Luca Guadagnino Hoping To Revive Stanley Kubrick’s Never-Made WWII Film ‘Aryan Papers’ For WB

I think we’re all still reeling from the shock that neither of Luca Guadagnino‘s films “Challengers” nor “Queer” secured Oscar nominations. Still, the Italian filmmaker has revealed an extremely ambitious project he hopes to get off the ground at Warner Bros., and it’s a dozy. In a recent interview with Cura Magazine, Guadagnino says he’s trying to revive a legendary, never-made Stanley Kubrick film, “Aryan Papers,” a Holocaust drama based on the Louis Begley book “Wartime Lies,” set in Poland during the years of the Nazi occupation and centering on two Jewish family members who avoid persecution by assuming Catholic identities.

While musing on his time-consuming process of tackling adaptations, Guadagnino revealed two projects he’s been desperate to realize that being Kubrick’s “Aryan Papers” (a drama set during WWII and the Nazi-occupation of Europe) and Thomas Mann‘s “Buddenbrooks” (co-writing a script with Francesca Manieri) Admitting that those projects would be career landmarks for him if he could get them made, suggesting he’s been trying to put together “Aryan Papers” for quite some time.

READ MORE: Steven Spielberg Confirms Series Adaptation Of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Napoleon’ Script Is Heading Toward Production & Will Be 7 Episodes

“One is ‘Aryan Papers,’ which is 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,” Guadagnino explained about the two dream projects he wants to make.

“The other is an adaptation of Thomas Mann’s “Buddenbrooks,’ that I read when I was 12 and that I have dreamt of making ever since,” he continued. “For 42 years, I have been making it in my mind. I am adapting the script right now with the writer Francesca Manieri, with whom I wrote ‘We Are Who We Are.’ These are very complicated projects. The fact that I could remake ‘Suspiria’ and I could make ‘Queer’ tells me that I am a very lucky man or a very persistent man. I get what I want. If I can manage to make either ‘Buddenbrooks’ or ‘Aryan Papers,’ then I can conclude my life very satisfied.”

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Here is how an Amazon synopsis describes the original “Wartime Lies” novel penned by Begley:

“As the world slips into the throes of war in 1939, young Maciek’s once closeted existence outside Warsaw is no more. When Warsaw falls, Maciek escapes with his aunt Tania. Together they endure the war, running, hiding, changing their names, forging documents to secure their temporary lives—as the insistent drum of the Nazi march moves ever closer to them and to their secret wartime lies.”

This news echoes Steven Spielberg’s current attempt to resurrect Kubrick’s infamously never-realized Napoleon Bonaparte epic, which is poised to make landfall at HBO (where Spielberg made “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific”) as a 7-part mini-series. However, it’s unclear when and IF Guadagnino will ever see his vision for the “Aryan Papers” come together, given the years already spent trying to achieve that goal. Given the subject matter and the source material’s link to Kubrick, we can’t help but root for the filmmaker to get his wish granted by WB and the Kubrick Estate.

Let’s hope miracles can happen as we are here for any and all dream projects manifesting into reality.