Henry Cavill’s plans for a Warhammer TV series are seriously exciting for fans of the long-running multimedia franchise, but few are aware that the property nearly made its big screen debut long before Cavill became involved, courtesy of legendary director Stanley Kubrick. While most casual observers have a passing familiarity with Warhammer Thanks to the miniature figurines, the Warhammer Universe is big. Encompassing everything from video games to literature, it’s a wealth of knowledge that makes it one of the most immersive IPs anywhere. As such, it is unsurprising that there have been multiple attempts to bring the story to life.
While Warhammer Movies and TV shows have been talked about for decades, One of the more surprising proposals came from Stanley Kubrick. The American director, whose back catalog includes some of the most celebrated and revered releases in movie history, was famous for seeking creative inspiration from wherever he could, getting ideas from the most unlikely sources. As it turns out, one of Kubrick’s many abandoned projects concerns these Warhammer world, creating one of the great “What if?” Moments in Movie History.
Stanley Kubrick considered making a Warhammer film
What it was about
Although projects like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. StrangeloveAnd The Shining The legend of Stanley Kubrick was almost totemic for filmmakers. be rejected Napoleon Biopic, for example, was titled “The greatest movie Never made“, while He left his Holocaust film Arian papers After the success of Schindler’s List. These unrealized visions are typically Kubrickian in their scope and scale. However, Kubrick’s theory Warhammer Movie is perhaps just as ambitious.
The idea began courtesy of Kubrick’s collaboration with science fiction writer Ian Watson. The two are working together on a script for Ai – Another unfinished Kubrick movie that was eventually made by Steven Spielberg. Watson, a prolific author, worked closely with Kubrick and is credited with creating the story for AI Artificial Intelligence. In a blog detailing the pair’s partnership, Watson revealed details about Kubrick’s chaotic creative process, in which he would take inspiration from any source (per Plumbing Stanley Kubrick).
Among them Ai Brainstorming, Kubrick requested a pre-publication copy of Watson’s novels, indicating his interest.
It just so happens that, in addition to his other science fiction works, Watson is also the author of a trilogy of novels set in the Warhammer 40,000 Verify. Dubbed the Inquisition War trilogy, the early 90s books concern the Imperium and their constant war against Chaos – constituting the first Warhammer 40,000 Literature. Among them Ai Brainstorming, Kubrick requested a pre-publication copy of Watson’s novels, indicating his interest. To make things even more tantalizing for fans, he even told Watson, “Who knows, Ian? Maybe this is my next movie.”
Stanley Kubrick’s Unmade Warhammer project would have been a game-changer
It would have transformed Warhammer and the director
Despite Kubrick’s apparent interest in the Warhammer 40,000 The concept, his partnership with the author of the story, and his teasing that he might consider making a movie about it, the project clearly never came to fruition. However, if it happened, the effect would have been transformational. for one thing, Kubrick’s involvement would immediately bring a popular, but undeniably niche entertainment to the forefront of public consciousness. Kubrick created some of the most influential movies of all time, so to have him lead a Warhammer Movie would definitely have raised the franchise profile.
The added intellectual prestige that someone like Kubrick could have brought would certainly only help the sci-fi setting expand further, perhaps turning it into a property capable of rivaling the likes of Star Wars And the MCU.
In the years since Kubrick left no idea for his Warhammer film, The 40,000 The setting has only become more complicated. Dozens of novels, games, figurines and accompanying content have been released, creating a rich tapestry beloved by millions worldwide. The added intellectual prestige that someone like Kubrick could have brought would certainly only help the sci-fi setting expand further, perhaps turning it into a property capable of rivaling the likes of Star Wars And the MCU.
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The project would also have had a profound impact on Kubrick himself. Unlike many contemporaries, Kubrick’s work has always been characterized by its solitude and definitiveness. He never made a sequel and only one of his movies (2001: A Space Odyssey) ever received a direct follow-up. Warhammer would have been very different. The total scope of the US Warhammer World would have invited a series of interconnected stories, potentially pushing Kubrick into new, franchise-building territory. This makes the idea even more intriguing, as it would have challenged one of the greatest directors of all time.
Why Kubrick’s Warhammer never happened
It is never likely to work
As exciting as a Stanley Kubrick-made Warhammer The film is, the disappointing truth is that the chances of this happening are always slim. While his comment to Watson about it could be his “Next movie” means to indicate genuine interest, Kubrick has always been a creative magpie. His eclectic process, encompassing art, literature and music from all sorts of odd sources, is well documented – as is his propensity to work ferociously on a project, only to abandon it and move on to the next mission.
Perhaps the best example of this is the fact that AiWhat Kubrick and Watson were allegedly working on when the Warhammer The film was discussed, It was only after the director’s death. If his main focus of attention took so long to see the light of day, it was always a long shot that another project – especially one as complex as Warhammer – would come. Still, the fact that Stanley Kubrick Came relatively close to making a Warhammer Movie overall makes this a fascinating moment in the history of the filmmaker and the franchise.
Sources: Ian Watson; Plumbing Stanley Kubrick