Don't you fret, Kubrick ain't done yet. Sure, you thought you saw the last of his films seven years ago. But you were wrong, my friend. Dead wrong.

The New York Times is reporting that the Kubrick estate has finally hammered out the details of bringing one of Stanley Kubrick's old film ideas in front of the camera. Titled Lunatic at Large, it is based on an idea of Kubrick's brought to life through a treatment written by pulp noir sensation Jim Thompson (who worked with Kubrick on The Killing and Paths of Glory, and is known for a string of adaptations of his work which includes The Grifters and The Getaway).

The film is set when it was originally written, making it a period piece (apparently the idea wouldn't update well), and already has a writer and director attached to flesh out the treatment.

Personally, I'm excited by the idea of bringing some of Kubrick's unfinished projects to light – although I am troubled by two things. One, we've seen one postmortem piece (AI: Artificial Intelligence), and it sucked. And two, I'm worried that if this is successful we may see a string of Kubrick's ideas dug out of those trunks (there are apparently tons of unfinished material) which could lead to a series of mediocre projects that get made simply because Stanley Kubrick's corpse is attached.

I'm hoping for the best, but this kind of thing needs to be tread upon lightly. Helping bring to light the unfinished work of a genius is a noble and wonderful thing - both for the memory of the artist and the fans that still crave more. But there's a fine line between honoring a genius and exploiting him. Here's to hoping that Hollywood doesn't get greedy when dealing with Kubrick's estate.

C. Robert Cargill

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