Barry Lyndon sights on Thackeray's 1844 "satirical picaresque about the fortune-hunting of an Irish rogue," "Barry Lyndon", the setting of which allowed Kubrick to take advantage of the copious period research he had done for the now-aborted "Napoleon". At the time, Kubrick merely announced that his next film would star Ryan O'Neal (deemed "a seemingly un-Kubricky choice of leading man") and Marisa Berenson, a former "Vogue" and "Time" magazine cover model, and be shot largely in Ireland. So heightened was the secrecy surrounding the film that "Even Berenson, when Kubrick first approached her, was told only that it was to be an
The Man Who Played God (1932 film) and goes, a famously unsuccessful version. The Man Who Played God (1932 film) The Man Who Played God is a 1932 American Pre-Code drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. George Arliss stars as a concert pianist embittered by the loss of his hearing who eventually finds redemption in helping others; it also features a then little-known Bette Davis as the much younger woman in love with the protagonist. Warner Bros. promoted the film as an example that studios could produce motion pictures of social and moral value without the oversight of non-industry agents.