Nella mente di Kubrick, nelle parole di Koch. La sceneggiatura di "Childhood’s End" e il 2001 che non vedremo mai

This essay reconstructs the genesis and development of the unproduced film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End, developed in the 1960s by MGM and entrusted to screenwriter Howard Koch. Drawing on unpublished documents preserved in the George Pal Papers at UCLA, the author highlights the dense network of relationships among Clarke, Koch, and George Pal, showing how the writing of the script overlapped, both thematically and chronologically, with that of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Koch’s screenplay—of which at least two distinct versions exist—radically alters the original message of the novel, replacing its apocalyptic ending with a more reassuring and pedagogical conclusion, consistent with the screenwriter’s humanistic and political sensibilities. The essay reflects on the historical and theoretical significance of unrealized films, proposing the script as an autonomous key to interpreting the author’s work, and as a valuable document for the history of cinema—particularly for understanding the shift from apocalyptic science fiction to a utopian and educational narrative within the Cold War context.