In the 1960s, director Stanley Kubrick was interested in making a film adaptation of the novel, but blacklisted director Abraham Polonsky had already optioned it. Instead, Kubrick collaborated with Clarke on adapting the short story "The Sentinel" into what eventually became "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). Months before his performance at Woodstock in 1969, folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens told "Ebony" magazine about his appreciation of Clarke's story and expressed his interest in working on a future film adaptation of "Childhood's End". Screenplays by Polonsky and Howard Koch were never made into films.