Moving out of the late Stanley Kubrick’s front door and parking into Steven Spielberg’s driveway, the story of the latter’s sci-fi drama coming to life was rather bumpy.
Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey), in the late 70s, started to develop the film version of the short story by Brian Aldiss – ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ which came out in 1969.
The film, in its pre-production era, had many people come in to write and then leave the project due to Kubrick’s relentless style of work.
Ultimately, Kubrick departed from the project and let Spielberg take the helm. He felt that the project had been through a lot of disagreements and the subject matter was Spielberg’s area of expertise.
Why Was Gigolo Joe Written As A Male Prostitute?
According to The Ringer, a couple of years before Steven Spielberg took the reigns of A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) from Stanley Kubrick, the screenplay written by Ian Watson suggested that Haley Joel Osment’s character get an adult companion on his quest.
The film was rated PG-13 as it had se*ual references and strong displays of robotic violence. After nearly 18 years of working on the film, Kubrick hoped Spielberg could tackle it.
Jude Law’s Gigolo Joe was written as a male prostitute as Steven Spielberg advocated that different versions and generations of mechas had to be shown in the film.
Lindsay MacGowan, who worked on the Teddy Bear’s VFX, said –
“I remember Steven actually mentioning that, if you were to go to any place in the world, you would see different cars from different time periods.”
Even though the audience hoped that Spielberg is coming with a child-friendly film, Stanley Kubrick knew what was actually happening.
Stanley Kubrick’s Tussle With Writers Delayed The Film
Long before Ian Watson came on board for good, Aldiss served as the writer. Kubrick later removed him from the project and hired Bob Shaw. He too left citing long hours of work.
Ian Watson served his final story and recommended that instead of a simple robot, Jude Law’s character be shown as a male prostitute.
Stanley Kubrick told Watson,
“I guess we lost the kiddie market.”
The concept of a gigolo back in 2001 raised a lot of eyebrows, but the film ended up collecting $235 million on a budget of $100 million.
Kubrick wanted to explore the characters surviving in a corrupt environment with odd friends and after asking Spielberg in ‘85, he moved on to other projects in the early ‘90s.
Jude Law will be seen in the upcoming The Marvels; set to release on November 10, this year.
Source: The Ringer
