Motivated by the success of Space Odyssey, Kubrick has embarked on another sci-fi mission called A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). This time, his film unlike Space Odyssey carries a humanistic element. It's set in the mid-21st century New York, where because of the global warming, huge glaciers have melted leaving the city flooded. To deal with this environmental disaster, the government decides to control the population growth.

To this end, a lottery is set up, which determines what families can have children. The unlucky ones, however, will have the option to purchase a robotic baby. The Swinton family turns out to be an unlucky one, and ends up adopting a robotic child, named David Swinton (Haley Joel Osment). Does David's mother have a natural love for him Solving this riddle becomes the primary purpose of David's life and the central theme of the film.

The story appears to be a cross between Kevin Costner's WaterWorld and Steven Spielberg's E.T. The script was initially based on Brian Aldiss' short story Super Toys, which is a tale about a young synthetic boy confused about his existence. However, over the years, Kubrick also worked with writers like Bob Shaw and Ian Watson to further refine the script.

Kubrick's final collaborator on the A.I. script was English novelist Sara Maitland. The director brought her on board to give the script a sentimental touch. After working on the script, Sara concluded, "the project was unwieldy and unfocused." She further added that the "story needed to make emotional sense as a myth or fairy tale does."

In 1991, the film's pre-production began. But it came to a sudden halt when Kubrick realized that special effects needed for the film were beyond the technological capabilities of the time. In 1993, however, the breakthrough technology used in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park rekindled A.I.

KUBRICK'S DEATH

On March 7th, 1999, after making final edits to his film Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick died. Many feared that his unfortunate death would end the production of long awaited A.I.

But soon afterwards, a rumour began to surface that one of Kubrick's life-long friends might helm the film. Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack topped this list. Few months later, Steven Spielberg emerged as the potential scriptwriter and director.

SPIELBERG TAKES OVER

A year after the legendary director's death, it was officially announced that Steven Spielberg will finish the A.I. project as a writer and the director. Upon this announcement, Jan Harlan (Kubrick's brother-in-law) told the press: "There is only one person who can direct `A.I.', and we couldn't be more excited and honoured that he has agreed to make it his next movie". Jan also added "Stanley came to realize that Steven would actually be the ideal director for the project".

Steven Spielberg was also delighted by this announcement and said "Stanley had a vision for this project that was evolving over 18 years, I am intent on bringing to the screen as much of that vision as possible along with elements of my own."

THE PRODUCTION

The film was expected to begin production on July 10th, 2000, but it was delayed due to Spielberg's involvement in Jurassic Park 3 as a storywriter and executive producer.

In the meantime, however, the wonder boy (Spielberg) began casting some of the finest performers from all over the world for A.I. Academy award nominated Haley Joel Osment was chosen to play David Swinton, while Frances O' Connor and Sam Robards were selected to play as his parents. Jude Law, another academy award nominated, was picked for the role of Gigolo Joe in the sci-fi. In his interview to Empire Online Jude said, "Spielberg has a tremendous visual imagination. He'll do a fantastic job of this film".

Other cast includes Keith Campbell as Road Warrior, Miguel Perez as Technician and Robin Williams as the Narrator.

The crew team involves Spielberg's life long partners: John Williams for music, Michael Kahn for editing and Dennis Muren for visual effects. The film cinematography will be helmed by two times academy award winner Janusz Kaminski.

The film is now under production and should wrap up in late October or early November. Its release date is June 29th, 2001.

THE TONE

The tone of th is film will be certainly like Spielberg's E.T. The reason Both films are about relationship and love.

On the top of this, the film's atmosphere is expected to be a cross between The Fifth Element and WaterWorld. But one thing is certain, that the film will have Spielberg's magical touch.

Based on the plot revealed, Spielberg appears to be following the strategy that he used in E.T. Like E.T., A.I. is about human emotions. Spielberg has returned to this theme after making movies such as Jaws, Jurassic Park and Duel.

THE POTENTIAL

Will A.I. win audiences as E.T. did back in 1982 It does look that way. Both films have parallel storylines. In E.T., the film revolves around a young boy Elliot torn by his parent's divorce that triggers his friendship with an Extra Terrestrial life form, while A.I. is about the relationship of an adopted android kid and his human mother.

Spielberg hasn't done a family film in almost a decade. If Spielberg tackles this film as he tackled E.T. but with a little Kubrick touch, it is bound to attract audience of all ages.

For more on this film, visit DreamWorks SKG Fansite-A.I.