Wars'.


Napoleon spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial monarchy, restoring aspects of the deposed 'Ancien Régime'. 


Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time, and his campaigns are studied at military academies worldwide.


Napoleon spent the last six years of his life in confinement by the British on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy speculated he was a victim of arsenic poisoning.


There have been numerous films based on the life of "Napoleon", including Armand Assante  in "Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story" (1987), Charles Boyer in "Conquest" (1937), Marlon Brando in "Desirée" (1954), Ian Holm in "The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), Dennis Hopper in "The Story of Mankind" (1957), Trevor Howard in "Eagle in a Cage" (1965), Stacy Keach in "The Man of Destiny" (1973), Claude Rains in "Hearts Divided" (1936), Rod Steiger in "Waterloo" (1970), Craig Stevenson in "Goya's Ghosts" (2006) and James Tolkan in "Love and Death" (1975).


Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Napoleon"...