LOS ANGELES, June 24 — The “World War Z” director will take charge of “The Downslope", a trilogy adapted from an unfinished screenplay penned by Stanley Kubrick in 1956.

“The Downslope” is an anti-war tale that retraces certain Civil War battles in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

The historical epic will focus on the fierce rivalry between Union general George Armstrong Custer and Confederate colonel John Singleton Mosby.

Kubrick started writing the screenplay in 1956, in between the release of his first feature film, “Fear and Desire,” and another war film, “Paths of Glory,” which starred Kirk Douglas.

Unfinished and left essentially untouched for nearly 60 years, the screenplay will be revisited and completed by Marc Forster, the German director of “World War Z” and “The Kite Runner”, with the help of the deceased legendary filmmaker’s family.

Forster could begin filming “The Downslope” as soon as he wraps up “All I See Is You”, his upcoming thriller starring Blake Lively.

Kubrick, posthumous TV screenwriter

The “Full Metal Jacket” director left several other projects unfinished at the time of his death in 1999, at the age of 70, and two of them are possible targets for television.

For the past year, Michael C. Hall, the Emmy-nominated star of “Dexter,” has been linked to the mini-series “God Fearing Man,” a story written by Kubrick that is based on the true story of Canadian minister Herbert Emerson Wilson, who went on to become one of the best safecrackers and most successful American bank robbers in the early 20^th century with a haul of over $16 million.

The second, a Napoleon biopic, has been bouncing around for a few years. Kubrick tried to bring it to life for 40 years but his project never saw the light of day due to a budget deemed unreasonable by MGM. Back in 2013, Steven Spielberg, already responsible for bringing to life another Kubrick project, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” had announced he was taking control of the project with backing from HBO. A few months later, it was Baz Luhrmann who was attached to direct.

Since then, HBO hasn’t released any new information regarding the mini-series, and Baz Luhrmann has since moved on to directing Netflix’s “The Get Down”. — AFP-Relaxnews