Kubrick’s “Napoleon”

File card cabinet

Beginning in June 1968, Kubrick, with the help of historians and his assistants, compiled dossiers on all the important people in Napoleon’s life. From that research emerged a comprehensive card index, which he used to foreground his screenplay so that it was as historically accurate as possible. This index describes Napoleon’s life in detail: where he stayed, the people he corresponded with, his eating habits, the weather conditions during a particular battle. The colored tabs on the cards represent different characters. These research materials and their complex organizational strategy testify not only to the magnitude of the project but also to the meticulous preparations that Kubrick undertook.