For years, Stanley Kubrick’s Aryan Papers has remained one of cinema’s great unrealized projects. Now, acclaimed Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino has revealed that he is actively working on bringing Kubrick’s lost Holocaust film to life with the support of Warner Bros. and the Kubrick estate.
The History of Aryan Papers
"I have two more [passion projects]: one is Aryan Papers," Guadagnino shared in a recent interview.
"It’s an unrealized project of Stanley Kubrick, an adaptation of Louis Begley’s first book, Wartime Lies, that I have worked on for a long time for Warner Bros. with the blessing of the Kubrick estate and the Kubrick family."
Kubrick was deep into pre-production on Aryan Papers in the mid-1990s, with Johanna ter Steege and Joseph Mazzello set to star. However, the project was ultimately abandoned due to the filmmaker’s concerns about its bleak subject matter and the overwhelming impact of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, released just two years prior. Despite its shelving, the project has continued to intrigue cinephiles as one of Kubrick’s most ambitious unmade films — alongside his legendary unrealized biopic Napoleon.
Guadagnino’s Vision and Ambition
Guadagnino, known for Call Me by Your Name and Bones and All, has already immersed himself in the project, carefully studying Kubrick’s original notes and materials housed at the Stanley Kubrick Archive at University of the Arts London. If the project moves forward, it is expected that Guadagnino would work from Kubrick’s original screenplay, much like Cary Joji Fukunaga had intended to do with Napoleon before HBO ultimately shelved that project.
The Italian director sees Aryan Papers as a deeply personal endeavor, stating that if he can successfully bring either his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks or Aryan Papers to the screen, he will be able to "conclude my life very satisfied."
Unlike some of the speculative projects that filmmakers announce but never truly pursue, Aryan Papers seems to be a genuine passion project for Guadagnino. Given his current stature in the industry, he may finally be in a position to get this long-dormant Kubrick film greenlit. If so, it would mark a historic cinematic resurrection of one of the most fascinating unrealized films of the 20th century.
