Customer Reviews

A.I. Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg: The Vision Behind the Film

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Length:: 0:27 Mins

I was a bit surprised when I saw this book, published eight years after A.I. Artificial Intelligence was released. Time seems to stretch out with everything with this movie.

This book looks in depth at the production and also analyses the whole film thoroughly. If you don't already know, the film is inspired by a short story called "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" written by Brian Aldiss in 1969. In 1976, Stanley Kubrick approached Brian Aldiss, and later with Steven Spielberg in 1984. With authorization from Kubrick before he passed away in 1999, Spielberg manages to finish the film in 2001. What happens during within all those time is all in the book. It's incredibly well researched and put together.

Besides production, there's also an extensive analysis of the film, act by act, with interviews from staff. It explores the philosophy, science and social-biology issues with robotics in the future. There's even an essay written by the director from the Personal Robots Group from MIT Media Lab.

This is one huge book measuring almost 20 inches diagonal, if go you by tv/monitor sizes. The pages are so big that the short story from Brian Aldiss are scanned and reproduced with handwritten notes.

Also included are storyboards and concept sketches from Chris Baker, as well as many photos from the set. It's interesting to see how the concept art evolved into actual sets and the discarded ideas. I didn't know that Rouge City, the one with lots of bright lights, is actually a miniature set. And Teddy, the bear, has more articulation joints than T-Rex from Jurassic Park. There are also extracts from Kubrick's notebooks but his handwriting is difficult to read.

This is a nice super-sized book looking at the art and making of the film. Recommended for fans of the movie.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

A great and beautifully produced book about an enigmatic and mysterious film. The large format reproductions of Chris Baker's artwork are gorgeous. Stanley Kubrick's notes, annotations from Brian Aldiss, Ian Watson and Spielberg are gold. The editorials by Jan Harlan and Jane Struthers are fascinating and insightful, and at times quite moving -- especially Mr. Harlan's comment in the introduction, remarking on Stanley Kubrick's philosophy of filmmaking: 'First love it, and then worry about how to do it.'

For full disclosure, "A.I." was somewhat of a personal obsession, which haunted me from first reports that began appearing in the early days of the Internet rumor mill. Around the time of the film's release, I had the privilege to interview many of the filmmakers for an article about the film for Cinefex magazine, which I'm honored to see included in the 'recommended reading' notes of this book. One thing that my article lacked was Stanley Kubrick's voice. This book gives you that, in the annotations accompanying Chris's artwork and the observations of his colleagues. Bravo to Chris and to Thames & Hudson for pulling this material together; and to Messrs. Harlan and Spielberg, thank you for allowing this book to happen. It's long overdue, and it is a treasure.

Highly recommended.

Joe Fordham

Cinefex, associate editor

A nicely edited book, you will get to see lots of high quality scans from the concept artwork and from Kubrick's notebook, you will get to see Kubrick's hand writing, which I have to say, is difficult to read. You will not be disappointed, it is a must for fans of the movie and Kubrick. Just a warning: the book is huge, so might have a problem placing it on your bookshelf.

Right after Kubrick's death in 1999, someone wrote a great article about his "lost films", i.e. the ones he wanted to make but never did, and now never would. I'd heard of his mysterious A.I. project a few years before then, but knew nothing about it beyond the title. That article was the first time I learned any actual details about it. That was where my fascination with A.I. began. My favorite Kubrick film was always 2001, and for years I'd yearned for him to return to science fiction. It was heartbreaking to find out how close I came to getting my wish, only to have it snatched away at the last second. When Speilberg ended up making the film himself, I felt virtually alone in A) not immediately decrying it as a bastardation the moment it was announced and B) honestly liking it and regarding it as an instant classic. I've never really stopped being fascinated by A.I. or lost my appetite for learning new info about it, particularly its early history, the hows and whys the project was born in the first place. To that end, this book is a godsend. I expected it to be essentially an art book with bits of text here and there to provide context to the pieces of concept art and behind the scenes photos. I am happily surprised to find that there is actually a huge amount of text, often several pages at a time with no graphics to speak of. I've only just begun to delve into it, but I've already gotten some great stuff out of it, e.g. Brian Aldiss recollecting his first discussions with Kubrick and his own annotations handwritten in the margins of his original Supertoys short story. Early treatment pages, notes Kubrick wrote to himself. This book is a treasure trove.

a great book from a great film alot of background information just makes you wish that stanley kurbrick would have done this film ,steven spielberg did a grat job

A.I. Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick.

Wonderful colored pictures and great information on the feature film.

One draw back not enough behind the scenes on the miniatures from ILM.

Very nice book overall!

Why not include the DVD of the movie or some special features as a Tie in to aid the cause