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Sean Baker Todd Field Henry Butash Josh Safdie Land Oppenheim Andrew Patterson

External videos
Marcel Carné tourne à Guîtres (1:41) 8 October 1992
Film "Mouche" de Marcel Carné (1:22) 15 June 1993

As early as 1986, Verhoeven had begun researching for a (planned) film on Jesus.

[It had been] developed initially under the title Christ: The Man.

But the film Christ the Man was never realized. Instead, Verhoeven wrote the book Jesus of Nazareth

, incorporating his ideas for film scenes in the book in the process.

"In 2007, Verhoeven wrote the book Jesus of Nazareth (Dutch: Jezus van Nazaret) about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The book reviews the ideas of Jesus of Nazareth and the alleged corruption of these same ideas over the last 2,000 years. Co-written with Verhoeven's biographer Rob Van Scheers, the book is the culmination of the research Verhoeven conducted in preparation for Jesus: The Man, a motion picture about the life of Christ. The book tells about the Jewish uprising against Roman rule and characterizes Jesus as a radical political activist, downplaying any supernatural events and miracles as unproved or unprovable. Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait was released in September 2008 in Dutch, and was published in English in May 2010 by Seven Stories Press."

On March 30, 2010

Since the 1980s, Verhoeven has worked on a project telling the epic story of the Batavia flagship...

On April 9, 2002, in an interview conducted for Ain't It Cool News, Verhoeven revealed

So, do you still visit Holland often? Well, it depends. The past year, I've been here a lot more than usual, because I'm working on two projects with Gerard Soeteman, who wrote all my Dutch films. After that [period] I resided in the States for about seventeen years, and I just made American movies. But two years ago, I decided that I wanted to make something 'European'. It's pretty difficult to get a movie like that financed in America, because they're not at all interested in European history. If you're able to get some kind of co-funding for a project like that in Europe, it all gets a lot easier in the States.

Why are you so interested in making a European project? Have you lost interest in Hollywood? I think the desire to do such a thing is pretty normal if you've lived in Europe for about 47 years. The fact that I've made a couple of succesful Hollywood-films, now gives me the opportunity to actually get a European project made. In most countries, people know my name now. I never achieved that just with my Dutch work, that's just the way it goes. Even English-spoken Dutch films never manage to cross the border. European countries don't buy each other's films and they don't want to see each other's films.

And European investors are interested in Paul Verhoeven now? Well, I want to make American films, partly financed with European money. I mean, if it's American, almost anything is possible, even in Europe. It’s a lot easier to find funding that way. There's a lot of European money in American films anyhow; Europeans continually invest in American films. What concerns me, is that I want to make films with European subject matter. I was never really able to express myself on an international level with my Dutch films. I went to the States because I hated the politics surrounding the Dutch film in general at that time, mainly because the Dutch Film Fund always worked against me. I don't need them anymore now.

So no more Dutch films for you? I want to make European films; English spoken, with American actors and European subject matter, about European history.

But surely, people have regarded you as a succesful director for over ten years now. Why return to Europe now? The desire to make a European film, a film I really want to make, only came to me about two or three years ago. I never really thought about it before then. I was too busy trying to establish myself as a director in the States. That alone will take you about ten to fifteen years. While you're doing that, you start feeling more comfortable in America, and you try to regain some of your freedoms as a director. You start thinking about the films you really want to make. They give you more opportunities, you start to understand the way the studio-system works and how to move within certain circles. I like to do things that are different... HOLLOW MAN, BASIC INSTINCT, TOTAL RECALL - of the six films I made in the States, three were totally mainstream. SHOWGIRLS is esoteric, STARSHIP TROOPERS had a clear message, but all the others were totally mainstream.

But they are all Paul Verhoeven-films... Of course they're your own films, but you're still doing something you'd rather not. At this point, I'm working on films I really want to make. One of them is AZAZEL, based on a novel by the Russian author Boris Akunin, set in the year 1876. It was recently published as FANDORIN in The Netherlands. In Russia, Akunin is a top-writer, sells over four million books a year. My daughter actually told me about it while studying in Moscow. I memorized the name and the moment it was translated in French, I bought it and read it. I fell in love right away, so I emailed the writer and politely asked him if I could buy the rights to his novel. It's actually the first novel in a series of eight or nine books, so I just optioned the first one, with the possibility of filming the other novels as well. Not that I really want to make ten films, but I really, really want to do the first one.

So that's going to be an American film with a European story? Yeah, and in that way it's different from most other American detective-stories. I think of it as BASIC INSTINCT set in 1876; a Russian detective in St Petersburg. But of course with American actors, otherwise it'll be impossible to sell.

Any names? No, no stars are attached yet. We just finished the script.

Why did you bring Gerard Soeteman back on board? Well, the detective actually made me think of a grown-up version of Floris [a series that Verhoeven made in The Netherlands, written by Soeteman and starring a young Rutger Hauer - ed.], so I immediately thought of Gerard. If anybody could write a decent script around such a character, without americanizing things too much, it would be him. It had to be written by a European screenwriter; I want the film to be different from American mainstream. Besides, the novel hasn't been translated into English yet and I haven't been able to find an American writer who can read French or German.

So you have all the rights to the novel now? Yeah, I bought all the rights. The English translation won't be published before may next year and I didn't want to wait another two years. That's total nonsense, Gerard is a great writer, if not better than most American scribes. You never know how the cookie crumbles, but this is just what I want to do right now. And I hope to get the project financed and greenlit in America.

And you're selling the project as a 'Paul Verhoeven film'? It's not my name that sells, but my expertise. They estimate things like 'yeah, he'll be able to do it, or 'no, he's not up to it'. I'm no Alfred Hitchcock.

But you do have a reputation? With the studios and critics, yes. Of course, the public knows who I am, but I don't think Americans are really interested in 'the new Paul Verhoeven'. Only a director like Spielberg can pull that off, or maybe Lubitsch and Hitchcock in the old days.

So, it's back to the studio-system of the thirties then? No! That studio-system allowed great directors like Hitchcock, Wilder and Lubitsch to make a name for themselves. They were able to finance a film on their name alone. It's totally different now; you can't make a decent American movie if you don't have any stars attached. And AZELLE will be a costly project; not like HOLLOW MAN or STARSHIP TROOPERS, but I think the budget will be around fourty million dollars.

Are you telling me you're NOT a bankeable director in the States? Look, at this point there's only one director who's able to make movies without big names and that's Steven Spielberg. All the others, whether they're Oliver Stone or Paul Verhoeven, need big names to get a project financed.

But you're certainly part of the top? Yeah, but unless you've got big names, you won't get any project greenlit, it's as simple as that. Unless, of course, a studio wants to make a special effects-driven movie, like HOLLOW MAN. That film didn't have any big names; the visual effects were the main attraction. I mean, with all due respect, you can't finance a movie on Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue alone. I couldn't have made BASIC INSTINCT without Michael Douglas.

And most of the stars want to work with Paul Verhoeven? No, they decide to join because they like the script or the part. And only after that, they'll think 'o yeah, that director's pretty much okay'. And only if you're lucky.

What's the other project you're working on? The other film I'm working on has a distinctive Dutch 'touch'. It's a movie based on the novel BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD, by Mike Bash. It's an epic story about a VOC-ship. I'm developing the story right now with Gerard Soeteman.

Haven't you been working on that project for over twenty years now? Yeah, but NOW there's a book, and it's an English novel to boot. It's so much easier to get a project on the right track when there's an English novel. I mean, when you say: 'we've got this great ship in Holland, let's make a movie about that', people in America will immediately go: 'so? Haven't you seen MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY?'. There have been several novels about the Batavia, but this one was only recently published and got great reviews. I urged the British company Film Four to buy the rights to the novel for me and so they did....BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD and AZAZELLE are the projects I really want to do right now, but nothing is certain. The films still need to be financed, several stars are needed. The only way you know for certain that you've actually made a movie is when you're present at its premiere. But the script is a beginning. You won't get money or big stars without a script. Good scripts get you stars, stars get you money. That's just the way it works.

It took you fifteen years in America just to figure that out? No, things weren't like that at all when I made ROBOCOP back in 1987. It's the way it is at this moment. Not to say that there aren't any exceptions, sure there are, but it generally works this way. It's the way studios think. I know I'll have to go through the same ordeal with AZAZELLE ans BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD. You can't even get any money in Europe now, if you don't have any big names attached to your project. Europeans have already lost so much money on shitty films. They won't get fooled again.

Is that why projects like CRUSADES or the Hitler and Jezus-biopics were shelved? CRUSADES was eventually shelved because Carolco went bankrupt. After that, the project landed in Arnolds lap and he still owns the rights.

Wasn't the GLADIATOR-hype reason enough to pull CRUSADES out of the fridge? That could have been the case, but it didn't happen. Actually, I don't have anything to do with the project anymore. At the time, I was involved with Carolco, but Arnold has the rights now and he can do with it whatever he wants.

But would you like to do it?

• short silence* well I never hear anything about it. I don't know if Arnold wants to do it, or if he wants to do it with me. I last saw him when we did the audio-commentary for the TOTAL RECALL-dvd, but we never really discussed it. The only thing I know is that Ridley Scott is developing some kind of Crusades-project.

What about ALEXANDER? Hah! I think there are about twenty to thirty people who want to do ALEXANDER.

Including you? Sure. But I only want to do an Alexander-movie, based on the novel by Louis Couperus. I think the only great novel about Alexander's life is ISKANDER by Couperus.

Ehhmmm... so are you seriously developing this? Well, let's just say I'm seriously re-reading the novel. I'm looking for ways to turn it into a film. But it's definitely one of my all-time favorite novels ever. It's truly fantastic. It's not just warriors bashing each other's heads in, but it's actually about people.

So real people are more important to you and your films? Well, more important... of course, with Alexander, they are. With FANDORIN, the thriller-aspect and the period-aspect are more important. A thriller, of course, has other strenghts than an epic film about Alexander the Great. Couperus really tried to understand Alexander's motivations and what his psychological relation was with Darius' mother. So that's about people, and all the massive battle-scenes service them.

But you never really made films about real people in the States? Ehhmmm... well, BASIC INSTINCT is about people...

You didn't feel the need to do it? I never got the opportunity to do it!

And now you do? I think FANDORIN is somewhere in between, there are all these great characters, but basically it's a detective-story and an adventure-story. It's like Tin-Tin, Sherlock Holmes, Floris and Indiana Jones in one.

But do you feel the need to make films about human characters or not? No, I mean, not just about human characters. FANDORIN is not just about people, BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD is.

So that's not going to be a PERFECT STORM set in 1700 then? No, more like a LORD OF THE FLIES, set in 1628. If you want to simplify it like that.

How about Hitler? I'm not working on that at the moment.

Why? Wasn't that your dream-project? Yeah... well maybe, I'm just not ready for it yet.

Is it going to be your SCHINDLER'S LIST? I don't know. I still have to find a right way to do it, I think. If you want to make a biopic on the life of Hitler, you're gonna end up with an eight hour movie at least. And you'll need a good angle, I haven't fount it yet

Believe me, there were plans for a SHOWGIRLS 2! It's called BIMBO'S... Joe and I seriously discussed it at one point. When the movie turned out the way it did, we made a treatment for a sequel, just for fun. Joe came up with the title; BIMBO'S: NOMI GOES HOLLYWOOD. But nobody wanted to do it...

On April 25, 2001,

On May 21, 2016, "Next up: Verhoeven plans to make another Dutch movie (possibly for television) based on the French book “Bel Ami” by Guy de Maupassant, and is currently working with his screenwriter Gerard Soeteman. And he’s developing a feature about Jesus of Nazareth."

On July 14, 2021, "In spite of hip surgery (caused, he says, by all those steep hills he had to walk up when shooting on location in the Italian countryside), Verhoeven is still fighting fit. Until very recently, he had been working hard on a modern-day adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s much-filmed Bel-Ami. The intention was to make it a high-end TV drama series. However, as he tells Screen, the project (about a good-looking young soldier who becomes a journalist and sleeps his way to the top of Parisian society) has stalled, at least for now. “I got in a conflict again with my scriptwriter,” he sighs. The scriptwriter in question is his long-term collaborator Gerard Soeteman who wrote his Dutch movies (Soldier Of Orange, Turkish Delight) and who first gave him the Judith C Brown book Immodest Acts on which Benedetta is based. (The script was eventually co-written by Verhoeven with David Birke, who also collaborated on Elle.) The way Verhoeven describes it, his relationship with Soeteman sounds like that of a bickering old couple. “It was his idea to make the movie [Bel-Ami] and then we started to work on it like we have done for the last 50 years… and then we started to disagree about what the book was saying. At a certain moment, he felt I was on a road he didn’t like at all. Then we stopped!” Verhoeven still hopes to revive the project, perhaps with David Birke again if Soeteman doesn’t come round. In the meantime, he is continuing to work on his long-gestating Jesus project. He has written a book on the subject and has Birke collaborating on the screenplay. Immediately after Cannes, they will be working on a new outline. The basic idea is to portray Jesus as a humanist and an insurrectionist, more Che Guevara than hippy-like miracle worker. “What I want to show is what Jesus said and stands for that is interesting to us now.”"

On April 13, 2002, "Accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award during the 18th Festival of the Fantastic Film in Amsterdam, director Paul Verhoeven revealed his next planned project, having had his latest feature, Official Assassins, cancelled post-September 11. While he claims to have several projects up his sleeve, convincing Hollywood studios has become increasingly difficult "Since the assaults last September, Hollywood seems to be in a state of limbo", he said. His new pet-project is a Russian thriller, based on the book Fandorin by Boris Akoenin. The story is set in Moscow in 1876 and deals with a curious suicide. "It is as intriguing as Basic Instinct," says Verhoeven, who discovered the book through his daughter who is studying in Russia. There is already a scenario, written by Gerard Soeteman, his collaborator on Turkish Delight and Soldier Orange. "Right now it is being translated into English. The English edition of the novel will be published next year by Random House. At this moment it is difficult to negotiate. We need a translation of the script." said Verhoeven. Depending on the cast, the director assumes he needs a budget of around $30m. He hopes to find the financing in Europe and America. If the deal takes too long, he is planning to make a smaller movie - the thriller Paper Boy, a story of a man on death row. Producer-director Jan de Bont (Twister), Verhoeven's former cameraman in Holland, owns the rights. Previously the Spanish Oscar-winner Pedro Almodovar was connected to the project but it subsequently collapsed. Said Verhoeven "The budget of this film should be around $17m, so it should be easy to set it up." Last week the UK's Film Four announced a deal with Verhoeven to adapt the novel Batavia's Graveyard, about a famous shipwreck in 17th century, by Mike Dash. Soeteman will write the scenario. "We hope to use the replica of the ship Batavia made by Willem Vos. The vessel is a tourist attraction in Holland." Verhoeven still hopes to make a film about Jesus. Currently he is halfway through writing a theological book on the subject that will certainly cause stir, like that which Martin Scorsese experienced with The Last Temptation Of Christ. "I will get rid off a lot of nonsense that is written about Jesus by theologians. I am ready for any confrontation on this." [Verhoeven presumed/estimated that the budget would be -around- (no more than) -at least- 17 million]

On April 9, 2010, on promotional tour for his novel Jesus of Nazareth,

On February 18, 2014,

On July 7, 2021,

On November 9, 2016,

On August 14, 2013, "Verhoeven has been talking about making a movie along these lines ever since he first attended one of the Jesus Seminar’s gatherings in 1988 (one year after he directed RoboCop); when I interviewed Jesus Seminar member Marcus Borg in 1995, he told me that Verhoeven was thinking of casting Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role."

On August 13, 2013,

On December 1, 2006,

On February 12, 2007, in a profile for The Times,

On February 4, 2009, "The man knows everything about the Bible. Hollywood director Paul Verhoeven (71, "Basic Instinct") quotes from the Old and New Testaments; he has researched with theologians for over 20 years. His book "Jesus – The Story of a Man" (Pendo, €19.95) is published on Tuesday. First of all: Verhoeven is only interested in the historical figure. He believes neither in God nor that Jesus was his son. Rather, he believes that Mary was raped. Or became pregnant unintentionally. The director: "I originally wanted to make a film about Jesus, without all the mythological stuff." That was in the 1980s. "I couldn't raise any money back then, but Daniel Day-Lewis was the only person I could have considered to play Jesus. He was so strong, so beautiful, and a fantastic actor." Instead of a film, a book came out: "I was thinking more and more like a detective, less in pictures." What fascinates him about Jesus? "I don't know if I would like him if I met him. But I'm sure he healed many people, more or less. Through his charismatic power. He was able to activate something in the patients' brains that helped them. Because he was convinced he could." Verhoeven doesn't believe other things, however. For example, that Jesus could walk on water or was resurrected."

At the Santa Barbara Film Festival in 2016, McTiernan stated/teased that his next film would (be about) (tackle) "a childless woman and a motherless child." He added that the project was backed by a French company, and that it would be shot possibly in France or Serbia.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=zdkviokVgKg

https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/nantes-44000/mctiernan-le-realisateur-de-piege-de-cristal-est-nantes-4339312

Far from the United States, from Predator, from the certainties of a cash machine, the new McTiernan is therefore starting a European career. He is currently staying in France. He is writing. A script is ready, which he will soon shoot in Serbia. In this new action film, of which he reveals a few snippets before retracting, he wants to play with temporal paradoxes: "The action seems to take place in Europe in the sixties, but it is an illusion."

He taps Cate Blanchett for the lead role: " That of a retired officer, a childless mother who meets a motherless child." The film is called Tau Ceti 4.4, named after a distant star. John McTiernan is now on another planet.

https://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/News-Cinema/John-McTiernan-Comment-est-il-possible-de-regarder-un-film-qui-s-appelle-Captain-America-

https://theplaylist.net/john-mctiernan-dismisses-mad-max-fury-road-corporate-product-says-comic-book-movies-made-fascists-20160712/

In 2019, it was reported that McTiernan's Tau Ceti 4 would be pitched to buyers at that year's Cannes Film Festival. Uma Thurman and Travis Fimmel signed on to star in the sci-fi/action film, which McTiernan would have directed from his own original screenplay.

Uma Thurman and Travis Fimmel will star for John McTiernan in the sci-fi Tau Ceti 4, a hot sales title that IMR International will introduce to Cannes buyers next week.

McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator, The Thomas Crown Affair) will direct from his screenplay and is producing alongside Gail Sistrunk, Anthony Katagas, and Thurman.

Tau Ceti 4 takes place on the war-torn fourth planet in the remote Tau Ceti solar system, where three heavily armed strangers show up, size up the various oligarchs and military thugs who terrorise the place, and set about killing every single one of them. CAA and Paradigm jointly represent North American rights.

Advert

Thurman’s credits include Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1 and 2, The House That Jack Built, and TV series Chambers.

Fimmel starred in TV hit Vikings, Warcraft, Leon On Pete, and the upcoming El Tonto, among others, and stars in Ridley Scott’s first television directing gig, the upcoming Raised By Wolves at TNT.

McTiernan is represented by Paradigm, Ron Mardigian, and Ziffren Brittenham. Thurman is represented by ICM Partners, Untitled Entertainment, and attorney George Sheanshang. Fimmel is represented by Paradigm, Management 360, and Sloane Offer

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/9/572wbhc8lih6sd6mos6e6vx46xccld

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/11/john-mctiernan-director-die-hard-prison-and-the-hollywood-machine

In 1982, Chicago

Friedkin (known largely for dark, crime and action films up until that point had an interest in other genres) (had an uncharacteristic interest in making/directing a) had long wanted to direct a big-budget Hollywood musical ([that would be] in the vein of such films as Singin' in the Rain, Gigi, and The Band Wagon) (in the vein of the ones produced/made [in Technicolor] by M-G-M in 1940s and 1950s such as) (American musicals produced [by M-G-M] during the 1950s such as An American Paris, The Band Wagon, Gigi, and Singin' in the Rain), later on lamenting that he did not do so. Friedkin later lamented having never (gotten to) directed a musical in his career, citing the films of Vincente Minnelli and Rogers and Hammerstein among his major influences. (However, he added) "Those people aren't around today," he added.

https://web.archive.org/web/19990128183607/http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/basic.html

https://web.archive.org/web/19990203220813/http://corona.bc.ca/films/details/rock2.html

Invalid reason from unconfirmed user. While a substantial edit (that may risk leaving the article unbalanced as of now), the information is directly related to inception of and what led to Marty Supreme becoming Josh Safdie's next film. And, naturally, the remainder of the article will become more refined and "beefed up" over time when the film is actually released and more information comes to light. For now, I see this background information as nothing less than, while long, valid and informative. Your perspective seems to be just an opinion. If there seems to be a larger, further consensus of disputes with the edit, then we should take it to the article's talk page

WAIT FOR ME (Peter Bogdanovich)

A ghost comedy/drama/fantasy/ensemble piece directly inspired by Bogdanovich's relationship with the late Dorothy Stratten and the writings of Robert Graves, developed over three decades. Bogdanovich dubbed it "the best thing I ever wrote." The plot would have followed washed-up Hollywood director/star Charles Benedict who is visited by the ghost of his last wife that was killed six years earlier in a plane crash. He first began thinking about the idea after Stratten's death, in around November of 1980, but did not complete a first draft until the end of that decade. "I like the story. It's got a lot more difficult since I first thought of it, though. It used to be about a guy who married three times and had three daughters. Now he marries six times and has six daughters," he later said of the various permutations the film went through over the years. Originally, it was intended that John Cassavetes would play the lead, before his death in 1989. "For the rest of the time before he died, he'd say, 'Are you going to make that picture?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'You better make that picture.' And then when he was very close to dying, one of the last things he said to me was, 'Listen, kid, you better make that picture, because you know what? I'll be there'." The closest iteration to being made was in the late 1990s, which had Michael Caine (the director), Gena Rowlands, Anjelica Huston, Catherine Deneuve, Liza Minnelli, Isabella Rossellini, Cybill Shepard (the six wives), Quentin Tarantino (young rock star), George Segal, Harry Carey Jr., Alain Delon (his friends), Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, Christopher Reeve, and Jerry Lewis ("the deceased") in the cast. He was able to raise $15 million in financing, but put it on hold because he didn't feel the script was "quite right", and vowed return to it once it had been rewritten sufficiently. Later on, Bogdanovich came close to making it in the 2010s with the producing assistance of Brett Ratner and his company RatPac Entertainment. This iteration, taking place over six days, was to have been shot in various cities in different countries. In order, they were; Rome, Rio, Vienna, Budapest, back to Vienna, Salzburg, and finally Prague. In 2016, he allegedly had a famous actor considering the main part, but did not disclose who. "If we have him, then everybody else will fall into place," he said at the 18th Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival. By 2018, the project remained on the future docket for Bogdanovich, with him revealing in an interview that Frank Marshall would now be producing it, and that they were still discussing actors. Though it was never officially confirmed, it could be presumed that the "famous actor" Bogdanovich spoke of was none other than Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, whom he had been in continuous contact with over the COVID-19 pandemic about a cryptically-described "future part in a picture." Regardless, Bogdanovich was still hoping to make the film at the time of his death in 2022.

The film would be based on an ideogram of the number six:

[It follows a film director] slash writer, somebody like Cassavetes or Woody Allen or Orson Welles, somebody who acts, directs... who's the star, who directs and writes; and this guy—whose name is Charles Benedict—has been married six times, and he has six daughters; and his last wife, the one he was most in love with, was killed in a plane crash six years before the film begins. And in those six years, Charlie Benedict has gone to hell: he beat up a producer at 20th Century-Fox, he took an axe and chopped up a projection room at Universal [...] anyway, so Charlie Benedict is persona non grata in Hollywood. And, when the picture begins, he has spent the last few months traveling through Sicily and Italy, financed by the Italians, pretending to be looking for locations for a script, but he has no script. And that's how it starts. It's a very complicated picture. The whole thing plays in about five or six days and yet we go to... we start in Rome, then we go to Rio, we go to Vienna, then he goes to Budapest, then he goes back to Vienna, and then he goes to Salzburg, and then he goes to Prague. That's the basic setup, but the thing I haven't told you is that the ghost of his last wife appears to him, and they have a relationship—ghost and him—I don't wanna go into the whole thing, but there are six ghosts in the picture. And they're all friendly. And there's a sub[plot]... there's another plot that involves one of the six daughters who's going with a rock star, and she disappears. The rock star blames everything on Charles, 'cause he was such a bad father. It's a complicated picture. It's comedy, drama, fantasy.

The proposed cast of Michael Cimino's Man's Fate

Top: Johnny Depp, Uma Thurman and/or Nicole Kidman, and Daniel Day-Lewis
Bottom: John Malkovich, Alain Delon, Anouk Aimée, and Philippe Noiret

The proposed main cast of The Streets of Laredo

Top: John Wayne, James Stewart and Henry Fonda
Bottom: Ryan O'Neal, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson

Dakota Johnson and Sebastian Stan were both intended to lead May's final feature

The proposed stars of Crackpot

Dakota Johnson and Sebastian Stan

Background and impetus

In 1972, film director Peter Bogdanovich, who had collaborated with McMurtry on the adaptation of The Last Picture Show, had a deal at Columbia for his next film which he planned to be Western "trek". He intended for (it to be an homage to the genre itself and thus star three icons who helped to pioneer it) it to star three iconic stars of the genre; John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, in addition to actors from his stock company such as Ryan O'Neal, Cybill Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson. Bogdanovich also planned for the film to feature the Irish singing group The Clancy Brothers, an idea he got from John Ford. He presented the cast and ideas to McMurtry who responded (shockingly), before suggesting that the "trek" be a journey West of the Rio Grande, with the main characters delivering horses. "Fine," said Bogdanovich.

Since the film was written with Wayne, Stewart and Fonda in mind, Bogdanovich dismissed any notion that the project be salvaged using alternative actors (other such names as Lee Marvin or Kirk Douglas were mentioned), and informed McMurtry that he was not going to make it, suggesting he write it as a novel instead. Years later, McMurtry did just that; expanding the text, making minor changes to the characters and retitling it Lonesome Dove. The book was published by

Bogdanovich blamed Wayne's rejection for the project falling apart, saying the idea of of those three actors together had become integral to their vision.

McTiernan blamed Cleese's rejection for the project falling apart, saying the idea of Cleese and Schwarzenegger together had become integral to their vision.[1] David Gambino, vice president of production for Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment, said Schwarzenegger's version of the film never materialized due to financial issues.[5]

In his introduction to/for Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov, Gilliam revealed that he had aspirations/was once in contention to direct an adaptation/filmversion of (one of) Bulgakov's (-other- novels,) The Master and Margarita.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/black-snow-9781409090342

300

254 - A Safe Darkness

218-219 - Legion

64, 72 - The Murders on the Moor by Emlyn Williams

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719, 639, 175, 206, 331, 131, 140-141, 146, 151, 720, 480, 444, 480, 483, 62, 321, 461, 198, 641, 152, 196, 224, 282, 342, 455, 612, 728, 639, 309, 640, 129, 522, 647, 327, 296, 480,

In a interview film in 1990 Harlin told about his future projects. He was going to shoot after "Die Hard 2" (1990) a modern remake of Humphrey Bogart film "Key Largo" (1948). Film was titled "Gale Force", but was never made. After "Gale Force" he was going to film "Torpedo" titled gangster film which would have been set in 1939 New York, but this film was never made either. He dreamed it would have become his "Godfather" film.

After those two films he planned to make the "Fade" with Steven Spielberg producing. Film would have told a story about teenage boy growing up in a small town in 1940's. Spielberg had offered him the film by sending him the book the script was based on.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-04-ca-273-story.html Renny Harlin Finds Plenty of Action in Hollywood : Movies: With ‘Die Hard 2’ and ‘Ford Fairlane’ opening almost simultaneously, the Finnish director of adventure films is taking the industry by storm. By CHRIS WILLMAN July 4, 1990 12 AM PT

Director Renny Harlin wants to make one thing perfectly clear.

“I don’t know what you’ve read,” he said with the trace of an accent, “but I never told anybody that I’m the Finnish Steven Spielberg.” He faintly glowered at the thought of this presumption on his lips. “That’s following me, that curse. I don’t know where it started. I’ve never said anything that silly.”

Others may have suggested it if he hasn’t, or they soon will. Harlin is hardly an American household name yet, but with two major-studio films coincidentally opening a scant week apart--the sure blockbuster “Die Hard 2" today, followed by a gamble, “The Adventures of Ford Fairlane,” next Wednesday--he will soon benefit from name repetition.

Not that either picture is likely to inspire a Renny Harlin retrospective at Cannes or the Museum of Modern Art. “Ford Fairlane,” featuring the film debut of shock-comic Andrew Dice Clay as a private eye who looks and talks like shock-comic Andrew Dice Clay, is particularly lowbrow fare. “Die Hard 2" is just what it is, a slick, expensive action film that is high on thrills and low on logic.

But both show the sure-handedness of a director seemingly far more experienced than Harlin. Some are predicting that “Die Hard 2" may even turn out to be the biggest box-office hit of the summer--making this 31-year-old immigrant the hottest Hollywood property that no one has heard of yet.

Hottest and most expensive. Harlin is earning $3 million to direct his next film, “Gale Force,” a suspense thriller to be produced later this year from a Joe Eszter has screenplay.

Perhaps more impressive than the movies themselves is the fact that they were made back-to-back, with no breathing room between them, by Harlin and much of the same crew under the aegis of producer Joel Silver. The young director tends to come off as cool and collected as Silver is notoriously loud and agitated. It’s easy to envision them complementing each other in comic tag-team fashion. And when Silver approached him with the unthinkable last fall, Harlin didn’t flinch.

“Near the end of shooting ‘Fairlane,’ Joel gave me a script,” said Harlin in his office on the 20th Century Fox lot. “It was called ’58 Minutes.’ I read it and liked it a lot, so I asked, ‘What is this?’ And he said it was ‘Die Hard 2.’ I said, ‘Oh, who’s directing it?’ And he said ‘You.’ And I said, ‘Really? Like, next year?’ He said, ‘Well, next week, basically.’ He was very strong in his will about it.”

The story behind the story is that Joe Roth, the new production boss at Fox, had decided to order a sequel for this summer, and production needed to begin immediately to meet that deadline. Luckily, the studio had optioned Walter Wager’s short novel, “58 Minutes,” and a script that was already on hand was rapidly rehauled into a sequel that fit the Bruce Willis character.

Indeed, a week after wrapping up production on one film, Harlin was filming his next. Not only did he work on editing “Fairlane” at night and on weekends while filming “Die Hard,” but he also started editing the latter, he says, from the first day of shooting.

“It was funny sometimes, going back and forth from one editing room to the other. I would sit down and look at the material and say, ‘oh god, this is really too silly. I don’t know if this is going to work.’ And then I would realize it was ‘Ford Fairlane’ that I was looking at, not ‘Die Hard,’ and (comedy) was appropriate. . . . It was a tough year.”

It got tougher. “Die Hard 2,” which takes place at Christmas, was supposed to be filmed at an airport in Denver, but the weather looked more like spring when the crew arrived, setting off a frantic and often fruitless search for snowier climes.

“The end sequence is set in one place in the movie, but it was shot in eight locations,” noted Harlin. “We started in Denver, lost the snow; went to Moses Lake, Washington, lost the snow in one day; went to Michigan, lost the snow in a few days; went to the border of Canada, lost the snow in two days.

“So we came to L.A. and refrigerated three stages, brought the airplanes and helicopters inside, rebuilt the entire church--which was originally a location in Denver--on the set. But we didn’t get everything; I needed wider shots. Went to Lake Tahoe, the only place left with snow at that point, and shot there for two nights.”

Harlin oversaw a crew of 350, about 70 of whom were employed to create a white Christmas--using plastic snow indoors, and biodegradable soap flakes and potato flakes outside.

Despite all the delays and cost overruns from moving that crew from state to state--with final budget estimates as high as $60 million, though Harlin claims it was lower--he says he never thought too much about the prospect of fumbling the project and being remembered as the man who killed the “Die Hard” franchise.

“It was intimidating in the beginning. But I never thought, ‘This is too big, I can’t do this.’ I’m fairly experienced with effects and opticals and stunts, because every one of my pictures has had those elements. I realized that now, with a budget, I can really show what I can do--and if I screw up, I’ll be killed. I’ll be thrown into movie jail and never let out.”

Harlin remembers being a movie buff at age 5 back in Finland, creating cinematic realms in his imagination and pretending his parents and friends were supporting characters to his leading role. At the age of 15, he told pals he wanted to be a director--not just any kind of director, but an American movie director.

After a stint in a Finnish film school, all 12 of his feature-length scripts were turned down by the all-important Finnish Film Foundation. The rejections gave him just the impetus he needed to come to the States, where he managed to put together financing for an ill-inspired 1986 action picture called “Born American.”

Producer Irwin Yablans subsequently hired him to direct “Prison,” and in what he considers his biggest break, New Line President Robert Shea brought him on board for “A Nightmare on Elm Street IV,” which proved to be the most profitable sequel in the series.

Producer Walter Hill was impressed enough by that to sign Harlin for Fox’s “Alien III,” on which he labored for a year. Having abandoned that project, which is still in search of a workable script, he was quickly landed by Fox for “Ford Fairlane.”

If Harlin seems to have suddenly become the golden boy of studio directing, his conscience continues to nudge him toward more significant work, he says. Does the Finnish Spielberg--so far typecast as an action-oriented director--have a “Color Purple” or “Empire of the Sun” in his future?

“I’ve gotten to the point now where I can choose what I’m going to do. I want to use my talent for something that has a purpose, that somehow justifies my existence and my right to use money and be part of the biggest mass media in the world. . . . One of the projects that I’m developing to direct is about the environment and the ozone layer and about nuclear weapons and whales and dolphins and everything. I want to do movies that say something."

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-07-fi-290-story.html Credit for ‘Gale Force’ L.A. Times Archives July 7, 1990 12 AM PT

Share In reference to Chris Willman’s July 4 article about director Renny Harlin (“Renny Harlin Finds Plenty of Action in Hollywood”):

Let’s give credit where credit is due. (The coming movie) “Gale Force” is an original screenplay written not by me but by David Chappe. It is the product of Mr. Chappe’s imagination and creativity. My rather tenuous connection to the project at this point is that I have had one discussion with Renny Harlin and the producer, Daniel Melnick, about doing a possible rewrite.

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/23/movies/film-a-few-alps-a-little-sibelius-and-cliffhanger.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20160118193856/https://ew.com/article/1991/10/04/sylvester-stallones-gale-force

https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/04/27/interview-with-renny-harlin

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/13/movies/at-the-movies.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/07/19/renny-harlin-hes-everywhere/

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general/renny-harlin-talks-the-politics-of-5-days-of-war-says-he-wants-to-make-long-kiss-goodnight-2-116815/

http://carolcofilms.com/?page=development_projects

https://variety.com/2008/digital/features/universal-verbinski-plan-to-role-play-1117997496/

The Host remake Verbinski

https://www.firstshowing.net/2008/gore-verbinski-directing-a-domestic-second-life-story/

https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/11/05/gore-verbinskis-second-life

https://variety.com/1993/voices/columns/snipes-sports-makeover-for-demolition-1117862122/

https://variety.com/1994/film/news/becker-bags-city-hall-117073/

https://variety.com/1995/tv/features/benchmark-in-viacom-s-corner-99128477/

https://deadline.com/2024/12/polio-survivor-francis-coppola-urges-caution-vax-skeptics-robert-f-kennedy-jr-take-trump-administration-posts-1236240477/

Moon Pictures...

THEY ALL LAUGHED (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)

TWELVE'S A CROWD (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)

I'LL REMEMBER APRIL (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)

DETOUR (dir. TBA)

BREWSTER'S MILLIONS (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)

THE LADY IN THE MOON (dir. Larry McMurtry)

THE CITY GIRL (dir. Martha Coolidge)

Always felt that Sutherland should have done MUCH more comedy. He was great at it. Nevertheless, he was one of a kind. An incredible, often transcendent of the form itself, dramatic actor (ORDINARY PEOPLE, DON'T LOOK NOW, KLUTE, Fellini's CASANOVA, and many, many more).

Anderson needs to stop making films set in L.A., and move on to other subjects and milieus. He has fulfilled this milieu long away, and peaked in terms of this setting way back with Punch-Drunk Love in 2002, his best film in my opinion. I'll also give credit to Inherent Vice, an underrated gem, which utilized setting well, though I felt it strangely closed off from place... it lacked a sense of place, and lacked a style. While it definitely had that sought-for gonzo-ness, it did feel simply just like an adaptation; as if it was just playing out or interpreting scenes from and working off of something else. It didn't feel like a great adaptation or visual translation of the material. It felt very dead, flat, empty, and lacked the freeness of Anderson's best work, like PDL, The Master, so forth.

There Will Be Blood; Which, I think is great too, but I don't thino is anywhere near the masterpiece everyone makes it out to be. But Lewis is incredible in it, I think, and he gives a transcendent performance. And, again, the character I don't think is as grand as everyone is making it out to be, but I think Lewis's performance elevates it. I also think it's strange how the film is, essentially, like an anti-epic, and demystifies the idea of what an epic is. Because while I think the period, of the Industrial Revolution, is used to immerse the audience and tell this story, I don't think it's scale is large at all. I think it's scale is fairly small, and feels very empty, and cold, and quite bleak, and dry. It's not really a pleasant watch. It's fairly. But the film, especially towards the end, and I think it's the element of Anderson which is his strong suit, is the film begina to hinge ever so slightly on a mysterious, haunting quality to it. He goes full-tilt with that in The Master, but here it just creeps in, and I think could have gone even further with it, though I'm not sure it would have been necessary. It doesn't feel like an unfinished film, but I do think entirely too much effort went into for the kind of film that it is. It's only going to be so great you know. You're telling a great story, but it's not as great or as powerful as everyone makes it out to be. It's fairly emotionless, for most of the film, and is very much actor-based. It could easily, I think, be a stage play and work just as well, though I think the way Anderson uses the setting and surrounding here is meant to offset the characters in display, make them uncomfortable, like they're trapped by the world— so I think it's a bit essential. But ultimately, I think there's this strange sense of disgenguiness that I get from the film, after being left with it for a while, and having processed the brilliant coda to the film. As if the director is trying to understand or interpret or inhabit a moment, a time, and a place, that he doesn't fully understand and that which he is squinting and trying to comprehend, but doesn't fully commit to. Even the title itself feels like nothing more than a plot to be artful or show-y, and had little in the way of the TRUTH of what is trying to be said.

Lately, it seems, and I think certainly with this next film, he's almost trying to fulfill a sense of idyllic nostalgia, though I'm not quite sure considering the subject. From the trailer alone, it appears there's no substance, and a lack of style, or just somewhere where the two don't meet. Anderson is best when the style is the substance, and vice-versa, again I cite Punch-Drunk Love as a good example. Essentially I feel now, he's making "movies", not "films", to use that pretentious turn of phrase. But I feel it's true. Making artful cinema is truly what he's best at, and he needs to go back to it, and to stop trying to make the next "blockbuster" and be the next Spielberg (in terms of "event" films; One Battle After Another, which aren't Anderson's thing) or Lucas (American Graffiti equals Licorice Pizza).

I think also this recent shift is a product of himself (as he's of middle-age now, and has a family, and is quite likely less willing to "invent"), and has become "normalized", softened by Hollywood and sucking on the teet of the mainstream and the industry itself for too long. He is slipping away from the independent, offbeat, counterculture, 21st-century beatnik, individualist mindset that made his perspective and viewpoint just so damn daring and uniquely appealing to begin with.

Another fault of his is that he insists on always writing his own material (acceptable for a first-starter who's simply trying to get by, but seems selfish and assumptive for a seasoned director, as if he feels he's become "too good" for others), and always doing so ALONE (rather than hiring someone to translate his thoughts passions, images, or ideas, or even working with several writers), remaining unsusceptible to outside perspectives or ideas that may enlighten or inform him, or give him another angle or way of looking at something. It's a selfish decision of his, in a way. Part of the great thing about making movies is falling in love with what you're making, and a huge part of this is learning, and researching, becoming aware of new perspectives and angles. It doesn't matter who the idea comes from, as long as it relates to what you're trying to do. If you choose to limit yourself to what you can only think as a writer in that moment, as you are creating more than words and descriptions but IMAGES that MOVE in TIME and SPACE, then your film will never grow and transcend behind yourself.

I also think, lately, Anderson has the terrible (almost what Tarantino) habit of getting lost in his own script, and trailing off the page, losing focus. They feel as if they lack direction or purpose, and are looking for something to propel it forward, rather than it being done naturally by the character of constructive narrative. Oftentimes, an element of the film (scripted) goes off into a misguided direction, as if it's writer got lost on the page and grew overly fascinated with a particular element and become distracted from the core of the story, the core of the film, what it's about, becoming distracted from the truth. This of course, would be greatly helped by working with a TEAM of writers. Even the best did it! Look at Visconti; whose films you'd often seen somewhere between 3—6 other names co-sharing the screenplay credit.

Some directors can get too lost in this idea, and only write for the page, not the screen, ex.: Tarantino. Name a single master director (besides Ingmar Bergman), who has done that. Anderson, Chazelle, these guys know better. They are capable of great films! They just need a great subject/story/milieu to sink their teeth into. They are too close to Hollywood, I think, to be able to create with a more imaginative, wild, and free-thinking mindset. They are limited by their inhabitants, whether they realize so or not, but I think it's true. They lack another perspective, another side, again.

If you are a director, you are a master/commander. Anderson has been doing this for 30+ years, he is very well capable of dictating and delegating. By middle-age, you should be at the master of your helm, and you should be hiring help. He has a film, he doesn't have time to go back to writing the novel. What he needs to do is direct more. Hire others to find out what's personal to him. "Oh, I like that idea, let's put that in," and on and on. Eventually, what you've done is you've crafted a personal piece of work, that is not of your own, therefore you've had distance from it. You've had people to help you sculpt and mold YOUR VISION! Even Kubrick did that. And his work still remained most definitely, distinctly his own.

Can you rewrite these so my portions (on [], [], and []) don't read like shit? I'm not eloquent enough, nor do I have the capabilities to do so myself. Thanks.

Up next...

• John Ford's unrealized projects
• Akira Kurosawa's unrealized projects
• George Cukor's unrealized projects
• Alex Cox's unrealized projects
• Michael Cimino's unrealized projects
• Richard Kelly's unrealized projects
• Man's Fate (film)
• Gonçalo (unfinished film)
• Nostromo (unfinished film)
• The Yellow Jersey (unfinished film)
• Blest Souls (unfinished film)
• Mouche (unfinished film)
• Wait for Me (unfinished film)
• [additions to]: Paul Verhoeven's unrealized projects
• [additions to]: John McTiernan's unrealized projects
• [additions to]: Mike Nichols' unrealized projects
• [additions to]: Renny Harlin
• [additions to]: Michelangelo Antonioni
• [additions to]: Orson Welles's unrealized projects

Work in progress UNREALIZED PROJECTS pages:

• Frank Lloyd Wright's unrealized projects
• Stephen King's unrealized projects
• Michelangelo's unrealized projects
• Roman Polanski
• Alan J. Pakula
• Jim McBride
• Roger Donaldson
• Brett Ratner
• Joe Carnahan
• Terrence Malick
• Mark Rydell
• Le Corbusier
• John Boorman (table?)
• Charlie Kaufman
• John Huston (possibly table?)
• Frank Capra
• Luchino Visconti
• Samuel Fuller
• Penny Marshall (bio only?)
• Richard Linklater (bio only)
• Federico Fellini (bio only)
• Howard Hawks (bio only)
• Bob Fosse (bio only)

Hallelujah the Hills

Tough Guys Don't Dance (Picturing Peter Bogdanovich pg. 88)

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/jonas-mekas

Diaries: Becoming a Director

All I Wanna Do is Direct: My First Picture Shows, 1965–1971

Five American Icons

https://thelampmagazine.com/blog/peter-bogdanovich-r-i-p

Picturing Peter Bogdanovich Peter Tonguette

, which he cited on numerous occasions as his favorite book.

Orson Welles' The Unthinking Lobster

290 for index

Big Deal, 241-242, 556-561, 563-565, 549-550, 381 Ending, 434-435, 557 Winchell, 566-568

index for Reel to Reel

https://archive.org/details/unclefrankbiogra0000katz/page/32

1. CHE Terrence Malick, who was to direct the film about Che Guevara, tells us that he is going to make The New World first. Except that Malick, at the time, made a film every twenty years, so that makes you imagine that yours will never be made. Eventually, Soderbergh took over the project, but it couldn't be announced publicly. That’s when Cimino called me to “apply”: “Hello, this is Michael Cimino, I would like to speak to you about Che. » He had a very interesting approach to the subject: the journey of Che and his soldiers is guided by a military strategy which depends on the geography of Cuba, the socio-cultural population of the different regions. For him, without working on the geography of a film, it is impossible to create antagonism. The enemy does not exist. And geography very little exists in American cinema because America believes itself to be the center of the world even though it has no history.

2. CREAM RISES This project was written like a book into which we slowly settle in, where nothing happens except the description of an environment, that of modeling in Los Angeles. It was the story of two girls a bit like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, who drink vodka at 10 a.m., who go shopping... In short, the daily life of two girls completely disconnected from reality . The more casual one drags the other a little into this life where they end up sleeping with guys just because they are rich. But finally, after an hour of film where nothing happens, the timid one is killed by one of these guys and the leader decides to return to the countryside with her uncle, an old cowboy farmer (Christopher Walken) with very strong values. western and there, the real plot begins, because she will abandon her superficial vision of life, of sex. It was something very contemporary, about the world of today and its confrontation with the world of yesterday, as if Cimino's cinema looked at the cinema of today. It was very moving. For the main role, Cimino had thought of Taylor Swift, but I told him that since her name was unknown to me, I didn't see how to make a film with her. A few months later, she became a global star. I should have given this project more priority to speed it up, because we were taking our time and finally it dies and then shit...

3. THE HUMAN CONDITION Gallimard had already made me read the script, they were crazy about it. They only gave the rights to Cimino because they loved his script. And it was indeed the script for a very great film. But putting it together would have been impossible without a major star with his name attached to “clear” Cimino’s. Otherwise, Hollywood would not have followed. You had to have DiCaprio. The other problem was not the budget, but the time. With him, quality combines with time. When he was preparing The Human Condition, he went to Beijing to see himself all the locations where he wanted to shoot and he wrote down extremely precise descriptions of the locations, like: "When you look out the hotel window, you see a lamppost at 70º to the west. »And I'm not exaggerating. He needs geographical knowledge, and that takes time. Except that time is money in cinema. This is why making small budgets with him is very difficult. When they saw that the film was not going to be made, Gallimard even wanted to publish the script, they loved it so much.

4.ONE ARM It was the story of a boxer who loses an arm in a car accident, and a boxer with only one arm, logically, ends up losing everything in his life. A very dark story that Chris Hanley had proposed to him and which he really liked, but the flow did not flow at all with Michael. He apologized and said to me: “Vincent, I cannot work with an illiterate person who makes a spelling mistake for every word he sends me. » Chris Hanley was a specialist in texting to go fast, a crazy indie producer who works on ten projects at the same time, and indeed not suited to an erudite intellectual who takes his time in his cinema and in his work.

5. THE SIOUX PROJECT During a dinner in Lyon, he begins to talk about this project, which is quite expensive, at 30 million. The idea was to tell the story of America from the perspective of Native Americans. A film about the genocide and then about a life both protected, on the reserves, and humiliated by the good American conscience confronted with the original crime. The film therefore had to be made in their language, otherwise it would have been like a betrayal, but it prevented him from counting on stars, which is why he couldn't do it. I always said to myself that this is a project that Mel Gibson could put together... Cimino was not someone who needed to confront the experience of filming to generate a film: he spoke in cinema everything the weather. He wrote all the time, lived surrounded by scripts that would be great to publish. For him, telling a film made the scenes exist, in a cinematic, unwritten way. I feel like I've seen them, all these films, just hearing it. And for him, these films existed. He died as a major filmmaker, he sweated directing. Cimino's career does not end with seven feature films but with around fifteen.

Robert Dillon

Charlie Peters

David Lynch's unrealized projects

Miscellaneous

Lynch was offered directing the films Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Return of the Jedi, Frances, Tender Mercies, American Beauty, The Ring and Motherless Brooklyn.

https://unobtainium13.com/2020/01/20/7-films-that-david-lynch-turned-down/

Dino De Laurentiis offered him the chance to direct "Handcarved Coffins" based on the Truman Capote story, but Lynch turned it down. To date, the project has not been filmed, by any director.

Roman Polanski's unrealized projects

 - Waiting for Godot (1966)
 - Downhill Racer (1967)
 - This Perfect Day (1968)
 - Paganini (1968)
 - Donner Pass (1969)
 - Day of the Dolphin (1969)
 - Papillon (1970)
 - The Two Jakes (1974)
 - King Kong (1975)
 - White Dog (1975)
 - The First Deadly Sin (1976)
 - The Hurricane (1977)
 - Handcarved Coffins (1984)
 - Schindler's List (1986)
 - The Adventures of Tintin (1988)
 - M. Butterfly (1988)
 - The Master and Margarita (1989)
 - Mary Reilly (1989)
 - Sliver (1993)
 - The Double (1994)
 - The Picture of Dorian Gray (1995)
 - The Count of Monte Cristo (1997)
 - Master Class (1998)
 - Pompeii (2007)
 - Aryan Papers (2009)
 - Untitled WWII film (2011)
 - Untitled 2020s film (2024)

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59588 M. Butterfly

https://ew.com/article/1993/05/21/troubled-making-sliver/ Sliver

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1996/07/01/roman-polanski-abandons-production-of-the-double/ The Double

https://variety.com/1995/voices/columns/evans-polanski-talk-new-shades-of-gray-1117862617/ The Picture of Dorian Gray

https://www.nytimes.com/1969/02/09/archives/polanskis-new-babies.html Paganini & Donner Pass

https://variety.com/2009/film/columns/1969-polanski-vs-censors-1117999260/ Donner Pass

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/polanski-confirms-count-pic-111661045/ The Count of Monte Cristo

https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2015/great-directors/roman-polanski-2/ This Perfect Day

https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/polanski-to-enter-american-gate-1117467600/ Master Class

Pompeii (Search: roman Polanski variety 2007)

Worthpoint:

Day of the Dolphin Hurricane Mary Reilly

Waiting for Godot

Before he made Cul-de-sac, Polanski proposed a film adaptation of Waiting for Godot to playwright Samuel Beckett, who politely refused to allow it. Beckett insisted that the play was not cinematic material and that an adaptation would destroy it.

Papillion

In early 1970, after the film rights to cusjbw's 1973 novel Papillon were purchased by Walter Reade’s Continental Distributing, Inc., Polanski was reportedly set to direct the adaptation, with Warren Beatty starring. The role eventually went to Steve McQueen, who was cast alongside Dustin Hoffman in the resulting 1973 film, which was directed by ________.

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55041

Schindler's List

Years prior to making The Pianist, Polanski had wanted to make a film on the subject of the Holocaust and his youth, and, in the mid-1980s, was offered by Steven Spielberg the chance to direct an adaptation of Schindler's Ark. "[It was] a very generous offer but not right for me," said Polanski. Spielberg ultimately directed the story himself as Schindler's List, released in 1993.

The Adventures of Tintin

In the late 1980s, Polanski became attached to a proposed film adapting the Adventures of Tintin comics, after Steven Spielberg initially left the project, dissatisfied with the scripts at the time. However, Polanski quickly abandoned the idea as well, later stating that the "actors and natural settings could not work as well as comics." Spielberg would eventually return to the helm later on his career with The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, produced using motion capture technology.

The Master and Margarita

In 1989, Polanski adapted and was set to direct a film version of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, set in Communist Moscow. The project was subsequently dropped by Warner Bros. due to budgetary concerns and the studio's belief that the subject matter was no longer relevant due to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Polanski has described his script as "the best thing I ever managed to adapt."

Untitled pre-WWII film

In an October 2011 interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Polanski announced his intention to next make a pre-WWII film about ageing. "It would follow the stages in the life of a woman who would not have at her disposal the resources of today like cosmetic surgery, creams and pills."

Untitled film

In 2024, it was revealed to film critic Joseph McBride that Polanski was at work on a new film, following the release of The Palace.

In 2024, film writer and historian Joseph McBride, after being informed, shared the news that Polanski was at work on his next film, following the release of The Palace.

In 2024, film writer and historian Joseph McBride shared news that Polanski was planning another film following the release of The Palace.

In 2024, film writer and historian Joseph McBride in his review of Polanski's film The Palace, shared news that the director was planning another project.

In 2024, in his review of The Palace, film writer and historian Joseph McBride, shared (news) that though it had been (was) intended as (to be) Polanski's "finale", he heard (news) that the director was planning another project.

In 2024, in his review of The Palace, film writer and historian Joseph McBride, shared (news) that though it was said to be Polanski's "finale", he heard (news) that the director was planning another project.

"this was said to be Polanski’s finale, but now I hear he is planning another"

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/2/7/rekougsks37oamvx70492jw1rzfj4o

Robert Altman's unrealized projects

Another City, Not My Own

A Confederacy of Dunces

https://playbill.com/article/bewitched-weisslers-explore-rodgers-and-harts-pal-joey-with-director-robert-altman-com-116081

Bob Fosse's unrealized projects

• Burn Offerings (1969)
• The Goodbye People (1973)
• Ending (1979)
• Annie (1980)
• The King of Comedy (1982)
• The Bad and the Beautiful remake
• Dick Tracy (1985)
• Edie Sedgwick biopic
• Winchell (1988)
• Good Morning, Vietnam
• Big Deal
• Chicago

Fosse was going to direct an adaptation of the book Ending, but opted not to, due to its. The director would instead tackle All That Jazz, which delt with similar themes.

At the time of his death, Fosse had wanted to direct a film version of Chicago.

In 1986, Fosse would stage what would be his last Broadway musical in a production called Big Deal that was based on the 1958 Mario Monicelli film Big Deal on Madonna Street. The musical was well-received as Fosse another Tony Award for Best Choreography as well as four more nominations yet the show only lasted for 69 performances as Fosse was already considering about focusing more on films rather than musical theatres. While he had been attached to direct The King of Comedy, he passed on it despite its subject matter as he was also approached to do a remake of The Bad and the Beautiful but it never materialized. Other projects Fosse turned down was a film version of Dick Tracy and a bio-pic on cult actress Edie Sedgwick that was to star Michelle Pfeiffer in the role with Al Pacino as Andy Warhol.

Among the projects Fosse was interested in helming to the big screen was a bio-pic on the gossip columnist Walter Winchell as it played into Fosse’s fascination with the dark side of fame and celebrity. The other project that Fosse wanted to make into a film was a film version of his most celebrated musical Chicago just as it had returned to Broadway to great success. Sadly, neither projects would materialize as Fosse died of a heart attack on September 23, 1987 at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

John Boorman's unrealized projects

1970s

The Last Run

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54352-THE-LAST-RUN?cxt=filmography

1990s

David Lean's Nostromo

https://variety.com/2006/biz/markets-festivals/youth-focused-town-tough-on-aging-vets-1117950833/

References

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/ben-kinglsey-john-hurt-and-neil-jordan-work-on-john-boormans-broken-dream-119911209-237382361

https://www.notstarring.com/actors/boorman-john

https://davidkoepp.com/script-archive/the-sea-wolf-unproduced/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01439685.2021.1976913#:~:text=In%20drafting%20the%20contract%2C%20extensive,America%20and%20Labour%20of%20Love.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-06-ca-narnia6-story.html

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/hot-titles-104432/

Offers

Additionally, Landis has received offers directing , but has turned them down.

Beverly Hills Cop

https://www.youtube.com/live/JJQET_yFN9E?si=9HFTt5PO_EX-R6vl

License to Kill

Main article: License to Kill (film)

https://hmssweblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/landis-tells-author-he-turned-down-directing-licence-to-kill/

Howard the Duck

Meatballs

Vacation

Big

Follow That Bird

Problem Child

The Nutty Professor

Nothing but Trouble

Men in Black

William Friedkin's unrealized projects

Last Warrant

Act of Vengeance

Bump City

The Man Who Killed Versace

Gangster (Stallone, Paul Attanasio)

Throughout his career, Friedkin has turned down various offers to direct films. "If I can't see it in my minds eye, I won't do it." (Last interview) Some of these include Gunn; M*A*S*H; All the Presidents Men; Superman: The Movie; Child's Play, then under the title Blood Buddy; and the second season of True Detective. He also rejected offers to direct the sequels to his films The French Connection and The Exorcist. In the 1970s, he was approached by Albert Broccoli to direct a James Bond film...

https://www.bigissue.com/culture/film/william-friedkin-on-rip-off-exorcist-sequels-scorsese-selling-out-and-dressing-as-ali-g/

Federico Fellini's unrealized projects

Sixty-four minutes with Rebecka

Momentous Events: Russia in the '90s

The Journey of G. Mastorna

Untitled documentary (Scorsese)

The Thousand Miles

Trip to Tulum

Flash Gordon

Mandrake the Magician

Don Quixote

Voyage au bout de la nuit

The Master and Margarita

Orlando Furioso

https://thefilmstage.com/unused-ingmar-bergman-script-to-be-turned-into-feature-film/

https://www.filmcomment.com/article/unproduced-and-unfinished-films-l-through-z-a-ongoing-film-comment-project/

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/mar/18/master-margarita-fiends-reunited-review

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1965/12/federico-fellini-wizard-of-film/660501/

Bernardo Bertolucci's unrealized projects

Red Harvest

The White Hotel

Man's Fate

Judge Dee

Heaven and Hell

Bel Canto

The Echo Chamber

Terrence Malick's unrealized projects

 - Q (1978)
 - Untitled Joseph Merrick biopic (1979)
 • Untitled Louis Malle film (1983)
 • Countryman (1983)
 • The Desert Rose (1984)
 • Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
 - Tartuffe (1988)
 - The English Speaker (1992)
 - The Moviegoer (1994)
 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2002)
 - The Catcher in the Rye (2006)
 - Che (2008)
 - Held by the Taliban (2010)
 - Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (2011)
 • Untitled Harmony Korine film (2023)

Turned Down:

 - In the Boom Boom Room (1979)
 - The White Hotel (1988)

Brighton Rock (1991) Untitled Richard Linklater documentary (2002) Aloft (2003) Untitled television series (2007)

https://theplaylist.net/the-lost-projects-and-unproduced-screenplays-of-terrence-malick-20110712/

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58098

Brett Ratner's unrealized projects

Money Talks (1997)

Rush Hour (1998)

The Family Man (2000)

Rush Hour 2 (2001)

Red Dragon (2002)

After the Sunset (2004)

Josiah's Canon (2006)

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

Tower Heist (2011)

Midnight Run 2 (2013)

Hercules (2014)

The Fat Lady Sang (2015)

Beverly Hills Cop IV (2016)

The Libertine (2017)

Playboy (2019)

Girl You Know It's True (2023)

Rush Hour 4 (2025)

Superman: Flyby

Soul Soul Soul: The Murray Murray Story

The Killing of Chinese Bookie remake

Josiah's Canon

Across the Bridge remake

The Fly remake

Sticky Fingers

Ocean's Eleven

Die Another Day

The Red Circle

Paycheck

Memoirs of a Geisha

Superman: Flyby

Mission: Impossible III

Breaking Vegas (21)

The Boys from Brazil remake

God of War

The Fat Lady Sang

Playboy

The Wolfman

Escape from New York remake

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Beverly Hills Cop IV

Conan the Barbarian

Youngblood

The Reluctant Communist

The 39 Clues

Untitled John DeLorean biopic

Wicked

Untitled Eddie Murphy project

Hunting Eichmann

The Last American Virgin remake

Midnight Run 2

The Golden Age: The Lost Treasure of Zheng He

I Want My MTV

Jersey Boys

Once Upon a Time in Russia

Enter the Dragon remake

The Libertine

Soul Soul Soul: The Murray Murray Story

Rush Hour 4

Untitled Mill Vanilli biopic

https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/ratner-rolls-vegas-dice-1117909667/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/fox-bridges-ratner-for-pic-1117492056/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/u-jones-ratner-get-sticky-1117502910/

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/ratner-escapes-from-escape-from-new-york/

https://variety.com/2007/film/features/ratner-juggles-a-handful-of-projects-1117969376/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/eddie-murphy-brett-ratner-teaming-848643/

https://variety.com/2012/film/markets-festivals/bret-ratner-cj-team-on-golden-age-1118054540/

https://variety.com/2005/film/features/levy-plays-some-21-with-sony-1117928460/

https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/connery-loads-canon-1117904080/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-johnny-depp-brett-ratner-891688/

https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/brett-ratner-talks-roman-polanksis-weekend-of-a-champion-rush-hour-4-his-version-of-superman-more-91325/

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/brett-ratner-eyes-directing-adaptation-of-i-want-my-mtv-the-uncensored-story-of-the-music-video-revolution-112160/

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/brett-ratner-working-on-new-project-with-eddie-murphy-admits-he-lied-about-banging-olivia-munn-255209/

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/brett-ratner-says-hes-remaking-the-last-american-virgin-255174/

https://deadline.com/2011/10/ann-peacock-signs-on-for-brett-ratner-helmed-hunting-eichmann-189270/

https://deadline.com/2012/03/universal-hires-new-scribes-for-midnight-run-2-and-brett-ratner-will-direct-it-246204/

https://deadline.com/2011/05/brett-ratner-signs-to-direct-the-39-clues-129974/

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/movies/brett-ratner-directs-tower-heist.html

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/09/once-upon-a-time-in-russia-oligarchs-movie

https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/brett-ratner-boards-youngblood-1117999799/

https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/ratner-guns-for-crime-pic-1117908445/

https://variety.com/2001/film/news/regen-joins-the-circle-1117791347/

https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/ratner-on-col-s-laff-track-1117908414/

https://www.today.com/popculture/brett-ratner-goes-seasoned-pros-wbna6394425

https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/brett-ratner-to-direct-playboy-1117967550/

https://variety.com/2010/film/markets-festivals/brett-ratner-turns-communist-1118024792/

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/movies/03john.html

https://www.slashfilm.com/504080/james-toback-and-brett-ratner-move-forward-with-delorean-biopic/

https://www.thewrap.com/thewrap/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=N2SSFCDj&full=true#display

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/sean-connery-called-brett-ratner-a-fraud/

Joe Carnahan's unrealized projects

Miami The Surrender of Washington Hansen The Town Live Bait A Cold Case Quantico Death Wish remake Narco Sub Nemesis Daredevil Narc TV series White Jazz Killing Pablo https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/movies-joe-carnahan-stretch-mission-impossible-the-grey-tom-cruise-white-jazz-daredevil-unproduced-movies/

The Raid https://variety.com/2017/film/news/joe-carnahan-frank-grillos-xyz-films-on-raid-reimagining-1201989573/

Bad Boys for Life https://variety.com/2015/film/news/joe-carnahan-will-smith-bad-boys-3-1201516017/

Uncharted https://variety.com/2016/film/news/uncharted-movie-joe-carnahan-video-game-adaptation-bad-boys-3-1201826553/

Leo from Toledo https://variety.com/2019/film/markets-festivals/mel-gibson-frank-grillo-joe-carnahan-leo-from-toledo-1203392691/

Dine and Dash https://variety.com/2012/tv/news/carnahan-binder-to-dine-and-dash-1118060787/

Five Against a Bullet https://variety.com/2016/film/asia/jackie-chan-joe-carnahan-five-against-a-bullet-1201934154/

Umbra https://variety.com/2010/film/news/carnahan-to-write-direct-umbra-1118025652/

Mission: Impossible III https://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/carnahan-to-lead-mission-3-1117881199/

Angel Face https://deadline.com/2013/09/cbs-to-adapt-ann-rices-seraphim-novels-as-drama-project-with-timberman-beverly-memphis-beat-creators-joe-carnahan-596340/

Continue https://collider.com/joe-carnahan-continue-fox/

Blood, Sweat & Tears https://deadline.com/2013/06/ae-buys-amateur-bull-riding-drama-from-joe-carnahan-timberman-beverly-520634/

Cross Brothers https://deadline.com/2012/02/jason-bateman-forms-aggregate-label-gets-first-look-film-tv-deal-at-universal-224474/ https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/joe-carnahan-to-direct-cross-brothers-ralph-fiennes-bryan-singer-sought-for-imitation-game-david-yates-takes-a-reliable-wife-253945/

Graves Pound for Pound Thorn Wheelman 2 https://collider.com/frank-grillo-joe-carnahan-interview-wheelman-2-upcoming-movies/

Motorcade https://deadline.com/2015/03/joe-carnahan-motorcade-dreamworks-1201390975/

Untitled Will Wright biopic https://variety.com/2005/film/markets-festivals/helmer-high-on-drug-pic-1117930524/

Bunny Lake Is Missing Remarkable Fellows Preacher Taskmaster

https://variety.com/2005/film/markets-festivals/helmer-high-on-drug-pic-1117930524/

Mark Rydell's unrealized projects

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

The Thing of It Is...

The Exorcist

A Star Is Born

The White Hotel

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Cutter and Bone

No Small Affair

Nuts

Starman

Children of a Lesser God

The Mrs.

Fertig

Manhattan Ghost Story

Untitled Abbie Hoffmann biopic

An Unfinished Life

Survivors

The Locked Room

Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Story

Jumpshot

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23860

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67015-CUTTER-AND-BONE?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57284-CHILDREN-OF-A-LESSER-GOD?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58853-DECEIVED?cxt=filmography

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/a-star-is-born-previous-films-judy-garland-barbra-streisand-1202969451/

https://variety.com/2000/voices/columns/journal-follows-in-i-variety-i-s-footsteps-1117779260/

https://variety.com/1997/voices/columns/60s-revivals-spur-rivals-1116679932/

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/jamie-foxx-to-star-in-ray-charles-bio-pic-75864/

https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/05/07/foxx-unchains-his-heart

https://variety.com/2006/film/markets-festivals/a-lot-of-white-noise-1200341788/

https://variety.com/1994/film/news/rydell-castle-rock-ink-deal-for-fertig-120485/

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/stone-woos-rydell-for-a-ghost-pic-106995/

https://variety.com/1999/voices/columns/rydell-sets-his-sights-on-molina-s-survivors-1117750232/

https://variety.com/2002/film/markets-festivals/rydell-locks-up-gig-to-direct-rko-room-1117869536/

https://variety.com/2005/film/markets-festivals/rydell-finds-jumpshot-1117916116/

Paul Thomas Anderson's unrealized projects

• Knuckle Sandwich (1993)
• Rule of the Bone (1996)
• Underworld (1997)
• Untitled Jonathan Demme collaboration (1998)
• Forest Hills Bob (2000, exec producer)
• Untitled animated film concept (2000)
• A Conspiracy of Paper (2000)
• Anchorman (2004, producer)
• Untitled feuding families film (2004)
• A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
• Metal Gear Solid (2008)
• Power Play (2008)
• Untitled "full-blown" comedy (2012)
• Vineland (2014)
• Mason & Dixon (2014)
• Pinocchio (2015)
• Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
• The Apprentice (2018)
• Untitled daughter collaboration (2018)
• Untitled Teen Titans film (2018)
• Untitled 1940s L.A.-set jazz epic (2021)
• Untitled film "about veterans in their 50s" (2023)

https://thefilmstage.com/paul-thomas-anderson-to-shoot-next-film-in-summer-2023/

Paul Thomas Anderson Was Working on Another Movie Before Filming ‘Licorice Pizza’ https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2021/11/5ure30j78cq7rgyqq85kb9tqu7az1e November 8, 2021 Jordan Ruimy

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Next Film is 1940s L.A-Set Jazz Epic? Denzel Washington Rumored to Star https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/10/lj1wvb248n2tzn33bh5188v5r4svca October 23, 2022 Jordan Ruimy

Is Paul Thomas Anderson’s Mysterious New Movie an Adaptation of Pynchon’s ‘Vineland’? https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/cwpt4b84a0geai0nno95vp9659bhoq Jordan Ruimy March 3, 2023

https://www.timeout.com/film/paul-thomas-anderson-interview-it-was-like-getting-the-keys-to-your-dads-car Paul Thomas Anderson interview: ‘It was like getting the keys to your dad’s car’ December 11, 2014 Time Out

https://www.slashfilm.com/499510/rumor-paul-thomas-andersons-power-play/ June 7, 2008 Peter Sciretta Rumor: Paul Thomas Anderson's Power Play?

[2]

https://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/2000/03/march-19-2000.html

https://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/search/label/rule%20of%20the%20bone

https://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/search/label/screenplay

Rumored projects; Blue Movie, Lennon, Demme

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-mn-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-oscars-20180220-htmlstory.html

Untitled daughter film

https://collider.com/robert-altman-paul-thomas-anderson-prairie-home-companion/

A Prairie Home Companion

https://www.vulture.com/2011/07/the-lost-roles-of-anchorman.html

Anchorman

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/paul-thomas-anderson-pta-knuckle-1792618750 https://movieweb.com/knuckle-sandwich-paul-thomas-andersons-unmade-movie/

Knuckle Sandwich

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/paul-thomas-anderson-pta-rule-bone-1787255627 http://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/1997/11/interview-creative-screenwriting-paul.html https://quotefancy.com/quote/1068681/Paul-Thomas-Anderson-It-felt-like-the-first-thing-but-when-I-first-started-out-I-got-a

"It felt like the first thing, but when I first started out, I got a job adapting a book by Russell Banks called ‘Rule Of The Bone.’ I didn’t do a very good job. I didn’t really know what I was doing in general, let alone how to adapt a book."

Rule of the Bone

https://kotaku.com/metal-gear-movie-update-5008812

Metal Gear Solid

https://www.vulture.com/2012/11/p-t-anderson-wants-to-make-a-full-blown-comedy.html

https://www.vulture.com/2012/11/paul-thomas-anderson-wants-to-make-a-comedy-loved-ted.html

Untitled full-blown comedy

https://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/ali-abbasi-paul-thomas-anderson-et-clint-eastwood-ont-decline-the-apprentice-20241008

The Apprentice

Denzel Washington Leonardo DiCaprio Tiffany Hadish Nicolas Cage

A Rage in Harlem

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/2/h9gvz365acdeldwxiy1knxh4nmimf0

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2023/7/hpjdtib2fdaoqcvjmk7rib2gw6fwn0

In 2018, Anderson teased the notion of possibly directing a live action Teen Titans feature.

...Anderson expressed his interest in [someday?] directing a "full-blown" comedy in the style of films like Ted...blah blah blah

...that he hoped to one day direct a "full-blown" comedy

in a 2014 Time Out interview he even insinuated that he tried to script it: “I'd wanted to adapt “Vineland”, but I never had the courage. It seemed to be a great way to translate [Pynchon] into a movie.

In 2014, Anderson stated that in addition to Vineland, he would love to someday adapt Pynchon's Mason & Dixon.

Untitled 1940s L.A.-set jazz epic

Wanting to work with Tiffany Haddish on a new project, Anderson issued a statement in January 2018 publicly praising the actress and including his phone number in the message.

In January 2018, Anderson teased that

https://www.vulture.com/2018/01/paul-thomas-anderson-wants-to-work-with-tiffany-haddish.html

Later that month, Haddish confirmed that they (she and Anderson) were (officially) in talks (and were discussing collaborating on) (and were particularly discussing) (to collaborate on a potential feature about/on the subject of) Los Angeles, "back when Central Avenue was the Sunset Boulevard of L.A." (Specifically, they spoke about the golden age of L.A.’s “Little Harlem” in the 1940s, when the Hotel Dunbar in South Central Los Angeles was the center of a thriving African-American arts and music scene.) (a project set in the golden age of L.A.’s “Little Harlem” in the 1940s, "back when Central Avenue was the Sunset Boulevard of L.A." and was [the center of] a thriving African-American arts and music scene.)

https://www.vulture.com/2018/01/tiffany-haddish-on-her-groupon-super-bowl-ad-beyonce.html

(In 2021) Haddish (later) expounded to IndieWire what the project might look like:

"You know how they got Harlem Nights? I was like, 'What if we did South Central Nights,' like what South Central used to be? How L.A. was this place where you could come and be free, but it was still very segregated, and how that worked in the relationships, the interracial relationships, and all that dynamic?"

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/paul-schrader-got-blatant-critiques-163049449.html

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/denzel-washington-paul-thomas-anderson-next-film/

https://collider.com/paul-thomas-anderson-next-film-shooting-window/

https://thefilmstage.com/paul-thomas-anderson-to-shoot-next-film-in-summer-2023/

In 2021, Denzel Washington also teased that (he had spoken with Anderson about a new project) (he and Anderson had spoken about him starring a new project)

https://theplaylist.net/denzel-washington-paul-thomas-anderson-steve-mcqueen-alfonso-cuaron-20211227/

It was also rumored that Anderson, a self-professed fan of Chester Himes, was adapting his/Himes' (novel) A Rage in Harlem as (the) basis for the film/project. (, a novel also set in Harlem during the 1940s Jazz age.)

This project was also rumored to co-star Denzel Washington.

Before turning to make Licorice Pizza, Anderson later stated that he was ready to shoot a separate film in 2020 but had a change of heart and decided it was too “bleak” a project to make during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the same project.

In 2020, Anderson stated that he was ready to shoot a new film that year, but had a change of heart, and decided it was too “bleak” a project to make at the time, especially during a pandemic, and opted to helm “Licorice Pizza” instead.

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/11/17/denzel-washington-has-spoken-with-paul-thomas-anderson-about-potential-film

https://vimeo.com/681658659/7493ca68...wner=160173128

Richard Linklater's Unrealized Projects

Friday Night Lights

Rivethead

Untitled high school football documentary

The Smoker

School of Rock 2

Liars (A-E)

College Republicans

The Incredible Mr. Limpet remake

A Walk in the Woods

Larry's Kidney

The Rosie Project

Untitled John Brinkley biopic

Untitled Bill Hicks biopic

Untitled fourth Before film

Untitled body-swap film

Untitled 19th-century film

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/linklater-linked-to-imagine-pigskin-pic-1116679215/

https://variety.com/2002/film/news/linklater-quarterbacks-texas-tale-1117866373/

https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/paramount-lighting-up-with-smoker-romance-1117906747/

https://www.slashfilm.com/504742/richard-linklater-to-tackle-road-trip-movie-liars-a-e/

https://www.slashfilm.com/517331/paul-dano-karl-rove-richard-linklaters-college-republicans/

https://www.slashfilm.com/525668/richard-linklater-goes-for-a-walk-in-the-woods-with-robert-redford-and-nick-nolte/

https://web.archive.org/web/20120702150236/https://variety.com/article/VR1117866373?query=malick+linklater

https://theplaylist.net/julie-delpy-turned-down-4th-before-film-richard-linklater-20210621/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/glen-powell-comments-on-justin-hartley-mixup-thr-1235794675/

https://variety.com/2025/film/festivals/richard-linklater-ethan-hawke-next-movie-historical-19th-century-1236311751/

Mark Pellington's Unrealized Projects

Harvest

One for the Ages

Electric God

Grant's Revenge

Dolly Dimple

The Wrong Element

The Orphanage remake

The Trap

For Bella documentary

Arlington Road TV series

MOM

The Mothman Prophecies TV series

Constance

Garden of Gods

Rated

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/d-works-plants-pellington-for-gerritsen-s-harvest-1117492971/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/pellington-gets-ages-pages-1117503492/

https://variety.com/2000/film/news/propaganda-seeks-electric-god-1117786511/

https://www.filmweb.pl/news/B%C4%99dzie+sequel+%22Arlington+Road%22-6586

https://www.markpellington.com/bio

https://deadline.com/2021/04/arlington-road-tv-series-paramount-plus-mark-pellington-seth-fisher-1234733787/

https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3783016/the-mothman-prophecies-director-mark-pellington-teases-the-return-of-the-mothman/

In 2024, it was reported that WestEnd Films had boarded Constance, a survival thriller set to star Diane Keaton and be directed by Pellington. The script was written by Maria Alexandria Beech from a story co-created with Pellington. Principal photography was scheduled to take place in Los Angeles in 2024.

Damien Chazelle's Unrealized Projects

• The Claim (2010)
• Marseille (2010)
• Paranormal Activity 4 (2011)
• Ouija (2012)
• The Cellar (2013)
• Untitled Apple TV+ drama series (2018)
• Untitled Matthew Vaughan musical (2024)
• Untitled prison film (2024)
• Evel Knievel on Tour (2024)

https://scriptshadow.net/screenplay-review-marseille/ Screenplay Review – Marseille February 27, 2024

https://deadline.com/2024/03/david-ayer-heart-of-the-beast-damien-chazelle-1235865835/

https://deadline.com/2017/06/damien-chazelle-produced-by-panel-ageism-1202111085/

https://captimes.com/entertainment/movies/it-took-a-while-for-la-la-land-director-damien-chazelle-to-like-musicals-too/article_42711de6-97b8-5924-8de7-f8f0be525810.html

The Claim

In 2010, an original screenplay written by Chazelle, entitled The Claim, was featured on The Black List survey. (The login read) (It was described as) (Reportedly:) "A father with a criminal past must save his kidnapped daughter, even as he fights the claim of another couple who insist the girl is theirs."

https://scriptshadow.net/screenplay-review-the-claim/ Screenplay Review – The Claim February 4, 2015

https://variety.com/2010/film/news/2010-black-list-best-unproduced-screenplays-1-7099/ Stuart Oldham 2010 Black List: Best Unproduced Screenplays December 13, 2010

https://deadline.com/2017/03/damien-chazelle-the-claim-movie-screenplay-oceanside-route-one-1202042649/ Patrick Hipes March 13, 2017 Damien Chazelle-Penned ‘The Claim’ Staked By Oceanside Media & Route One

https://deadline.com/2017/08/ericson-core-directing-thriller-the-claim-damien-chazelle-1202140726/ Anita Busch August 2, 2017 Ericson Core To Direct ‘The Claim’; ‘La La Land’ Oscar Winner Damien Chazelle Scripting

Marseille

One of Chazelle's earliest screenwriting efforts, Marseille, is a

The Cellar

Around 2013,

Untitled Apple TV+ drama series

In 2018, it was reported that in addition to the Netflix series The Eddy, Chazelle was prepping an "innovative" drama that had landed a straight-to-series order at Apple. He was set to write and direct every episode, and reunite with La La Land producers Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger for the show. No plot details were disclosed.

Untitled Matthew Vaughn musical

In January 2024, a musical (project) written by Chazelle was in development at Marv Studios with filmmaker Matthew Vaughn planning to direct it. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast the following month, Vaughn described the script that Chazelle sent him as "Kick-Ass meets The Wizard of Oz."

https://screenrant.com/argylle-director-matthew-vaughn-spy-movies-break-musical/

Untitled prison film

In March 2024, Chazelle acknowledged that he was (in the process of) finishing (writing) a new screenplay that he planned to direct, but (admitted that he was skeptical) remained skeptical about the amount of creative freedom he would be allowed following the box office disappointment of his previous film Babylon (2022), (which lost Paramount Pictures an estimated $87 million). "I'm in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won't get a budget of Babylon size any time soon, or at least not on this next one," Chazelle told Ben Mankiewicz on an episode of Talking Pictures. "I have very mixed mind about it. Maybe I won't be able to get this one made. We'll have to wait and see." The following month, it was reported by Deadline Hollywood that Chazelle had officially set (up) his next project/film at/for Paramount, produced under his Wild Chickens Productions banner as part of a first-look deal with the studio that was signed in 2022. While plot details were vague, sources said at the time that the film is set in a prison and based off an original script he wrote. Chazelle and Paramount executives were expected to begin meeting with "A-list talent" for the high-priority project. Paramount subsequently announced during its CinemaCon presentation that the film would open in 2025. By July, it was expected that principal photography would commence in October 2024, though this did not occur, and no updates were given since.

Evel Knievel on Tour

In September 2024, in a Vanity Fair interview promoting the ten-year anniversary of Whiplash (2014), Chazelle revealed that he was working on another project simultaneously as his prison-set film. "My mind is all still figuring itself out in terms of what's next," he said. "I've definitely been working on this thing that I might be jumping into—but there's another thing I might be jumping into. There's two things that I'm toying with, so I need to commit to one lane or the other fast." In December 2024, it was rumored from a production grid that this second project was an Evel Knievel biopic for Paramount Pictures, with Leonardo DiCaprio tentatively attached to star. It was believed that Chazelle had signed on to direct the project in place of an original screenplay in development at Paramount through a first-look deal, due to budget concerns and creative differences following the box office disappointment of his previous film Babylon (2022). In January 2025, the project was confirmed, with a script by William Monahan and Terrence Winter titled Evel Knievel on Tour listed via an issue of Production Weekly. By March, Deadline Hollywood reported that Adrien Brody, following his Oscar win for The Brutalist (2024), was discussions with Chazelle for an undisclosed role in the film.

In February 2024, Damien Chazelle acknowledged that he was in the process of finishing a new screenplay that he planned to direct, but remained skeptical about the amount of creative freedom he would be allowed following the box office disappointment of his previous film Babylon (2022). "I'm in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won't get a budget of Babylon size any time soon, or at least not on this next one," Chazelle told Ben Mankiewicz on an episode of Talking Pictures. "I have very mixed mind about it. Maybe I won't be able to get this one made. We'll have to wait and see." In April, it was reported by Deadline Hollywood that Chazelle had officially set his next film at Paramount Pictures, produced under his Wild Chickens Productions banner as part of a first-look deal with the studio that was signed in 2022. While plot details were vague, sources said at the time that the film is set in a prison and based off an original script he wrote. Chazelle and Paramount executives were expected to begin meeting with "A-list talent" for the high-priority project. Paramount subsequently announced during its CinemaCon presentation that the film would open in 2025. By July, it was expected that principal photography would commence in October 2024, though this did not occur.

In September 2024, in a Vanity Fair interview promoting the ten-year anniversary of Whiplash (2014), Chazelle revealed that he was working on another project simultaneously as his prison drama film. "My mind is all still figuring itself out in terms of what's next," he said. "I've definitely been working on this thing that I might be jumping into—but there's another thing I might be jumping into. There's two things that I'm toying with, so I need to commit to one lane or the other fast." In December, it was rumored from a production grid that this second project was an Evel Knievel biopic for Paramount, with Leonardo DiCaprio tentatively attached to star. It was believed that Chazelle had signed on to direct the project in place of his original screenplay in development at Paramount, due to budget concerns and creative differences following Babylon. In January 2025, the project was confirmed, with a script by William Monahan and Terence Winter titled Evel Knievel on Tour listed via an issue of Production Weekly. In March, it was announced that Adrien Brody, following his Oscar win for The Brutalist (2024), was in discussions with Chazelle for the part of Shelly Saltman in the film.

Marty Supreme

Background and development

On April 9, 2022, IndieWire indicated that Josh and Benny Safdie were reteaming with Adam Sandler for a new project following their collaboration on Uncut Gems (2019). On April 18, Sandler confirmed that he was "going to do another movie with the Safdie brothers," but did not divulge specific details. "Their work ethic is bananas," he told Entertainment Weekly. "They're always working, always writing, always thinking. I don't know what I can tell you, but it's gonna be very exciting." In June, Sandler mentioned that they were starting this new film in January and that it would revolve around the sports world. On October 8, rumors emerged that Sandler and Timothée Chalamet might be starring together, with an "early spring" start aimed for production. On October 11, Sandler revealed to Vanity Fair that he expected to begin work on the film "in the late winter [2022/2023]". On October 20, Deadline reported that Netflix officially boarded the untitled feature, with Sandler attached to star, and the Safdies writing, directing and producing. While no further details were disclosed officially, sources said that the goal was to shoot the project "in the second quarter of 2023" and that it was "set in the world of high-end card collecting." At the 2022 Gotham Awards in November, when asked about the project, Sandler noted that his character would "have a different look than what I had [in Uncut Gems]. I know they send me pictures of a look that I'm going to have and I can't say I'm going to look that handsome in it." On an episode of Happy Sad Confused, Sandler disclosed that the film would shoot in April 2023, describing it as "romantic" and "of [a] different feel" than Uncut Gems.

In January 2023, Sandler revealed that the Safdies had been working on the script for the film for a couple of years up until that point, with the brothers writing and then discarding "hundreds and hundreds of pages" of material over time. "I'll read them and I'll say, 'I like the part when this...' And they'll be like, 'Oh, that's not in it anymore. We did a whole other thing. We're going to send you a new draft.'" He added that latest draft delivered to him was 340 pages long. On March 2, What's on Netflix gathered that Benicio del Toro was then, or at one point was, being eyed for a role in the forthcoming film, and that it takes place during the 1990s, making it the first "period piece" for the Safdies. On March 15, Gael García Bernal was said to be in talks for another role. On March 27, in an interview with Collider promoting Murder Mystery 2 (2023), Sandler and Jennifer Aniston teased the project, with Aniston revealing that she would be co-starring in the film after having met up with the Safdies the previous day. At this time, Sandler stated that the involved parties were preparing for a summer shoot. On March 30, Deadline reported that Megan Thee Stallion was circling to star as well. That same day, Ben Affleck was rumored to be joining the film. On May 10, further details were provided, including confirmation of the rumored cast members as well as a logline that Affleck would star as a retired baseball pitcher who attempts a comeback, while Sandler would play a sports memorabilia agent who seeks to capitalize on his success. Stallion was said to be playing the pitcher character's girlfriend, and Steve Harvey was also allegedly added to the cast. Principal photography was to commence in mid-summer 2023, likely in July, and wrap around September. Among the locations were New York City and Atlantic City.

On May 25, journalist Jeff Sneider reported that Josh would be directing the film on his own, without the involvement of his brother; a GQ profile of Benny later addressed their amicable split. This marked the first time since The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008) that either of them have directed solo. Regardless of their split and the imminency of industry strikes, filming was still expected to go forward as planned. However, on May 31, the production start date was again bumped, to August. Roughly a week later, development was indefinitely halted as result of the WGA strike, leaving future filming dates unknown. By early July, an issue of Production Weekly listed a new September 25 start date, but this failed to materialize due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. In November, Sandler acknowledged the impact the strikes had on the production, as they "kind of missed the opportunity of baseball season [since] a lot of it was gonna be shot during live baseball," and that future plans remained uncertain. In December, Timothée Chalamet stated that in 2024 he would act in a pingpong-related film, a project previously rumored to be directed by the Safdies.

In January 2024, Benny reaffirmed that he and Josh would no longer co-direct projects together, as they both expand to solo careers. It was additionally revealed that, despite reports to the contrary, Benny did not co-write the script and was not a meaningful part of the creative process of the baseball project. In May, intel at the Cannes Film Festival claimed that plans were potentially still on track for the project to shoot sometime that year. In the meantime, Josh signed on to direct Sandler's stand-up comedy special Adam Sandler: Love You (2024), also for Netflix. By July, Variety reported that Chalamet agreed to star in a separate film to be directed by Josh called Marty Supreme. Josh wrote the script with Ronald Bronstein, based on professional table tennis player Marty Reisman, though "sources close to the production" called the story "a fictionalized original, rather than a biopic". At the New York premiere of Adam Sander: Love You in August, Sandler told IndieWire that he was hopeful for the baseball film to come to fruition someday soon, and that he was in ongoing discussions with Josh who was, despite also being committed to Marty Supreme, still fully onboard.

Casting

In August and the following months, the remaining cast of Marty Supreme was announced. Gwyneth Paltrow, for her part, was convinced to join the film through her brother Jake Paltrow (a Safdie fan), and Marty Supreme thus became her first onscreen role since Avengers: Endgame (2019). However, she considered Marty Supreme her first role where she was "laying it all on the line and accessing a kind of vulnerability" since Country Strong (2010). Khondji said the film featured around 140 non-actors, with French highwire artist Philippe Petit being among them.

Filming

Principal photography began in New York City on September 23, 2024, according to On Location Vacations, with official set photos being released on September 30 of Chalamet in Manhattan. Production wrapped on December 5. Iranian cinematographer Darius Khondji shot the project on 35mm film. According to Deadline Hollywood, the budget is $70 million, surpassing Civil War (2024) as A24's most expensive film. As of April 2025, the film is in post-production.

Chalamet said that Safdie encouraged him to do some of his own stunts in the movie. The director wanted Chalamet's eyes to look smaller, so he made him wear prescription glasses with contact lenses underneath, which he said "fucked up" his vision temporarily. For the pingpong scenes Chalamet trained for months and was coached by former players Diego Schaaf and Wei Wang.

Noah Baumbach's Unrealized Projects

Highball

First Kiss

Untitled Wes Anderson film

Prep

The Emperor's Children

Mr. Popper's Penguins

The Corrections

Flawed Dogs

Barbie

Untitled autobiography

https://collider.com/noah-baumbach-and-wes-anderson-teaming-up-for-a-3rd-project-together/

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2023/4/keit97ag0ouj6ehodo4jlow1s3roc2

Denis Villeneuve's unrealized projects

The Darling

Footnotes in Gaza

The Son

Cleopatra

Dune: Messiah

Rendezvous with Rama

Untitled James Bond film

Nuclear War: A Scenario

I'm Waiting for You

Nicolas Winding Refn's unrealized projects

Batgirl

Wonder Woman

The Avenging Silence

The Equalizer

Spectre

Barbarella

Billy's People

Jekyll

The Dying of the Light

Magic Mike

The Bringing

Maniac Cop

Logan's Run remake

Button Man

Untitled heist film

Witchfinder General

Les Italiens

What Have You Done to Solange?

https://deadline.com/2016/05/nicolas-winding-refn-remake-what-have-you-done-to-solange-giallo-cannes-1201760962/

https://variety.com/2016/tv/global/nicolas-winding-refn-neon-demon-les-italiens-1201757479/

https://theplaylist.net/nicolas-winding-refn-to-helm-modern-20090907/

Scott Frank's unrealized projects

Lily

Maximum Bob

Bye Bye Brooklyn

Houdini

Hell's Angels (Tony Scott)

Unforgiven TV miniseries

Laughter in the Dark TV miniseries

The Sparrow TV miniseries

The Force

Untitled Queen's Gambit follow-up film

Dustland opera

Faker novel

Red Harvest

https://variety.com/2024/tv/global/matthew-goode-kelly-macdonald-chloe-pirrie-scott-frank-netflix-department-q-1235899538/

https://deadline.com/2011/11/scott-frank-to-write-and-direct-gk-films-adaptation-of-british-miniseries-unforgiven-191929/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/queens-gambit-creator-scott-frank-to-tackle-the-sparrow-for-fx-4116532/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/01/how-a-script-doctor-found-his-own-voice

https://variety.com/1995/film/features/pollack-packs-full-bag-99130283/

https://variety.com/1996/voices/columns/leonard-lectures-on-filming-books-1117862936/

Unfinished projects

1976—78 Conceives a number of film projects, all of which are ultimately abandoned at one stage or another: The Crew, co-written with Mark Peploe, which would have been shot in Australia; The Color of Jealousy; a science-fiction film titled L’aquilone (The Kite), with a script by Tonino Guerra, which was to have been filmed in the southern Asiatic part of the Soviet Union; and Patire o morire (Suffer or Die), with a script by Guerra and Anthony Burgess, which was first to star Richard Gere and then Giancarlo Giannini.

The White Sheik

Your second film should have been The White Sheik, which Fellini ended up directing. Why didn’t you do it?

The White Sheik should have been my first film. While I waited for Ponti and his associate Mambretti to approve the script I went to Bomarzo, the “villa of the monsters,” to make a documentary. I got sick at Bomarzo and had to stay in bed with an intense headache. I was very ill. I could not even tolerate the daylight. It was a situation which was horrible for me, but turned out to be great for Ponti and Mambretti’s company. They told me that they were in trouble because Lux [the production company] had refused a script on Miss Italy by [Alberto] Lattuada, and they needed another story. Ponti really liked The White Sheik and proposed to buy it from me, promising to accept another film of mine. I did not know Ponti, then. It was the first time I had even been in contact with him and so I sold him the subject for practically nothing. Later he sent me a novel to read, but it was all a pretense. I made a film with Ponti sixteen years later, Blow-Up.

Was your version of The White Sheik much different from the one Fellini made?

Not very much, but the structure was different. I have to say one thing, and I hope Fellini doesn’t mind. The opening titles did not say that the story was entirely mine, as it really is. However, in my script there was no precise plot, just a series of interconnected events. It was a rather free narration, a little like Federico’s own films today. At the time, Fellini and [Tullio] Pinelli criticized the fragmentary quality of my stories.

Thematically, The White Sheik seems to develop some elements of your short film Lies of Love.

Yes, in fact I wanted to make the film with the same two actors who played in the documentary

Ida and the Pigs

In 1956, Antonioni completed the script for the planned film Ida e i porci (English translation: Ida and the Pigs), which was not made.

The Happy Girls from 24

Also in 1956, Antonioni wrote Le allegre ragazze del 24 (English translation: The Happy Girls from 24), which also was not produced, and he went on to direct Il Grido instead, the year following.

Makaroni

In 1958, Antonioni and Tonino Guerra prepared Makaroni, a screenplay based on Ugo Pirro's novel Le soldatesse, but their hopes for production fall through at the last minute.

Peter Pan

After the success of Blow-Up, Antonioni received an offer from an American producer to direct Peter Pan. "He called me into his office, and on the one side there was Mia Farrow, who was to take the lead role, on the other side was the composer and the artistic director (the music and scenery were all ready), and in front of me there was this producer with his check­ book out, offering one million and three hundred thousand dollars. And then I just asked: 'Since everything is ready, what do you need me for?' Those guys never understood why I turned them down. So many of my colleagues would have accepted."

Technically Sweet

In 1966, Antonioni drafted a treatment entitled Tecnicamente Dolce (English translation: Technically Sweet), about a man lost in the Amazon wilderness after surviving a plane crash. The title had been inspired by J. Robert Oppenheimer's remark on the atomic bomb because of the "technically sweet" theoretical problems it created. Antonioni later developed it into a screenplay with Mark Peploe, Niccolo Tucci, and Tonino Guerra, with plans to begin filming in the early 1970s with Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider. On the verge of production in the Amazon jungle, producer Carlo Ponti suddenly withdrew support and the project was abandoned, with Nicholson and Schneider going forward to star in The Passenger instead. In 2008, Technically Sweet, became an international group exhibition curated by Copenhagen-based artists Yvette Brackman and Maria Finn, in which the creations of artists, working in multiple mediums and based on Antonioni's manuscript, were displayed in New York. One of these was the short film "Sweet Ruin", directed by Elisabeth Subrin and starring Gaby Hoffmann. Antonioni's widow Enrica and director André Ristum announced plans to produce a film based on the screenplay, with filming in Brazil and Sardinia set to begin in 2023.

https://variety.com/2023/film/global/gullane-vivo-michelangelo-antonioni-fernando-coimbra-1235624231/

Silence

Yes, that’s true. I really like keeping quiet and watching the world go by, and in films I like the moments when, apparently, nothing is happening. I also wrote a story, “Silence,” in which an entire film was based on silence. It’s the story of a husband and wife who tell each other just a few very intimate things, at the beginning, and after that they have nothing left to say to each other.

The Crew

Antonioni and Mark Peploe co-wrote the screenplay about a wealthy man out on his yacht, which is taken over by gangsters mid-voyage. He’s forced to rely on his native intelligence to get himself to safety.

https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2015/feature-articles/the-crew-antonionis-australian-film-that-was-not-to-be/

Why are you about to shoot another film in the United States? After Zabriskie Point you said you’d have some reservations about doing it again.

This time there will be no problems. The story takes place mostly at sea, on board a yacht. The theme will be the relationship between one character and his crew. I met some producers who asked if I had any projects in mind. I made a proposal and it was accepted. In Italy I had been asked to do an adaptation of a novel which I didn’t like, and besides that, the producer was terrible, I couldn’t work with him. So I accepted, for practical reasons, but I have to say that I also wanted to shoot a second film in the United States. I like America a lot; I don’t want to start any polemics. I will shoot in [Miami,] Florida – rather a nice place where everything is static, where everybody is wealthy, and the poor are there too, but they are Cubans and Puerto Ricans.

Why Miami?

Because it’s right for the story. Anyway, I’ll be filming very little on land.

Is it a major production company or an independent one?

It’s a French-American production company with a budget of nearly eight million dollars. It’s the most expensive film I’ve done to date. In America, with the unionized system you can’t make films cheaply. The actors are Robert Duvall, Joe Pesci, perhaps [Vittorio] Gassman, and another famous actor whose name I can’t reveal. There will also be a woman. The title is The Crew. It will be quite a crude film, but humorous, too – a strange story

The Color of Jealousy

Will you tell us something about the latest projects you are hoping to complete? We can begin, if you don’t mind, with The Color of Feelings.

This film was intended to be a kind of small treatise on jealousy, viewed from an obsessive standpoint – that is, it was the story of a man obsessed by jealousy. The story developed on three levels: the level of reality, the level of memory, and the level of the imagination. This structure gave me the opportunity to, let me say, “color” the events in three different ways, according to each of the different levels they belonged to. I wanted to make this film with video cameras so as to have a wider range of effects. In agreement with Barthes, I also used fragments of his book A Lover’s Discourse. Fragments. I sent him the script and he wrote me a very nice letter, with pertinent and flattering observations. One day I hope to pick up this project again, if someone doesn’t do it before me.

The Kite

L'Aquilone (translation: The Kite)

Another project was a film I was going to make in the U.S.S.R. It was called L’aquilone [The Kite]’ I traveled all over Russia scouting for locations, and in the end I stopped in Uzbekistan, in a city called Khiva, with a medieval historical center that is practically untouched. It was supposed to be a very costly film (it was a science-fiction fable), and although the Russians were prepared to give me all I needed, they could not have given me what they did not have: a special-effects crew like the Americans and the English could provide. So I had to give it up.

https://variety.com/1995/film/features/antonioni-s-clouds-in-b-o-heaven-99123636/

Suffer or Die

Scripted by Tonino Guerra and Anthony Burgess, it was to star Debra Winger alongside Mick Jagger or Richard Gere or Giancarlo Giannini as an architect. Amy Irving was cast at one point as a Catholic novice.

Francis of Assisi

https://www.archivioantonioni.it/en/approfondimento/san-francesco/

In 1982 | "They asked me to do a film about St. Francis of Assisi, but for bureaucratic reasons I don’t think it will be possible. At RAJ [the Italian state TV], they’re late with their contracts, and in any case, I have signed up to do two films, so at least for the moment I can’t do anything about it. We’ll see." | "And then, I was supposed to do a film about St. Francis of Assisi – but probably nothing will come of it. I thought of doing a period St. Francis, a St. Francis of his own time – which, by the way, was an extremely violent, crude age; at the time there was a war between the people of Assisi and the nobles of Perugia. With his ideas about peace, St. Francis was everyone’s enemy. He was alone, a voice crying in the wilderness. That’s how I wanted him to come across – ahead of his time."

In 1985 | "And then I’m also working on a film for Italian TV about St. Francis of Assisi. In any case, real Franciscans don’t like “The Flowers” because they think they are too saccharine, too romantic – in short, not authentic. Instead, I have followed some of their suggestions and have stuck closely to documented facts. (I made an in-depth study before I wrote the screenplay). Those same Franciscans appreciate that I have represented the character of Francis in opposition to the corruption of the Middle Ages and the atmosphere of violence on which it fed."

Just to Be Together

In 1985 | How many projects do you have in hand at the moment? "Four! Destination Verna, The Crew, Two Telegrams (its plot is taken from a story in That Bowling Alley on the Tiber – in the story there is just the basic situation, but in the film there will be a complete narrative with characters)." | "However, my next film, Two Telegrams, will still be about feelings."

Adapted by Rudy Wurlitzer from the director’s 1974 short story, “Two Telegrams.” The $11 million English-language drama was to start shooting on Los Angeles locations in February 1998. Robin Wright Penn was to play a successful urban-planning architect who divides her affections between her husband (Sam Shepard) and her lover (Andy Garcia). Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp would also be featured. Wright Penn withdrew for personal reasons.

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/antonioni-set-for-together-1116678758/

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/nicholson-may-back-up-antonioni-in-together-1117469422/

Destinazione Verna

In 1985 | I’m working on another one, with Ponti and Sophia Loren. The film is based on a beautiful story by an America writer, Jack Finley, and is called Destination Verna. It’s the story of a middle-aged woman who doesn’t expect anything more out of life. And then, one fine day, they say to her: “There’s a seat in a spaceship going to the planet Verna, a marvelous place, a sort of earthly Paradise.” And she asks: “But how do you get there?” The planet Verna is outside the solar system and the distance is such that the woman decides not to go. It is the last big opportunity of her life, but she lets it go by because it would be a one-way trip and she’s afraid of burning her boats behind her. It’s a very understandable reaction. If you asked the average man: “What are you doing here? Wouldn’t you like to go to a Heaven-like place? This is a golden opportunity for you” – very few would have the courage to confront the unknown and drop everything, even though they might complain about their condition down here on Earth. They prefer to live with despair down here rather than confront the unknown. That’s a very human feeling.

1999, A woman buys a ticket to live on a planet called Destinazione Verna, in Antonioni’s story written with Tonino Guerra, to be produced by Felice Laudadio. The cast included Anthony Hopkins, Sophia Loren, Naomi Campbell, Laura Morante, Stefania Rocca, Kim Rossi Stuart, Carlo Cecchi, and Chiara Caselli.

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/return-destination-1117491888/

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/oct/03/news1

Alan J. Pakula's unrealized projects

Desire Under the Elms

The Wapshot Scandals

The Martian Chronicles

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

St. Urbain's Horseman

One More Song

Superman

Brubaker

Terms of Endearment

Children of a Lesser God

Nuts

Spring Moon

Three Ways Home

The Mrs. (Deceived)

The Significant Other

Sleeping Arrangements

Friday Night Lights

CDC

Cover Story

Green River Rising

Secret Santa

Brainstorm

The Secret History

A Tale of Two Strippers

Unknown Mary Karr adaptation (Miele)

No Ordinary Time

The Wapshot Scandals The Martian Chronicles The Drowning Pool That Championship Season Taxi Driver Rich and Famous The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper Blade Runner Cutter's Way A Long and Happy Life

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52528-DESIRE-UNDER-THE-ELMS?cxt=filmography

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/18/archives/2-cheever-novels-to-make-one-film-pakula-and-mulligan-acquire.html

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54493-THE-EFFECT-OF-GAMMA-RAYS-ON-MAN-IN-THE-MOON-MARIGOLDS?cxt=filmography

https://thewalrus.ca/2007-10-film/

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57040-SUPERMAN?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56379-BRUBAKER?cxt=filmography

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/movies_tv/article/terms-of-endearment-james-brooks-houston-mcmurtry-18494206.php

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57284-CHILDREN-OF-A-LESSER-GOD?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57769-NUTS?cxt=filmography

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/14/movies/at-the-movies.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-25-ca-194-story.html

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58853-DECEIVED?cxt=filmography

https://variety.com/1991/film/features/pakula-consents-to-more-pix-following-adults-99126618/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-09-ca-1957-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/25/arts/at-the-movies.html

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1991/01/28/pakula-working-on-two-movies/

https://variety.com/1994/film/news/pakula-options-cullen-s-story-117953/

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/book-review-river-of-blood-sweat-and-fullfrontal-filth-green-river-rising-tim-willocks-cape-pounds-14-99-1423171.html

The short was purchased by Warner Bros and developed into a feature film with Huffman writing and Alan J Pakula to direct. (IMDb)

https://leoadambiga.com/tag/richard-dooling/

Unknown Mary Karr adaptation

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_WqPaw-7Li0&si=464fzHs9bNGua8kk

No Ordinary Time

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/filmmaker-pakula-dies-in-accident-1117488719/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/friends-honor-pakula-1117491017/

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/23/movies/critic-s-notebook-finding-depth-in-society-s-shallow-end.html

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_WqPaw-7Li0&si=464fzHs9bNGua8kk

https://deadline.com/2014/08/no-ordinary-time-limited-series-fox-stephen-frears-bob-cooper-821178/

Spring Moon

The Secret History/No Ordinary Time

Orson Welles' unrealized projects

The Sacred Beasts

One of the driving figures in the “New Hollywood,” Bogdanovich adored Welles as a director, like many other young directors breaking free from the predominant studio tastes. In fact, the meeting gave Welles some hope that he could start up yet another project, an original story of his that at that time was called The Sacred Beasts. This was a tale about the film industry, the 1960s art house crowd, bullfighting, and the interplay between machismo and film directing.252 It reflected current cultural trends and revolutions for which it was unclear how long they would last. (https://www.wellesnet.com/sacred-beasts-lost-other-side-wind/)

Midnight Plus One

Welles toyed with the idea of adapting Gavin Lyall’s thriller Midnight Plus One, to star Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson. Would have been produced by Bert Schneider, who Welles would later act for in the 1972 horror film, Necromancy. The rights to Lyall's novel could not be secured. No evidence of a script.

https://www.wellesnet.com/memories-shared-at-evening-with-oja-kodar-in-woodstock-illinois/

Surinam

Welles wrote an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Victory with Oja Kodar. It was to be made for Peter Bogdanovich’s The Directors Company and star Kodar and Ryan O’Neal. But Bogdanovich had a couple of flops, money became short and the project was dropped. Conrad's novel is frequently described as an modern-day variation of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Several drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

Crazy Weather

https://www.wellesnet.com/crazy-weather-script/

https://www.wellesnet.com/exploring-hemingway-welles-connection/

https://brightlightsfilm.com/the-shadow-of-ernest-hemingway-on-crazy-weather-orson-welless-unpublished-1973-bullfighting-screenplay/amp/

https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/16/what-orson-welles-really-thought-about-ernest-hemingway

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/welles-and-hemingway-how-two-titans-clashed-over-spain/

The Assassin

According to Matthew Asprey Gear, the trailer Welles wanted to show at the AFI tribute wound up being shown to Michael Selsman a few months later. This was when Selsman wanted Welles for the project Sirhan, Sirhan, to be rewritten by Welles as Assassin: “Welles told Selsman the film [The Deep] was ‘in Europe in final cut – except for a sort of prologue I would like to shoot before the main titles,’ some ‘underwater second unit shots,’ and some post-syncing by Jeanne Moreau. The trailer may have simply bolstered Selsman’s belief that Welles didn’t finish his films.”349 Selsman, of course, passed on The Deep. More frustratingly, though Welles increased his involvement in Assassin, Selsman didn’t even have the money to film that project. As Asprey Gear writes, “there is little chance Assassin could have been made even if Welles hadn’t increased his financial demands.”350351 (350: https://brightlightsfilm.com/orson-welles-and-the-death-of-sirhan-sirhan-part-ii-the-safe-house/)

https://matthewasprey2.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/orson-welles-and-the-death-of-sirhan-sirhan-part-i-the-conspirators/

https://matthewasprey2.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/orson-welles-and-the-death-of-sirhan-sirhan-part-ii-the-safe-house/

The Assassin

Based on a book by Donald Freed, the story speculates on the possible brainwashing techniques used on Sirhan Sirhan to prepare him for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

https://www.wellesnet.com/university-of-michigan-acquires-orson-welles-papers-unproduced-scripts-from-daughter-beatrice-welles/

Authorship and exact titles will have to be verified, though they appear at first glance to be Welles original stories and adaptations. Titles include Operation: Cinderella, Two By Two (Noah’s Ark), Treasure Island, Great Leaders (aka Brittle Glory), Caesar, Christmas Shopping, Beware of Greeks, Saladin, The Big Question from Affair of Antol, The Honorary Counsel, The Heroine, The Cherry Orchard, The Little Prince, Because of the Cats, Inherit the Wind, Green Thoughts, Beatrice and Benedick, Much Ado About Nothing, Sirhan, The Bishop’s Beggar, Fair Warning, Mendelman Fire, China, Casanova, Ulysses, The Dreamers and Spain, which would have included parts for his wife and youngest daughter.

BECAUSE OF THE CATS

THE BLIND WINDOW (Mercedes)

BLACK MEDICINE

SOLDIER, SOLDIER

SURINAM (Conrad's Victory)

https://www.wellesnet.com/turin-museum-orson-welles/

THE UNTHINKING LOBSTER

ULYSSES

OPERATION CINDERELLA

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/movies/orson-welles-missing-scripts-found.html

The Method

Welles directed a 1961 documentary on the Actors Studio for BBC TV.

Mercedes

[LAST FILM] A few months before his death, Mercedes is the adaption of Oja Kodar's story Blind Window and takes place in Spain.

https://www.wellesnet.com/exploring-hemingway-welles-connection/

True, but don't feel like finding info for...

THE SACRED BEASTS

TARAS BULBA

THE UNTHINKING LOBSTER

UNE GROSS LEGUME

Full list...

https://everything2.com/title/The+broken+dreams+of+Orson+Welles

http://wellesnet.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2932

Henry IV In Europe in the late 1940s Welles scripted a loose adaptation of Pirandello's play, changing the central character into a young American who believes that he is the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Welles was to play the central role and he claimed it was his finest script, but there is no evidence of it's existence.

The Autobiography of Cellini Bret Wood's Bio-bibliography of Welles claims that there was a project based on the life of 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini knocking around during the late 1940s and 1950s. There is no evidence of a script.

Enrico Caruso Wood's book indicates that Welles was also interested in a film about opera legend Enrico Caruso. How far it got is unknown. There is no evidence of a script.

The Odyssey While he was working on Othello Welles ‘hired’ Ernest Borneman to write a script based on Homer about Ulysses. Welles envisaged the equivalent of one of Robert Graves’s historical novels. Borneman stopped working when he wasn’t paid...although eventually he received his promised money. Shortly afterward, an Italian film version was made starring Kirk Douglas. There is a script called "Ulysses" in the Beatrice Welles archive.

Two By Two A screenplay was written based on the Noah story, but updated to modern times. The screenplay exists in the Beatrice Welles archive recently sold to UM.

The Mendelman Fire Mendelman's Fire, based on a 1957 short story by Wolf Mankowitz, concerns an unscrupulous scheme to insure Mendelman's fortune for his daughter and how its ramifications are traced by Botvinnik, an accountant whose wily activities delight in, but are horrified by, the course of the plotting. A script is part of the Beatrice Welles collection

Green Thoughts Welles's proposed followup to his TV pilot for Desilu, The Fountain of Youth, Green Thoughts was a "spook story with a seasoning of giggles", as he called it. When Fountain was rejected as a pilot, Welles went back to Europe. When Fountain was shown on TV the following year, it received great acclaim, and there was interest in continuing the series, but by that time Welles was involved in other things and decided not to come back for it, much to Desilu's anger. The script for Green Thoughts is part of the Beatrice Welles collection at UM.

Beware the Greeks A comedy that Welles was supposed to have written or revived in the mid-1960s. There is a screenplay by that name in the Beatrice Welles archive.

Because of the Cats A script based on one of Nicolas Freeling’s Van der Valk detective novels was written. A complete shooting script, with some camera directions, is at UM.

Crazy Weather Oja Kodar and Welles adapted her own short story, which concerns a married couple traveling through Spain, whose lives are disrupted by a mysterious young hitchhiker. Fragmentary screenplay drafts are at UM's Kodar collection.

https://www.tonybarrell.com/the-lost-batman-masterpiece/

Orson Welles' Batman

Jim Jarmusch's unrealized projects

The Garden of Divorce

Coming Through Slaughter

Zebulon

Untitled Nikola Tesla biopic

Three Moons in the Sky

Ghost Dog sequel

https://jimjarmusch.tripod.com/unfinished.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20090412094818/http://www.jim-jarmusch.net/films/unmaderumored_films/

https://bombmagazine.org/articles/men-looking-at-other-men/

https://web.archive.org/web/20040910153306/http://www.thefifthnight.org/detail.asp?ReadingID=186

https://scienceandfilm.org/articles/3632/revisiting-an-interview-with-michael-almereyda-on-tesla

https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/jarmusch-shows-the-money

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general/jim-jarmusch-speaks-on-evolution-of-broken-flowers-78098/

According to Michael Almereyda, Jarmusch was involved in/to direct a film that would have started Tilda Swinton as the inventor of electricity, Nikola Tesla. Almereyeda, later made a film of Tesla, which starred Ethan Hawke in the role.

John Ford's unrealized projects

(Revenge (1947), The Creighton Story (1960), Alias Whispering White, Operation Seventy-Three, Our Brother John, Slowsure, Wits and the Woman/The Demon Dragon)

1920s

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Main article: A Connecticut Yankee (film)

In 1929, it was announced that Fox Film Corp. planned to have Ford direct Will Rogers in a film version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Ford had read and loved the book when he lived in Maine as a child. However, the film, released in 1931 as A Connecticut Yankee was instead made by David Butler. (pg. 208)

1930s

Young America

Main article: Young America (1932 film)

In August 1931, it was indicated in the trade papers that Ford was scheduled to direct the film Young America as a comedy for Fox, with Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Albertson and William Collier Jr. among the cast. The film was released the following year and instead starred Spencer Tracy, Doris Kenyon and Ralph Bellamy, and was realized as a dramatic effort under director Frank Borzage.

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo

Main article: The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (film)

In the early 1930s, Ford had originally been engaged to direct The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo for Fox. Before he could even start work on the production, he had an accident slipping on his yacht Araner in which he fractured two vertebrae, and had to relinquish the job. Plans for the feature ultimately went forward, with Stephen Roberts taking over the director's position in Ford's absence.

West of the Pecos

Main article: West of the Pecos (1934 film)

In August 1934, Ford was announced as a "probable director" for RKO's planned production of West of the Pecos. The final film, said to be lost, was directed by Phil Rosen and was later remade in 1945.

Ramona

Main article: Ramona (1936 film)

In March 1935, it was reported that Ford was scheduled as the director of the adaptation of Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona, upon Fox's purchase of the screen rights the previous year. Eugene Forde was also for a time attached before Henry King.

Professional Soldier

Main article: Professional Soldier

In the mid-1930s, Ford was scheduled to direct Professional Soldier when Wallace Beery was signed to play the main character. The film was prepared for production by 20th Century Pictures and was released after the company merged with Fox. At the time of Ford's involvement, actor Freddie Bartholomew was borrowed from M-G-M, and Rian James was hired to work on the script, based upon a short story by Damon Runyon. The property was instead developed and directed under Tay Garnett.

A Message to Garcia

Main article: A Message to Garcia (film)

In September 1935, it was reported that Ford was assigned to direct A Message to Garcia and would start production upon his return from a vacation in Florida. The director's position was preceded by Roy Del Ruth and was succeeded by George Marshall, with the resulting film seeing release in 1936.

Slave Ship

Main article: Slave Ship (film)

In August 1936, Ford was originally scheduled to direct Twentieth Century-Fox's Slave Ship but was asked to be excused in order to take a vacation trip to Europe following the production of three films he directed in quick succession. His colleague Howard Hawks was announced in his place, though he too left the project and Tay Garnett instead acquired the assignment of director.

I'll Give a Million

Main article: I'll Give a Million (1938 film)

Fox studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck, impressed with the Italian comedy Darò un milione, purchased the rights and sought to remake it with Ford directing. In December 1937, it was reported that Warner Baxter and Loretta Young would star in the two lead roles. The resulting film starred Marjorie Weaver instead of Young, and was directed by Walter Lang.

La Grande Illusion remake

Following the release of __ in 1938, (pg. 254)

https://observer.com/2008/05/the-best-director-ever/

1940s

Man Hunt

Main article: Man Hunt (1941 film)

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ford was the original director of Man Hunt, but departed from the production. Jules Furthman wrote two treatments for Ford in June 1940, but his work was not included in the final screenplay by Dudley Nichols. Fritz Lang directed the film, which was released the following year.

The Eagle Squadron

In 1940—41, Ford left the production of Man Hunt and chose to direct a film called The Eagle Squadron in its place, for his own Argosy company. This project was not produced however, and Ford made How Green Was My Valley for Twentieth Century-Fox later in 1941.

The Last Outlaw remake

In 1942, Harry Carey gained the story rights to The Last Outlaw, Ford's 1919 two-reel silent Western which had been remade in 1936, with the prospect of remaking the film again but as an "A picture". Ford's Argosy Pictures signed a contract in January 1945 to make The Last Outlaw for United Artists, but Ford was still in active military service and the project did not reach fruition before Carey's death in 1947. (pg. 258)

Later on in his career when he was struggling to find work in Hollywood, Ford contacted The Walt Disney Company and asked for a job, desperate to direct again. According to Harry Carey Jr., Ford likely mooted the Last Outlaw remake to Disney, which he wanted to make with John Wayne starring in the main role. "It would have been marvelous," Harry Jr reflected. "Duke [Wayne] as an older guy, getting out of prison in the thirties. Duke always wanted to do it." (pg. 686-687)

The Family

In 1946, Ford's Argosy Pictures purchased the film rights to Nina Federova's 1940 novel The Family, about a family of White Russians who are exiled to China after the Revolution. The film was slated to commence production the following year with John Wayne and Ethel Barrymore in the cast. Ford framed the story as "the disintegration of a family after it has been unrooted."

Untitled Battle of the Alamo film

In the late 1940s, after Ford and Merian C. Cooper had formed Argosy Pictures, John Wayne approached them with the prospect of making a large-scale film on the subject of the Siege and Battle of the Alamo. A screenplay centering on the character of Davy Crockett was completed by Ford's son Patrick for Argosy by 1948. That same year, Ford and Wayne announced the film while location scouting in Texas for 3 Godfathers. Ultimately, due to budget concerns, Ford and Cooper effectively shelved the project. Wayne later realized the film himself, released in 1960 as The Alamo, which Ford had directed second unit footage of.(Searching for John Ford pg. 611)

Pinky

Main article: Pinky (film)

A Ticket to Tomahawk

Main article: A Ticket to Tomahawk

(Print the Legend, pg. 363)

1950s

The Last Frontier

In the early 1950s, Ford began considering making a film about the Cheyenne immigration. He liked Howard Fast's The Last Frontier, and wanted to use it as the basis for a film on the subject, but never pursued the rights. A screenplay adaptation of the book had been written by Ted Buchanan in 1949. The project was initially set up at Columbia Pictures, but it was shelved. Ford, for his part, "plead[ed]" with Fast to talk to Buchanan to allow him to direct The Last Frontier. "I'll direct it right out your book," he told Fast, "Your dialogue and nothing else." Ultimately, Ford pursued a different iteration of the story with 1964's Cheyenne Autumn, his biggest production.

(Searching for JF, pg. 644)

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

In 1952, Ford came close to helming a production of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T. E. Lawrence's autobiographical account of serving with rebel Arab forces against the Ottoman Turks. The story was instead later dramatized in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean.

The Demi-Gods

Also in 1952,

Press cutting from The East London Observer, including a piece about John Ford's planned adaptation of the James Stephen's novel "The Demi-Gods", starring, among others, Denis O'Dea and Siobhan McKenna. Date 24 October 1952

https://www.calmview.co.uk/NUIG/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=T20%2F2%2F2%2F5%2F530&action=b98bf72a

The Valiant Virginians

(1954)

pg. 530, 553

(Print the Legend, pg. 433-434)

Mister Roberts

Main article: Mister Roberts (1955 film)

(1955)

The Judge and the Hangman

In addition to The White Company, Ford and producer Michael Killanin were also discussing the possibilities of a project to be filmed in Germany, The Judge and the Hangman, poised to star John Wayne and Spencer Tracy. In March 1959, Dudley Nichols expressed interest in writing the script, but he fell ill and the project was not pursued by Ford further. (Searching for John Ford, pg. 600)

(Print the Legend, 457)

Billy Budd

Main article: Billy Budd (film)

(Print the Legend, 457)

The White Company

In 1959, after shooting was completed on The Horse Soldiers, Ford was mulling filming a production outside of the United States. At this time, Michael Killanin was negotiating for the rights to The White Company, a book by Arthur Conan Doyle set in England, France, and Spain during the Hundred Years' War. Though Ford was desperate to make a film of the story, the project was an expensive period piece, so he had little luck in gaining financial backing. (Searching for John Ford, pg. 600)

(print the legend, 530)

In a letter disclosed to Alec Guinness in 1963, it was revealed that Ford wanted to cast him for a role in the planned production. However, Guinness would decline the offer.

Ford also wrote to Guinness about/for a role

Ford continued to hope to make a film of the story well into the 1970s, (and was developing it alongside/simultaneously as the Strode projects). pg. 686

However, due to Guinness's busy schedule, he had to decline the role.

, I shall be with it until the following Fall. I agree with you about Sir Nigel, though I must confess to being quite unable to get through the whole book these days. When I was about fourteen or fifteen I loved it I remember. I would so like to work with you but it looks as if it won't be in The White Company. All good wishes, Sincerely, Alec Guinness. Both Sir Nigel and The White Company proved to be unrealized projects for John Ford despite his passion for these two great works by Doyle.

1960s

Sir Nigel

In 1963, toward the end of his career Ford was attached to film Sir Nigel, a companion piece of sorts to the (Ford's) planned White Company

, Ford also offered Alec Guinness a role

https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/alec-guinness-to-john-ford-mentioning-two-of-sir-arthur-conan-doyle-s-works-sir-nigel-and-the-white-company/a/997046-1031.s

The Wandering Jew

(Print the Legend, 487)

Desperate Trails remake

It was revealed in a profile for Esquire that while in the interim between shooting Cheyenne Autumn, Ford told actor George O'Brien that he (would like) wanted to someday do a remake of his own film Desperate Trails. "First picture made with actual nighttime photography," Ford noted. "It was based on a story by Courtney Ryley Cooper called 'Christmas Eve at Pilot Butte'. Like to remake it sometime. A nice story."

Young Cassidy

Main article: Young Cassidy

In September 1963, it was reported that Ford would direct a film of the life of the writer Sean O'Casey, Young Cassidy. He wanted Sean Connery for the role.

https://www.nytimes.com/1963/09/03/archives/ford-will-film-life-of-ocasey-sean-connery-to-play-title-role-in.html

http://www.rodtaylorsite.com/youngcassidy.shtml

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/21/archives/ocasey-at-84-is-pleased-by-movie-on-his-life-but-young-cassidy.html

https://variety.com/1964/film/reviews/young-cassidy-1200420694/

O.S.S.

While working on 7 Women, Ford began thinking (in earnest) about making a biographical film about his friend, Major General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, claiming that he had promised Donovan on his deathbed that he would do so.(pg. 680) Developed at around the same time as The Miracle of Merriford, it was to have been called O.S.S. and track Donovan's experiences serving as chief of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Ford struggled to find a writer at first, his sensibility having become so far removed from what was popular in Hollywood at the time.(pg. 680) The project was eventually scripted in around 1967–68. John Wayne was tipped to play Wild Bill.

The Miracle of Merriford

Ford was planning on following-up 7 Women with another for MGM, The Miracle of Merriford. Adapted by Willis Goldbeck and James Warner Bellah from a 1955 novel by Reginald Arkell, it was a comedy about American ex-soldiers who return to a British town after World War II to rebuild a church they damaged during the war. According to author Joseph McBride, "Ford saw the project as a satire of the cultural clash between Americans and Britons, with humor similar to that of The Quiet Man." He wanted James Stewart and Dan Dailey in the leads, and was considering such other actors as Julie Christie, Jack Hawkins and Cecil Kellaway. By June 1965, MGM announced that the film would begin shooting in October that year, but plans were abruptly cancelled after the studio read the script. Although Ford claimed the reason was that it "didn't have enough sex", the bad preview of 7 Women in July was likely a contributing factor in the reason for the cancellation of the project, considering it was also set in the past and dealt with religious themes. The following summer, Ford approached producer Walter Wanger attempting to realize The Miracle of Merriford in the form of a TV movie, to no avail. (Searching for JF, page 679-680)

April Morning

In 1966, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. approached Ford with the idea of making April Morning, Howard Fast's novel of a teenage boy from New England who comes of age at the Battle of Lexington in 1775. Ford took a copy of the book with him on his trip to Paris that year so he could point to it as a forthcoming project to journalists.(Print the legend, pg. 529) The screenplay by Michael Wilson was, in Ford's words, "the story of a blacksmith and his family just before the Revolutionary War. The Battle of Lexington and Concord will be in the film ... but basically it's the story of a father and his son." Goldwyn planned for April Morning to have a "modest budget", and was worried about the number of extras required for the battle scenes. Ford instructed him to call Western Costume and find out how many Revolutionary War costumes they had in stock. "I'll do it with stuntmen," he told Goldwyn. For the main cast, everyone involved wanted John Wayne for the part of the boy's father, and Goldwyn had the idea of approaching Henry Fonda and his son Peter for additional roles. It had been believed that Wayne, weary of his debt to Ford, turned the film down and effectively put it to end. Out of pride, Ford refused to ask Wayne, who eventually agreed/committed (on his own) out of Golden's urging. After a few months of development, Fonda opted out of starring.(Print the legend, pg. 530-531) According to Peter Bogdanovich, Ford planned to make the film with Lee Marvin. When author Joseph McBride questioned Ford about the status of the project in 1970, he replied, "Well, it's still coming. I mean... no company wants to do it. [...] It's a great script. It's the best script I've ever read." A deal was almost reached/agreed upon/struck to make the film at MGM, but it was scuttled by one of the executives. Fifteen years after Ford's death, Goldwyn and Robert Halmi made April Morning as a TV movie with Delbert Mann producing and directing.

Boule de Suif

Still struggling to find work as a director in the U.S., in 1966, French publicist Pierre Rissient suggested Ford make a film of Guy de Maupassant's "Boule de Suif", but set in France rather than in Monument Valley as he had done with Stagecoach, itself loosely based on the story. Ford flew to Paris in January 1968 to drum up interest from potential investors but nothing came of it. Rissient suggested Leslie Caron for the lead role, but Caron passed on it due to Ford's old school methods of movie-making. (pg. 682) Michel Déon was hired to write the script and had witnessed the development of the project. "Ford worked in his bed, ordering bottles of white wine in the morning while I came to work in the afternoon. Needless to say, it wasn't easy," Déon recalled. "He wasn't in a state to work and no insurance would take care of him for the duration of a shoot."

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Main article: Tora! Tora! Tora!

According to Admiral John D. Bulkeley, Ford had wanted to direct the $25 million American-Japanese coproduction Tora! Tora! Tora! alongside Akira Kurosawa, who at the time would have helmed/overseen the Japanese segments.(Searching pg. 681) Ford informed Twentieth Century-Fox of his interest through intermediaries, but Darryl F. Zanuck never seriously considered hiring him because his poor health made him unviable for such a large-scale project. Kurosawa would be replaced after a few days of shooting and the film was instead jointly directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku.

Midway

In the late 1960s, Ford also pursued a project about the Battle of Midway, specifying to John Lee Mahin that Midway would be his "last picture". He planned to use actual footage for the film. Albert S. Ruddy was set in place as the producer and Joseph McBride even wrote the opening. An Italian company was going to provide the backing, but the money became unavailable. (Searching for JF, pg. 680) A Midway feature was instead made by The Mirisch Company for Universal in 1976, directed by Jack Smight.

1970s

Untitled Spaghetti Western film

Ford's actor-collaborator and friend Woody Strode had grown to be highly in demand after starring in Italian Spaghetti Westerns, and lived in Rome between the years of 1969 and 1973 as a result. Due to his successes, he and Ford had discussed working together again on a Spaghetti Western in Italy or in Spain. Strode sent him a script as possibility for the project, which Ford didn't like.(print the legend, pg. 541) Though Ford found another screenplay—a "low-budget Western with religious overtones" as described by Joseph McBride—he wanted it to be rewritten to transform the white protagonist into a black one to better suit Strode. According to Ford, in the summer of 1970, he needed someone to put up the $20,000 purchase price and when one of his representatives mentioned the director's interest in the script, the price shot up to $50,000.(pg. 686-687) McBride, present at the time when Ford announced his retirement for the first time officially, later found out that the day he interviewed him, he had been expecting a letter or a phone call from an Italian producer about the project. "Woody Strode was trying to get this Western done for him and this Italian guy was gonna call him and he never did. And Ford at that point, that day, he was realizing 'I'm not gonna hear from this man. This is the end of my career and I'm packing it in'."

Appointment with Precedence

In the early 1970s, Ford was planning to make one last Western shot in Monument Valley, referred to under the titles Appointment with Precedence and The Josh Clayton Story. The film was to have starred Fred Williamson as Josh Clayton, the first black graduate of West Point to command a black cavalry unit. It was based on an original story by Robert Johnson, who appeared as a black trooper in Ford's own Sergeant Rutledge. Woody Strode would have also had a role as/playing a sergeant resentful of his new commander, with additional cameo appearances from James Stewart, Henry Fonda and John Wayne. By 1972, Ford had appointed James Warner Bellah to work on the film treatment with Johnson. There was some interest from Italian producers if the film could be made for under $2 million. Ford asked Wingate Smith to draw up a $1.5 million budget. (pg. 686-687)

https://westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-josh-clayton-story.html

Valley Forge

In March 1971, Ford and fellow director Frank Capra decided to team up to film Maxwell Anderson's 1934 verse play Valley Forge, which Capra had been trying to make since the late 1930s, as a benefit for the Motion Picture Country House Relief Fund. Billed as a John Ford-Frank Capra Production, Capra was to direct the exteriors and Ford the interiors. Two major interior sets depicting Valley Forge were to be constructed at an ice-skating rink so that the actors' breath would be visible; the other major set, a Philadelphia ballroom, was to be built on a soundstage. George C. Scott was approached for the role of General George Washington. To help with the production, Ford and Capra enlisted Frank McCarthy, though by June, Martin Rackin became involved as producer instead. Rackin then wrote a five-page proposal for Valley Forge and submitted it to Cinema Center Films.(pg. 688-689) It was pitched as an event film for the upcoming 1976 United States Bicentennial celebration and a "human drama" akin to A Man for All Seasons or Patton that would have mass audience appeal. While CCF showed interest, Columbia refused to sell the rights to Valley Forge, halting further development.

Though another producer claimed that the (movie-going) public had (would have) no interest in George Washington or the Revolutionary War

Ford once relayed an anecdote about why the project could not get off the ground:

[Capra]'s got a great story about Valley Forge but nobody would go for it. [...] These are an ignorant lot of bastards! [...] they say "Who the hell's interested in George Washington?" I heard one producer say that to me. I says "I am for one, and millions of other people are." He said "No that's dead fish," he says, "you know, nobody's interested in the American Revolution." I said "Have you ever read the history of the American Revolution?" "I haven't, no, I have better things to do".

The Grave Diggers

In March 1972, it was reported in Daily Variety that Woody Strode or Fred Williamson would star in a new Ford film titled The Grave Diggers, an original by James Warner Bellah and his son James Jr. about Benjamin Davis, the first black West Point graduate to retire with the rank of a major general. (pg. 686-687)

Offers

The Strange Case of Cavendish

In 1919, Ford passed on an offer from Universal Pictures to direct an 18-part serial called The Strange Case of Cavendish for $300 a week. (pg. 118)

I'd Climb the Highest Mountain

Main article: I'd Climb the Highest Mountain

Seven Wonders of the World

Main article: Seven Wonders of the World (film)

(1953)

HOLLYWOOD, Calif, Oct. 1 -- The entry of John Ford, four-time winner of the Academy Award for direction, into the field of Cinerama as director of "Seven Wonders of the World," to be produced by Merian C. Cooper, is expected to be made official soon.

The Bridge Over the River Kwai

Main article: The Bridge on the River Kwai

(1954)

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Nov. 19 -- Motion-picture rights to "The Bridge Over the River Kwai," a newly published novel by Pierre Boulle, French author, have been purchased by Sam Spiegel. The independent producer, who last made "Waterfront" for Columbia release, has opened negotiations with John Ford to direct the new picture.

Run Silent, Run Deep

Main article: Run Silent, Run Deep (film)

(Print the Legend, 457)

A Thousand Springs

(Print the Legend, 486)

The Girl of the Golden West opera

In 1962, while in production on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Ford received a letter from the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York inviting him to direct an upcoming production of Giacomo Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West. Ford, insulted by the offer, sent back a message that he thought it was a "lousy opera" but that he was very interested in directing Puccini's La bohème instead.

Howard Hawks' unrealized projects

Gunga Din

The Outlaw (pg. 61)

The Pride of the Yankees

Dreadful Hollow (pg. 8)

The Left Hand of God (pg. 8, 398)

The Sun Also Rises

Don Quixote

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (pg. 245)

Bengal Tiger (Man's Favorite Sport wiki)

Yukon Trail

For Whom the Bell Tolls (pg. 10)

Untitled Ernest Hemingway/Robert Capa film (pg. 11, 15)

Monte Walsh (pg. 15)

When It's Hot, Play It Cool

Now, Mr. Gus (pg. 15)

In many ways, A Girl in Every Port blueprinted the easygoing Hawks style he’d follow for a generation, well into the 1970’s. In the last years of his life, Hawks planned a remake of A Girl in Every Port. He constantly remade his own films, but this last project was especially dear to him. The title for the never-realized film could have been his epitaph, for it neatly signified both a union between sexual equals, and the reliance on professionalism Hawks celebrated in both men and women: the film was to be called When it’s Hot, Play it Cool.

https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fnf01n8.html

https://www.proquest.com/docview/210242953?sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

https://cinemastationblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/dream-projects-howard-hawks/

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/603

https://www.nytimes.com/1941/10/24/archives/screen-news-here-and-in-hollywood-goldwyn-signs-howard-hawks-to.html

https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-42-winter-2002/dreadful-hollow

https://lfq.salisbury.edu/_issues/45_3/vampires_detectives_and_hawks.html

https://lithub.com/about-all-those-unproduced-screenplays-william-faulkner-wrote/

Page 334-337

John Huston's unrealized projects

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Captain Horatio Hornblower

Mr. Skeffington

The Story of G.I. Joe

Quo Vadis

The Secret Sharer

Three Weird Tales

On the Trail

Alouette

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

Lysistrata

Typee

A Farewell to Arms

The Unforgiven

Will Adams

Montezuma

Waterloo

The Disenchanted

The Ginger Man

The Madwoman of Chaillot

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Bullet Park

The Last Run

Addie Pray

Catholics

Across the River and Into the Trees

Love and Bullets

High Road to China

Revenge

The Rack

Mister Johnson

Haunted Summer

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5097-THE-HUNCHBACK-OF-NOTRE-DAME?cxt=filmography

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16657/captain-horatio-hornblower#overview

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50473

https://www.nytimes.com/1949/12/08/archives/hornblow-drops-quo-vadis-movie-producer-joined-by-director-john.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1950/08/07/archives/huston-to-direct-trilogy-feature-next-horizon-project-will-be-three.html

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52509-COWBOY?cxt=filmography

https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/01/archives/joan-of-arc-play-sought-for-movie-anouilhs-alouette-running-in.html

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52172

https://www.nytimes.com/1956/02/04/archives/huston-will-direct-lysistrata-on-tv-monroe-may-star.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1956/03/24/archives/huston-will-film-melvilles-typee-south-seas-classic-is-first-of.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/20/archives/huston-to-direct-the-unforgiven-lancaster-to-star-in-film-of-1874.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/why-john-huston-wrote-his-buddy-out-of-his-life-9191606.html

Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Cook (Montezuma)

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/08/movies/at-the-movies.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/books/jp-donleavy-acclaimed-author-of-the-ginger-man-dies-at-91.html

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54836-PAPER-MOON?cxt=filmography

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/01/archives/hustons-young-man-hustons-young-man.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/08/22/archives/john-huston-set-to-direct-and-act-in-catholics.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/15/archives/john-huston-on-kipling-hemingway-and-jack-daniels-huston-on-kipling.html

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56918

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57989

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58669-REVENGE?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58945-MISTER-JOHNSON?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58755

Jerry Schatzberg's unrealized projects

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack

A Star Is Born

The Yellow Jersey

Scarecrow sequel

The War for Gloria

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/279848660/

https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/interview-jerry-schatzberg/

https://www.talkhouse.com/theres-always-something-personal-always-something-a-little-different-jerry-schatzberg-in-conversation-with-joshua-z-weinstein/

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's unrealized projects

Life of Pi

Red Leaves

Phantom of the Opera TV series

Changer l'eau des fleurs

Untitled sci-fi animated film

Untitled Amelie documentary

https://deadline.com/2014/11/phantom-of-the-opera-series-tony-krantz-jean-pierre-jeunet-endemol-1201272818/

https://variety.com/2015/film/global/marrakech-jean-pierre-jeunet-amelie-spirit-1201659864/

https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/jean-pierre-jeunet-amelie-mockumentary-1202131545/

Ari Aster's unrealized projects

• Untitled "portrait short" scripts (2018)
• Tino's Dick Fart feature script (2018)
• Untitled "Sirkian melodrama" script (2019)
• Untitled big-budget sci-fi satire script (2019)
• Untitled musical film (2019)
• Untitled gangster saga epic script (2019)
• Acting Class adaptation (2023)
• Miss Lonelyhearts adaptation (2023)
• Don't Wake Daddy adaptation (2023)

Penny Marshall's unrealized projects

National Lampoon's The Joy of Sex: A Dirty Love Story

Peggy Sue Got Married

Time Steps

Super Mario Bros.

Forrest Gump

Blue Moon

The Boys of Neptune

Saving Grace

Hazel

Live from Baghdad

Untitled Jim Braddock biopic

Cover Me

Untitled Effa Manley biopic

Untitled Dennis Rodman documentary

Frankie and Johnny

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/seattle-s-arch-scripting-marshall-redford-project-108222/

https://variety.com/1995/more/news/studios-balk-at-spending-a-pretty-penny-on-boys-99127020/

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/marshall-developing-grace-1116679360/

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/two-pics-in-cards-for-scribe-taylor-1116679248/

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/u-turns-production-corner-1200324742/

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/leder-eyed-to-helm-u-s-saving-grace-1117478207/

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/sonnenfeld-smith-might-team-again-on-ali-biopic-1117479505/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/marshall-shifts-shingle-to-sony-from-universal-1117756632/

https://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/warners-linson-run-for-cover-1117880375/

https://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/cinderella-slipper-fits-u-miramax-1117879946/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/penny-marshalls-final-film-could-be-released-year-1172650/

Roger Donaldson's unrealized projects

Shattered Silence

Conan the Destroyer

Untitled James Bond film

The Guide

Che

Stander

The Fantastic Four

The Farm

Abyssinia

The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa

Umbra

Honor Among Men

Cities

All Quiet on the Western Front

Jena Six

The Guinea Pig Club

The Bounty sequel

Immortal

Nhiem TV series

Icarus Factor

https://wearecult.rocks/the-roger-donaldson-interview

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/donaldson-to-guide-guide-1117470767/

https://variety.com/1998/more/news/cannes-briefs-6-1117470912/

https://variety.com/2000/voices/columns/twins-pique-the-interest-of-dicaprio-1117786913/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/full-slate-for-7arts-1117760119/

https://variety.com/2000/film/news/columbus-1492-likely-to-pull-up-anchor-with-fox-1117776719/

https://variety.com/2001/film/news/donaldson-moves-to-farm-1117855440/

https://variety.com/2002/film/markets-festivals/helmer-sez-abyssinia-1117871142/

https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/mona-lisa-theft-to-hit-the-bigscreen-1118002961/

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/roger-donaldson-stole-mona-lisa/

https://variety.com/2009/biz/news/donaldson-set-to-direct-honor-1118010955/

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/roger-donaldson-making-umbra/

https://variety.com/2011/film/news/roger-donaldson-to-direct-cities-1118036337/

https://variety.com/2014/film/news/radar-pictures-all-quiet-on-the-western-front-roger-donaldson-1201312407/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-richard-e-grant-jeremy-irvine-sam-neill-star-guinea-pig-club-1002613/

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/109148503/roger-donaldson-plotting-return-to-the-bounty-with-sequel-set-on-pitcairn-island

https://deadline.com/2020/02/the-bounty-roger-donaldson-german-series-nhiem-merkel-producers-efm-1202866295/

Samuel Fuller's unrealized projects

Tigrero

Cain and Abel

The Charge at San Juan Hill

Flowers of Evil

Riata

The Rifle

Let's Get Harry

The Adventures of Balzac

Stars and Swastika

Burning Sappho

Snug Harbor

The Three Most Wanted Men

As Fuller described/detailed/divulged (several sequences) to Tim Robbins in the documentary. Featuring his birth, a confrontation with Alexander Dumas and...

In the words of his daughter, "Snug Harbor followed..."

https://lamag.com/film/samuel-fullers-life-explosive-moviessamantha-fullers-unconventional-documentary-fantastically-talented-dad

https://www.flavorwire.com/435197/12-abandoned-movies-by-famous-screenwriters

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/movies/a-fuller-life-tells-the-story-of-samuel-fuller.html

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-21-la-et-mn-samuel-fuller-shack-daughter-documentary-20120921-story.html

https://filmuforia.com/samantha-fuller-filmmaker-a-fuller-life-2014/

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1974/jan/03/cover-sam-fuller-a-good-name-for-a-heavy/

https://variety.com/1985/film/reviews/let-s-get-harry-1200426875/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126447750342

Christopher Nolan's unrealized projects

Larry Mahoney

The Keys to the Street

Untitled Howard Hughes biopic

Troy

The Exec

The Prisoner

Untitled James Bond film

Untitled horror film

https://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/warners-exec-on-deck-1117893352/

https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/christopher-nolan-unmade-films/

https://movieweb.com/every-unmade-christopher-nolan-movie/

https://screenrant.com/christopher-nolan-unmade-canceled-movies-projects/

https://theplaylist.net/trivia-when-christopher-nolan-first-came-to-warner-bros-he-was-offered-troy-to-direct-20130621/

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/christopher-nolan-horror-film-oppenheimer-1235913375/

The Screen Rant article for Nolan does discuss a fourth project: Larry Mahoney. Plus, Nolan has been circling to direct a James Bond film for a WHILE, and has spoken publicly of his interest in doing so, even though he may not want to anymore; mentioned here, here, here, and here. His involvement was officially confirmed here

A Variety report from 2025 claimed that Nolan wanted the 26th James Bond film to be his follow-up to “Tenet,” but was snubbed by Broccoli. Nolan would go on to direct “Oppenheimer,” and the rest, as they say, is history. It was the right decision to make. “Oppenheimer” grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide and swept the Oscars.

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2023/9/26/lluj1u172l3gwejmovm5wcaf3fftqu

Martha Coolidge's unrealized projects

Photoplay

Wild About Harry

Some Kind of Wonderful

Angie, I Says

Brown-Eyed Girl

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/davis-says-helmer-coolidge-would-be-cool-102618/

Mike Newell's unrealized projects

The Bitter End

Frank Capra's unrealized projects

The Child-Woman

The Boneyard of the Sea

The Eternal Will

The Flying Marine

Valley Forge

A Song to Remember

Golden Boy

It Happened Tomorrow

The Friendly Persuasion

No Other Man

A Woman of Distinction

Westward the Women

Soviet

Saint Paul

Marooned

The Addams Family episodes

Dear and Glorious Physician (CW wiki)

Circus World

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9130-THE-FLYING-MARINE?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/829-IT-HAPPENED-TOMORROW?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/24590-A-SONG-TO-REMEMBER?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4178-GOLDEN-BOY?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51836-FRIENDLY-PERSUASION?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/26572-A-WOMAN-OF-DISTINCTION?cxt=filmography

https://catalog.afi.com/Film/18529-CIRCUS-WORLD?cxt=filmography

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/03/books/it-wasn-t-such-a-wonderful-life.html

MGM production chief Irving Thalberg wanted to borrow Capra from Columbia Pictures and offered Columbia chief Harry Cohn $50,000, the use of an MGM star of his choice for a film and Capra's choice of properties. The director selected "Soviet," the story of an American engineer building a dam in Russia. It was to star Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Thalberg's illness caused MGM boss Louis B. Mayer to cancel the production but MGM made good on the payment and the loan-out.

Among many unrealized projects in his long career, one to which he was especially devoted was a film about the life of Saint Paul , to star Frank Sinatra.

Was originally supposed to write and direct Circus World (1964) but quit the project when star John Wayne rejected Capra's script and instead insisted it be written by his old friend, James Edward Grant.

Capra was such a fan of the TV show The Addams Family (1964) he offered to come out of retirement to direct some episodes. But he couldn't reach a financial agreement with the producers.

Jim McBride's unrealized projects

Gone Beaver

The Brothers Frigidaire

Hot Times

The Instant Enemy

Sneaky People

The Big Red One

The Moviegoer

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Elektra, Assassin

The Return of David Holzman

Meet Your Match

History Is Made at Night

https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/59159/page/320

https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2024/02/show-business-in-the-end-an-interview-with-jim-mcbride/

https://variety.com/1992/film/news/ostroff-rooted-in-tree-deal-100696/

https://variety.com/1997/voices/columns/60s-revivals-spur-rivals-1116679932/

Jonathan Caouette's unrealized projects

Jonathan is also working on a screenplay entitled "Everything Somewhere Else" based on the acclaimed surrealistic Spanish novel,Todo en otra parte. He is also in development for a film with writer, David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Aida) and producer Howard Gertler (Worlds greatest Dad with Robin Williams and Shortbus directed by John Cameron Mitchell) Jonathan is also currently shooting a new documentary about severely traumatized children. He is a recent recipient of a Rockerfeller Fellowship. Jonathan recently completed directing the film, "Rotaurorae" with Chloe Sevigny. "Rotaurorae" was commissioned by producers Asia Argento and Michele Civetta as part of the ONEDREAMRUSH film festival in Beijing, China as a part of a collective with the likes of Kenneth Anger, Sean Lennon, David Lynch, Gaspar Noe, Larry Clark, Abel Ferrara, and Harmony Korine among others. Currently, "Rotaurorae" is being fleshed out to a longer version of the film with the intent to submit it for the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 with a new title "All Flowers In Time". Jonathan is also going to be the executive producer of the film "Mountain Park", which is a documentary about a group of troubled children attending a post modern tough love camp in Texas.

Ronnie Rocket

Richard Kelly's unrealized projects

Kelly claimed (in 2023) (as of 2023) (that, by 2023,) he had enough writing material to last him the rest of his life.

Recently, he has expressed interest into moving "out of the writing phase" and "back into the directing phase."

Holes

Main article: Holes (film)

In 1999, Phoenix Pictures hired Kelly to adapt Holes by Louis Sachar. He greatly departed from the source material by writing a dark, violent interpretation of the story set in a post-apocalyptic world. Kelly later claimed that the studio found his script far too disturbing for a children's movie, and rejected it in favor of the final script which was written by Sachar himself. "I was very naïve. And I was convinced that I could convince them that this was the cooler version of the movie," he said. "And they were just like, 'No, we want to make a PG-rated pretty faithful adaptation of this best-selling book. We have Andrew Davis directing. You're insane.'"

Bessie

Following the poor initial reception of his first film Donnie Darko at Sundance in the early 2000s, Kelly wrote three spec scripts, which he described as "aggressively comedic", including Southland Tales and another entitled Bessie. The latter follows an upright-walking, mutant, telepathic cow with cognitive abilities that was genetically engineered by a group of media technicians and scientists who oversee its unveiling to the world. "It was obviously a challenge to get made, because it involved a gigantic cow that could speak with limited vocal dialogue," Kelly later said. When asked about the status of the project in 2004, Kelly stated that it would most likely be his third or fourth film pending the success of Southland Tales.

Untitled gun control satire

Of the three comedy-type scripts Kelly wrote in the early 2000s was a gun-control satire, which he said Oliver Stone briefly had under option. Kelly claimed he wrote it, along with the others, as a way of "cheering [him]self up" after the negative reception of Donnie Darko upon its initial release.

Knowing

Main article: Knowing (film)

In 2002, Kelly was preparing the sci-fi film Knowing as his follow-up to Donnie Darko, working from a rewritten script with a planned budget of $15–20 million. "It was literally ready to go. It was green lit," Kelly later recalled, but the project collapsed at Fox Searchlight due to budget concerns and foreign distribution rights. He noted, "Everyone was just really nervous that we couldn't pull it off," citing the film's ambitious scope. Though Kelly hoped to direct Knowing, he moved on to Southland Tales instead, and the film was eventually made years later by Alex Proyas and released in 2009 to critical and financial disappointment.

Ice-Nine

In 2003, a film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's apocalyptic novel Cat's Cradle written by Kelly was in development at Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions (with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky planning to direct it) (with Darren Aronofsky directing) (with Darren Aronofsky signed on to direct at that time.) (with Darren Aronofsky signed on as director at the time.) Speaking on the project in late 2004, Kelly described his screenplay as a "liberal" but "faithful" interpretation of Vonnegut's ideas, citing the novel's fragmented structure as a major challenge. He revealed he was referring to the script as Ice-Nine, rather than Cat's Cradle, to reflect its interpretive nature, and expressed hope that the producers would adopt that title instead. While he voiced interest in directing the film himself, he acknowledged the decision was ultimately in the hands of DiCaprio and his team.

House at the End of the Street

Main article: House at the End of the Street

Also in 2003, Kelly worked on

The film was originally announced in 2003 with Jonathan Mostow directing and Richard Kelly writing. The film went through development hell for seven years until production was revived in 2010 with Mark Tonderai directing and David Loucka writing, instead.

It TV miniseries

Kelly, a Stephen King fan, revealed in a 2007 interview with Ain't It Cool News that he had been talks with several cable networks about producing an epic miniseries adaptation of IT. He envisioned doing a "really psychological, scary, character-based thing in the vein of Mystic River." However, Warner Bros. Television, who controlled the property, ultimately opted to develop a two-hour TV movie of the novel instead, which Kelly surmised had to do with corporate synergy.

The Dark Tower TV miniseries

In 2007, when asked what Stephen King books he would film if given the chance, Kelly answered that he would love to be involved in an adaptation of The Dark Tower. "In an ideal world they would do it on HBO as a big mini-series," Kelly explained. "That could be the biggest mini-series ever. But it should only happen at HBO and treat each book like a film. No television medium close-up photography. Shoot The Gunslinger out in Utah with anamorphic lenses. Nowhere else... please God... not on network television."

Untitled 3D film

In 2009, while promoting his film The Box, Kelly revealed he was working on a thriller "set in Manhattan in the year 2014. We hope to shoot the movie in 3-D, and part of the movie would be filmed using full CGI motion capture."

In 2009, while promoting his film The Box, Kelly revealed he was working on a new script for a thriller film "set in Manhattan in the year 2014." He was hoping to shoot the project in 3-D, and part of the movie would be filmed using full CGI motion capture."

"I’m working on my new script, I’m probably on the eighth draft of it right now, and I’ve just kinda been waiting for ‘The Box’ to come out to see if I can get [the project] off the ground,” Kelly told BD in an exclusive interview. “It’s a thriller set in Manhattan in the year 2014. We hope to shoot the movie in 3-D, and part of the movie would be filmed using full CGI motion capture.”

Corpus Christi

In February 2011, it was reported that Kelly's next project/film would be Corpus Christi, a Texas-set thriller that he would write, direct and produce under his Darko Entertainment banner, with Eli Roth (also producing) (also attached as a producer). Set in 2014, the premise follows mentally unstable Iraq war veteran Paciencia De La Rosa who forges a dangerous alliance with his boss—a wealthy and politically ambitious owner of a supermarket chain. [(The project) (It) was (described) (noted as being) as a departure (for Kelly) "into a more traditional narrative" (for Kelly) and be the first film of his without heavy sci-fi or metaphysical elements.] [(The project) (The film) (It) was (described) (noted as being) as a departure "into a more traditional narrative" for Kelly, whose previous films/work (all dealt) with (either) heavy sci-fi or metaphysical elements.] At the time, casting was underway, and further developments were expected by the end of March 2011.

However, no (major) updates emerged until March 2012, when Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez (was announced in the lead role of De La Rosa) (had signed on to star in the lead role as De La Rosa) [. Director Robert Rodriguez also joined the project as a producer and financier through his company, Quick Draw Productions.] [, and Robert Rodriguez had (come aboard) (joined) (boarded/joined the film) to produce and finance (the film) through Quick Draw Productions.] Roth dubbed Corpus Christi as Kelly's "most compelling and exciting script to date." Principal photography was initially planned for July 2011, and was later rescheduled for July 2012 with locations including Austin and Corpus Christi, but this ultimately never took place. Kelly later said that this was simply because the film turned out to be too expensive to make. The project would remain in development in the years following, with Kelly instead signing on to direct Amicus soon after. In 2023, he referred to it alongside his other (potential) projects as "ones he was excited about..."

The project was described as a departure for Kelly, marking his shift toward a more traditional narrative style, in contrast to his earlier work, which often featured heavy sci-fi or metaphysical elements.

Amicus

In September 2012, after Corpus Christi fell through, Kelly (became attached) (signed on) as writer/director/producer of an indie true crime thriller (en)titled Amicus, (starring Nicolas Cage as Rodney A. Smolla) (with Nicolas Cage set/attached to portray Rodney A. Smolla), one of the most influential First Amendment scholars of the 21st century. Specifically, the film was to center on the historic Lawrence Horn murder case, which Smolla was involved in. Financing was reportedly/allegedly being secured for a proposed January start date in Atlanta. James Gandolfini later became attached to star and the film almost/nearly went into production in 2013 when (Gandolfini) (the actor) (he) suddenly died of a heart attack.

In September 2012, after Corpus Christi fell through, Kelly signed on as writer/director/producer of an indie true crime thriller titled Amicus, starring Nicolas Cage as Rodney A. Smolla, one of the most influential First Amendment scholars of the 21st century. Specifically, the film was to center on the historic Lawrence Horn murder case, which Smolla was involved in. Financing was reportedly being secured for a proposed January start date in Atlanta. James Gandolfini later became attached to star and the film nearly went into production in 2013 when he suddenly died of a heart attack.

Southland Tales franchise

In a July 2013 interview for Vice, Kelly...,

In April 2020, Kelly (took to Twitter to to share) (announced via Twitter that) (to officially announce his intentions to begin) he (had) secured the assets for a prequel to his 2006 film Southland Tales that would mix animation and live-action, using the graphic novels he created with Brett Weldele as the blueprint. Kelly explained that the original film is Chapters 4–6, while a prequel project will explore Chapters 1–3. Kelly stated that he intends to incorporate animation into the franchise, with future projects as well, while additional projects can explore events that take place in the plot's 2024 timeline. On January 7, 2021,

In January 22, Kelly announced that developments were underway to expand Southland Tales into a franchise, with intention being that the original cast would return. On January 26, Kelly stated that he decided to officially write a sequel following a conversation that he had with James Cameron regarding the first movie; while expressing regret for releasing the latter chapters of Southland Tales in the original film, stating that this placed the audience at a disadvantage in understanding the overall plot. The filmmaker stated that discussions are ongoing as to whether the projects should be released as films or in a long-form format through a streaming service. On January 28,

In February, Kelly stated that the project in whatever form it takes will likely be released via streaming, and that he has been working on expanding the franchise for years, though he began working in earnest following his conversation with Cameron. While confirming that the plot would follow the graphic novels he wrote, he hopes to include newly created additional scenes and dialogue incorporated into the original film via animated sequences; explaining that the sequel is intended to be viewed as a feature length sequel to the first installment, or that the 6 chapters can be watched as a limited series. In May 2024, Kelly stated that he hoped to realize a complete six chapters, as well as adapting the graphic novel.

adding that if he could get any project made, he would want to finish Southland Tales.

But when I have those nightmares where I wake up like Ripley in Aliens, I think there's still another great movie to potentially be made. I don't know. I've been working on a lot more, there's a lot more material, the graphic novels, and there's a much bigger version of Southland Tales that could exist. I think I've really cracked a really exciting kind of plan for pulling it off. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't happen, but I feel really good throughout the whole lockdown and this past year at all the work I've done on it. I think there's something really big and exciting that we can pull off with it. But either way, I'm at peace with it, and I feel really proud of what we've accomplished with the film. It still is not finished, anywhere close to being finished in my mind or fully realized, but that's true for a lot of movies.

If you could get a blank check for any film or television project tomorrow, what would you want to tackle?

KELLY: Well, first I'd want to finish Southland Tales. [laughter] Honestly? That's my answer. Beyond that, I've got about 10 projects in my warchest that I've been working on. I've been so busy writing. I could have directed a lot of movies over the past, God knows how many years it's been, but I've come close on a lot of things. It's a challenging market to do the kind of things that I want to do. I feel like I need to be operating at a scale that's at least at the level of my first film, and the ambition and the complexity of my first film. It's just the sort of benchmark that I have set for myself, and what makes me excited and what makes me feel like I'm confident, that I'm challenging myself and I'm challenging the audience. I think that we're entering into a whole new world with the streaming revolution, and the landscape is changing, and the floodgates are finally starting to open. If one of these things that I've been working on moves forward, hopefully I'll figure out a way to just continue to be directing. Then all just writing will have paid off. 'Cause there's [been] a lot of writing and a lot of work. I have not been idle. I haven't just been sitting on my ass staring at Twitter all day. Maybe part of my day, but not all of it.

Soulmates

In March 2015, Kelly was involved to direct a new film called Soulmates, co-written with Todd Rosenberg. Its status was listed as pre-production and was initially dated for a 2016 release. While no information was officially reported at the time, the script allegedly circulated to several productions agencies. Kelly later spoke of Soulmates in 2023: "That project I worked on for many years, and it was actually set up at Amazon Studios. And I thought we had a greenlight. I was told it was on its way to a greenlight; I spent a year waiting for the greenlight. Then—all of a sudden—it just didn't happen. That was a real heartbreaker."

Donnie Darko sequel

In 2017, while promoting the new restoration and reissue of his film Donnie Darko, Kelly expressed interest in returning to that world in a way that would be "much bigger" and "more ambitious" than the original, but would only do so if all the funds were in place to properly realize his vision. In an interview with ComingSoon.net in January 2021, Kelly teased that "an enormous amount of work" had been done on a potential follow-up film, and that he hoped to see it realized someday. In an interview conducted for The Playlist the next day, Kelly expounded/added that a "significant amount of writing" had been completed for a sequel. He was inspired upon meeting filmmaker James Cameron, who found Donnie Darko "disturbing" and suggested Kelly continue working on the project. "It made me think there was really something big, something epic that could be done," Kelly said.

In 2017, while promoting the new restoration and reissue of his film Donnie Darko, Kelly expressed interest in returning to that world in a way that would be "much bigger" and "more ambitious" than the original, but would only do so if all the funds were in place to properly realize his vision. In an interview published on January 25, 2021, Kelly teased that "an enormous amount of work" had been done, and that he hoped to see it realized someday. In another interview the next day, Kelly expounded that a "significant amount of writing" was completed for a potential sequel. He was inspired upon meeting filmmaker James Cameron, who found Donnie Darko "disturbing" and suggested Kelly continue working on the project. "It made me think there was really something big, something epic that could be done," Kelly said. In 2023, when asked about his plans for new Donnie Darko content, Kelly remained secretive, but assured that he was "revisiting that world substantially" and that it was still a priority for him.

Untitled Rod Serling biopic

In September 2019, it was indicated via an issue of Production Weekly that Kelly would (write and direct) (be writing and directing) a film based on the life of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. The project was (said to be) in (the works) (development) at Mandalay Pictures, with Jason Michael Berman and Kevin Turen (serving as producers) (producing). The source material was the memoir As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling by Serling's daughter Anne, who was closely involved in the adaptation process with Kelly. In January 2021, Kelly provided an update, describing the project as "very ambitious" and noted that it would not be a traditional biopic but instead incorporate "a big fantasy science fiction concept" as part of its narrative. He explained that progress had been slow as he and his team were committed to honoring Serling's legacy and getting all the right elements in place, including talent and budget. Kelly also mentioned that they had conducted extensive research into the author's personal archives and body of work.

The screenplay was adapted from As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, a memoir by Serling's daughter Anne, who was closely involved in the project's inception with Kelly.

Nostromo

Dennis Quaid, Julian Sands, Isabella Rossellini, Peter O'Toole, Irene Papas, Paul Scofield and Anthony Quinn

Alec Guinness (turned down), Georges Corraface, Marlon Brando, Alan Rickman, Christopher Lambert

Paul Scofield (another star), Kevin Costner (another backup director)

Robert Altman (first choice), Michael Cimino (offered), Kevin Costner, Peter Yates, Arthur Penn, John Boorman, Guy Hamilton (list), Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola (take over after death), Hugh Hudson (revival)

, though various reports (contradict the) claim that ----

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-22-ca-7398-story.html

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/greatest-movies-never-made-david-lean-nostromo/

https://www.instagram.com/alan__rickman__/p/CdRAAj9KLhx/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/the-maestro-scores-again-1117755074/

https://variety.com/2014/film/markets-festivals/cannes-qa-director-john-boorman-talks-queen-and-country-1201186115/

Nicholas Roeg's unrealized projects

Doctor Zhivago (cinematographer only)

Out of Africa

Master of Lies

High-Rise

Flash Gordon

Hammett

Chicago Loop

Projects that were suggested as possible Nicolas Roeg films included "Julia" (eventually filmed by Fred Zinnemann in 1977) and "The Sheltering Sky" (eventually filmed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1990). He was contracted by BBC Scotland to film Billy Connelly in 'Dallas Through the Looking Glass' but Billy pulled out. Nicholas went ahead and shot his own impromptu feature in 1980.

Neil Jordan's unrealized projects

Broken Dreams

Jonathan Wild

Interview with the Vampire sequel

Blue Vision

Rocco and His Brothers remake

The Drowned Detective film

Borgia

The Return

Killing on Carnival Row

The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Heart-Shaped Box

The Graveyard Book

Skippy Dies

Broken Dream

The Trainer

The Riker's Ghost

The Well of Saint Nobody

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/boorman-to-helm-early-jordan-script-104056/

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/egg-cooks-up-wild-pic-with-game-duo-104911/

https://variety.com/1993/film/news/jordan-not-crying-over-new-offers-103525/

https://variety.com/1997/voices/columns/diesel-fueled-nightlife-bening-has-vision-1117434192/

https://variety.com/1997/voices/columns/imagine-close-to-bofinger-1117434027/

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/end-in-sight-for-fiennes-1117478391/

https://variety.com/2000/film/news/jordan-rings-in-lucrezia-1117822183/

https://variety.com/2003/film/markets-festivals/scribe-is-wonder-woman-1117893140/

https://variety.com/2003/film/news/jordan-to-direct-the-return-1117878797/

https://variety.com/2007/film/features/new-line-lines-up-pair-1117960002/

https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/jordan-directing-heart-shaped-2-1117962387/

https://filmtalk.org/2021/01/22/neil-jordan/

https://collider.com/neil-jordan-marlowe-interview/

https://variety.com/2024/film/features/interview-with-the-vampire-tom-cruise-brad-pitt-neil-jordan-1236205381/

Jordan mentioned a short sketch of a story based on Luchino Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers," which he would like to make into a film.

Todd Haynes' unrealized projects

Dope TV miniseries

Act of God

Fever

The Source Family TV miniseries

Untitled Sigmund Freud TV miniseries

Trust TV miniseries

Untitled Joaquin Phoenix film

https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/todd-haynes-and-julianne-moore-reteam-for-hbo-series-dope-52809/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/reese-witherspoons-peggy-lee-film-731156/

Jon Watts' unrealized projects

Urban Explorers

Barn Man

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Untitled fourth Spider-Man film

Wolfs sequel

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/spider-man-homecoming-director-jon-watts-interview/

Bert & Bertie's unrealized projects

The Beast Is an Animal

Eurydice

A Special Relationship

Queen Bitch & the High Horse

Big Thunder Mountain

Moxie

Gargoyle

Esther

Alfonso Cuáron's unrealized projects

Billy Please Call Home

Speed Racer

The Alchemist

The Runaway Jury

Hart's War

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Life of Pi

Quantum of Solace

The Witches

The Tourist

A Boy and His Shoe

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Overlook Hotel

Jane

Untitled horror film

Untitled James Bond film

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/mortensen-in-talks-to-join-cuaron-pic-1117470206/

https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/liberty-rings-femmes-say-hello-young-lovers-1117477807/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/cuaron-takes-aim-on-jury-premise-1117755356/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/cuaron-gets-drafted-for-war-duties-1117755737/

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/alfonso-cuaron-turned-down-directing-bond-movie-joel-coen-1236231747/

https://theplaylist.net/alfonso-cuarons-boy-and-his-shoe-has-20100302/

https://theplaylist.net/david-cronenberg-alfonso-cuaron-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu-on-the-catching-fire-director-wishlist-20120412/

https://deadline.com/2024/08/alfonso-cuaron-locarno-film-festival-2024-horror-films-disclaimer-1236037076/

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/alfonso-cuaron-turned-down-directing-bond-movie-joel-coen-1236231747/

2020s Projects

Planned but Not-Yet-Filmed 2020s Projects

• Madden (2026) - David O. Russell
• The Movie Critic (2026) - David Fincher
• The Dog Stars (2026) - Ridley Scott
• Untitled film (2026) - Mike Leigh
• The Resurrection of Christ: Part One (2025) - Mel Gibson
• Carnival (2026) - Terry Gilliam
• The Bitter End (2026) - Mike Newell
• Gramercy Park (2026) - Mike Newell
• Just One More Time (2025) - Emir Kusturica
• Fatherland (2026) - Paweł Pawlikowski
• Untitled Richard Kelly project (TBA) - Richard Kelly
• Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi (2026) - James Mangold
• Untitled horror Western film (2026) - Brady Corbet
• Technically Sweet (2025) - André Ristum
• Lethal Finale (2026) - Mel Gibson
• Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson (2025) - Martin Scorsese (https://variety.com/2024/music/news/martin-scorsese-robbie-robertson-tribute-concert-filming-movie-release-1236179912/)
• Untitled crime drama film (2026) - Martin Scorsese
• The Devil in the White City (2026) - Martin Scorsese
• A Life of Jesus (2025) - Martin Scorsese
• Sinatra (2025) - Martin Scorsese
• Home (2027) - Martin Scorsese
• Gilead (2027) - Todd Field
• Jack (2027) - Kent Jones
• Go Beavers (2025) - Ethan Coen
• Untitled horror film (2025) - Coen brothers
• Untitled Joni Mitchell biopic (2025) - Cameron Crowe
• Tau Ceti Foxtrot (2025) - John McTiernan
• Untitled "contemporary silent" film (2025) - Alice Rohrwacher
• Untitled "ambitious" film (2025) - Oliver Stone
• Untitled "new" film (2025) - Brian De Palma
• Distant Vision (2026) - Francis Ford Coppola
• Liberty (2026) - Spike Lee
• Bruce Lee (2026) - Ang Lee
• Paper Tiger (2027) - James Gray
• Kill Your Darlings (2027) - James Gray
• Young Sinner (2025) - Paul Verhoeven
• Crackpot (2026) - Elaine May
• Untitled prison drama film (2026) - Damien Chazelle
• Evel Knievel on Tour (2026) - Damien Chazelle
• The Ploughman (2025) - Ed Harris
• Ray Gunn (2026) - Brad Bird
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2026) - Henry Selick
• Jehanne d'Arc (2026) - Baz Luhrmann
• Heat 2 (2026) - Michael Mann
• A Dazzling Display of Splendor (2027) - Julie Delpy
• Guys and Dolls (2026) - Rob Marshall
• Them! (2026) - Michael Giacchino
• Wilder & Me (2025) - Stephen Frears
• Billy Please Call Home (2025) - Alfonso Cuaron
• Untitled horror film (2025) - Alfonso Cuaron
• Untitled sci-fi film (2026) - Rian Johnson
• The Natural Order (2026) - Barry Jenkins
• Be My Baby (2026) - Barry Jenkins
• Inspector Palmu (2025) - Renny Harlin
• Cleopatra (TBA) - Denis Villeneuve
• Rendezvous with Rama (TBA) - Denis Villeneuve
• Nuclear War (TBA) - Denis Villeneuve
• I Am Waiting for You (TBA) - Denis Villeneuve
• Werwulf (2026) - Robert Eggers
• Labyrinth sequel (2027) - Robert Eggers
• Untitled "Elizabethan" film (TBA) - Robert Eggers
• The Knight (TBA) - Robert Eggers
• Rasputin (TBA) - Robert Eggers
• Untitled Western film (TBA) - Robert Eggers
• Korean: A Beginner's Guide (TBA) - Mike Figgis
• Exit 147 (TBA) - Mike Figgis
• Untitled Western film (TBA) - Alexander Payne
• Untitled Danish language film (TBA) - Alexander Payne
• Tracy Flick Can't Win (TBA) - Alexander Payne
• Untitled French comedy (TBA) - Alexander Payne
• Untitled "unfinished art" film (TBA) - Mark Romanek
• Swamp Thing (TBA) - James Mangold
• You Should Be Dancing (2026) - Ridley Scott
• Bomb (TBA) - Ridley Scott
• Big Dogs (TBA) - Ridley Scott
• Gladiator III (TBA) - Ridley Scott
• Queen & Country (TBA) - Ridley Scott
• The Battle of Britain (TBA) - Ridley Scott
• Bitterroot (2025) - David Fincher
• Squid Game: America (TBA) - David Fincher
• Untitled Chinatown prequel (TBA) - David Fincher
• Rope (TBA) - David Fincher
• The Beatles: Part 1 (2027) - Sam Mendes
• The Beatles: Part 2 (2027) - Sam Mendes
• The Beatles: Part 3 (2027) - Sam Mendes
• The Beatles: Part 4 (2027) - Sam Mendes
• The Honey Wars (TBA) - John Boorman
• The Buried Giant (TBA) - Guillermo del Toro
• Non Compos Mentis (TBA) - Paul Schrader
• The Last Train to Hiroshima (TBA) - James Cameron
• The Downslope (TBA) - Frank Darabont
• Untitled A.I. film (2028) - Bennett Miller
• Untitled Terrence Malick film (TBA) - Terrence Malick
• Untitled Bill Hader project (TBA) - William Thomas Hader

Greatest Unmade Projects of the 2020s (so far)

• Fever (2021) - Todd Haynes
• Untitled Joaquin Phoenix film (2023) - Todd Haynes
• Untitled Adam Sandler sports memorabilia film (2023) - Josh Safdie
• Untitled 1940s L.A.-set jazz epic (2021) - Paul Thomas Anderson
• Love Child (2021) - Todd Solondz
• Liarmouth (2022) - John Waters
• Tau Ceti Foxtrot (2022) - John McTiernan
• The Killing of the Unicorn (2020) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Saint Jack in the Philippines (2021) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Our Love Is Here to Stay (2021) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Lunatic at Large (2020) - Terry Gilliam
• The Carnival at the End of Days (2024) - Terry Gilliam
• Unrecorded Night (2022) - David Lynch
• Snootworld (2024) - David Lynch
• The Downslope (2021) - Frank Darabont
• Untitled "unfinished art" film (2025) - Mark Romanek
• Untitled AI film (2024) - Bennett Miller
• Crackpot (2024) - Elaine May
• Catch and Kill (2020) - Brian De Palma
• Sweet Vengeance (2020) - Brian De Palma
• Clarksville 1861 (2021) - Brian De Palma
• Untitled film (2024) - Brian De Palma
• Untitled "ambitious" film (2025) - Oliver Stone
• The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes (2020) - Joe Dante
• Little Shop of Halloween Horrors (2024) - Joe Dante
• Freewalkers (2023) - Ridley Scott
• Sinatra (2025) - Martin Scorsese
• A Life of Jesus (2025) - Martin Scorsese
• Big Thunder Mountain (2024) - Bert and Bertie
• Esther (2024) - Bertie Ellwood
• Queen Bitch and the High Horse (2021) - Bert and Bertie
• A Special Relationship (2020) - Bert and Bertie
• A Dazzling Display of Splendor (2021) - Julie Delpy
• John & Yoko (2023) - Jean-Marc Vallée
• China Court (2024) - Mike Newell
• Untitled Adam Sandler film (2024) - Todd Field
• The Island (2024) - Paweł Pawlikowski
• Untitled Netflix miniseries (2024) - Spike Jonze
• Polaris (2024) - Lynne Ramsay
• The Stork Club (2024) - Matthew Miele
• The Gospel of Jack (2023) - Martin Brest
• African History Y (2020) - Tony Kaye
• Ezekiel Moss (2023) - James Gray
• Untitled Rod Serling biopic (2021) - Richard Kelly
• Shockwave (2021) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• Napoleon (2022) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• The Left Hand of Darkness (2021) - Guillermo del Toro
• At the Mountains of Madness (2021) - Guillermo del Toro
• Inspector Palmu (2021) - Renny Harlin
• Sturlungar (2022) - Andrew Dominik
• Old Fink (2027) - Coen brothers
• The Big Goodbye (2020) - Ben Affleck
• The Last of the Savages (2023) - Jay Cocks
• Boner (2020) - Spike Lee
• Save Me, Joe Louis (2021) - Spike Lee
• Paris Paramount (2024) - Nancy Meyers

Footage Allegedly Shot

• Tremendum (TBA) - Tony Kaye
• The Happy Worker (TBA) - Duwayne Dunham
• St. Sebastian (TBA) - Danny DeVito
• Emperor (TBA) - Lee Tamahori
• Being Mortal (TBA) - Aziz Ansari
• Glow season 4 (2020)
• April (2013) - Vincent Gallo
• Coyote vs Acme (2024)
• Cortes (2020)
• Glitterati (2004) - Roger Avary
• Mouche (1992) - Marcel Carné
• Another You (1991) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Distant Vision (2015) - Francis Ford Coppola
• Maharishi (2009) - David Lynch
• Fight Harm (2000) - Harmony Korine

2010s

• Man's Fate (2014) - Michael Cimino
• Conquering Horse (2016) - Michael Cimino
• One Arm (2010) - Michael Cimino
• Cream Rises (2015) - Michael Cimino
• One Lucky Moon (2012) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Duane Depressed (2012) - Peter Bogdanovich
• The Inventor and the Tycoon (2014) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Wait for Me (2016) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Maharishi (2014) - David Lynch
• Fear Paris (2014) - Joe Dante
• Ombra Amore (2014) - Joe Dante
• The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes (2018) - Joe Dante
• Labirintus (2016) - Joe Dante
• Polybius (2016) - Joe Dante
• Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines (2012) - John Landis
• The Bone Orchard (2012) - John Landis
• Warbirds (2014) - John McTiernan
• Thomas Crown and the Missing Lioness (2014) - John McTiernan
• Untitled Doolittle Raid film (2016) - John McTiernan
• Alice in Wonderland (2012) - Ken Russell
• Genghis Khan (2014) - John Milius
• The Deep Blue Goodbye (2015) - James Mangold
• Blood and Champagne (2015) - James Mangold
• Lunar Park (2012) - Roger Avary
• Glamorama (2012) - Roger Avary
• The Last Express (2012) - Paul Verhoeven
• Jesus of Nazareth (2012) - Paul Verhoeven
• One Epic Fall (2016) - Savage Steve Holland
• The Big 1-3 (2016) - Savage Steve Holland
• Until Gwen (2019) - Josh Olson
• The Creed of Violence (2013) - Todd Field
• At It Happens (2013) - Todd Field
• Beautiful Ruins (2014) - Todd Field
• The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014) - Todd Field
• Untitled Bowe Bergdahl biopic (2015) - Todd Field
• Purity (2019) - Todd Field
• The Overlook Hotel (2016) - Mark Romanek
• Blackbird (2015) - Mark Romanek
• Norco (2015) - Mark Romanek
• Attachment (2012) - Tony Kaye
• Stranger Than the Wheel (2016) - Tony Kaye
• Honorable Men (2018) - Tony Kaye
• The Trap (2014) - Harmony Korine
• Tampa (2016) - Harmony Korine
• The Box of Delights (2012) - Mike Newell
• Untitled Odysseus film (2012) - Mike Newell
• Potsdamer Platz (2010) - Tony Scott
• Lucky Strike (2012) - Tony Scott
• Hell's Angels (2010) - Tony Scott
• Nemesis (2011) - Tony Scott
• Narco Sub (2014) - Tony Scott
• The Lost Patrol (2010) - Stephen Norrington
• Untitled stop motion film (2018) - Stephen Norrington
• At the Mountains of Madness (2012) - Guillermo del Toro
• The Left Hand of Darkness (2012) - Guillermo del Toro
• A Topiary (2010) - Shane Carruth
• The Modern Ocean (2016) - Shane Carruth
• Corpus Christi (2011) - Richard Kelly
• Amicus (2013) - Richard Kelly
• Soulmates (2015) - Richard Kelly
• Mandrake the Magician (2016) - Etan Cohen
• The Avenging Silence (2016) - Nicolas Winding Refn
• Untitled musical film (2010) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• A Soldier of the Great War (2010) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• The Noble Assassin (2014) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• The Black Count (2016) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• Napoleon (2016) - Cary Joji Fukunaga
• The Thousand Miles (2014) - Sylvain Chomet
• Comanche (2017) - Michael Mann
• Agincourt (2012) - Michael Mann
• Untitled Sam Cooke biopic (2015) - Carl Franklin
• Intruder in the Dust (2016) - Carl Franklin
• Excessive Force (2018) - Carl Franklin
• Trapped (2012) - William Friedkin
• Mae (2014) - William Friedkin
• Gypsy (2016) - Barry Levinson
• 1906 (2012) - Brad Bird
• Fruitcake (2010) - John Waters
• Mr. Ping Pong (2018) - John Boorman
• Untitled non-horror film (2015) - Tobe Hooper
• The Thin Man (2011) - Rob Marshall
• The Guinea Pig Club (2017) - Roger Donaldson
• The Keep (2012) - Peter Weir
• The Miso Soup (2012) - Wim Wenders
• The Second Coming (2012) - Wim Wenders
• Happy Valley (2015) - Brian De Palma
• Magic Hour (2014) - Brian De Palma
• Untitled Ashton Kutcher film (2014) - Brian De Palma
• Lights Out (2015) - Brian De Palma
• Sweet Vengeance (2018) - Brian De Palma
• Catch and Kill (2018) - Brian De Palma
• The Battle of Britain (2012) - Graham King
• Untitled Scarecrow sequel (2013) - Jerry Schatzberg
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (2014) - Danny DeVito

Actors' Missed Roles

Joaquin Phoenix

• Voltage (Robert Altman)
• The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
• Split (M. Night Shyamalan)
• Untitled Netflix miniseries (Spike Jonze)
• Polaris (Lynne Ramsay)
• The Island (Paweł Pawlikowski)
• One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
• Untitled 1930s L.A.-set gay romance film (Todd Haynes)

Johnny Depp

• Ask the Dust (Robert Towne)
• Speed Racer
• Divine Rapture (Thom Eberhardt)
• The Damocles Network (Sam Raimi)
• The Education of Albie Snow (Robert Altman)
• Untitled Howard Hughes biopic (Hughes brothers)
• The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Terry Gilliam)
• Marlowe (John Maybury)
• Man's Fate (Michael Cimino)
• The Brothers Grimm (Terry Gilliam)
• Good Omens (Terry Gilliam)
• Diamond Dead (George A. Romero)
• Untitled Ozzy Osbourne biopic
• Silence (Martin Scorsese)
• Shantaram (Peter Weir)
• The Ginger Man
• The Thin Man (Rob Marshall)
• The Night Stalker (Edgar Wright)
• The Lone Ranger sequel
• The Secret Life of Houdini
• Untitled sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film (Joachim Rønning)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (David Yates)
• The Carnival at the End of Days (Terry Gilliam)

https://variety.com/1995/film/features/depp-pacino-newell-team-for-tristar-s-brasco-99126749/

https://johnny-depp.org/projects/dropped-rumoured/

Adam Driver

• Yankee Comandante (Jeff Nichols)
• Heat 2 (Michael Mann)
• The Carnival at the End of Days (Terry Gilliam)
• Paper Tiger (James Gray)

Brad Pitt

• Heathers (Michael Lehmann)
• Backdraft (Ron Howard)
• Bitterroot (John McTiernan)
• On the Road (Francis Ford Coppola)
• American Psycho (David Cronenberg)
• The Chamber (Ron Howard)
• The Devil's Advocate (Joel Schumacher)
• All the Pretty Horses (Mike Nichols)
• The Crowded Room (David Fincher)
• The Killer Inside Me (Quentin Tarantino)
• Custer Marching to Valhalla (John Milius)
• Untitled Janis Joplin biopic
• Duets
• The Fountainhead (Brad Pitt)
• To the White Sea (Coen brothers)
• Mr. Tambourine Man
• Arkansas (Billy Bob Thornton)
• The Gambler (Doug McGrath)
• The Pretenders (Ron Howard)
• Ambrose Chapel (Brian De Palma)
• Laws of Madness (Ron Howard)
• Smuggler's Moon
• Rock Star (Stephen Herek)
• Untitled Chet Baker biopic
• Urban Townies (Mark Romanek)
• Waking Up in Reno (James Gray)
• The Courier
• Metal Gods
• The Lookout (Sam Mendes)
• Listening with the Eyes
• Seared (David Fincher)
• Shooter (Michael Mann)
• The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman)
• Dallas Buyers Club (Marc Forster)
• The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
• Hatfields and McCoys (Michael Mann, Scott Cooper)
• The Fighter (Darren Aronofsky)
• State of Play (Kevin Macdonald)
• Fertig (David Fincher)
• The Lost City of Z (James Gray)
• The Tiger (Darren Aronofsky)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (David Fincher)
• The Mission (David O. Russell)
• Go Like Hell (Michael Mann)
• The Gray Man (James Gray)
• Pontius Pilate
• World War Z 2 (David Fincher)
• Untitled Netflix miniseries (Spike Jonze)
• The Movie Critic (Quentin Tarantino)
• Land of Opportunity (Jeff Nichols)
• Untitled A.I. film (Bennett Miller)
• Wolfs sequel (Jon Watts)

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/bigelow-pulls-custer-duty-111660810/

http://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/270

https://variety.com/1997/scene/vpage/pitt-col-in-tune-on-duet-1117436040/

https://variety.com/1997/scene/vpage/tambourine-pitch-plays-for-tristar-pix-1117342458/

https://variety.com/1997/scene/vpage/inside-moves-52-1117342313/

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/pitt-nears-gambler-stake-111662520/

https://variety.com/1997/film/news/mcconaughey-pitt-may-saddle-up-for-howard-1116674380/

https://variety.com/1998/film/news/pot-pic-pitch-with-pitt-stokes-new-line-1117478603/

https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/liberty-rings-femmes-say-hello-young-lovers-1117477807/

https://variety.com/1998/voices/columns/de-bont-willing-to-work-for-food-1117488827/

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/pitt-may-deliver-courier-1117492734/

https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=318957.html

https://variety.com/1999/film/news/h-w-d-taps-on-mendes-door-1117758392/

Mickey Rourke

• LEGS
• A PLACE ONLY MARY KNOWS
• PULP FICTION
• THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
• CON AIR
• LUCK OF THE DRAW
• DEATH PROOF
• ST. VINCENT
• MONA LISA remake
• GENGHIS KHAN
• POTSDAMER PLATZ
• HELL'S ANGELS
• THE ICE MAN
• THE EXPENDABLES 2
• LAST PINT
• THE IRISHMAN
• SHE'S STILL HERE
• Untitled Roman Polanski The Palace follow-up film

https://www.looper.com/151980/whatever-happened-to-mickey-rourke/

Austin Butler

• Heat 2 (Michael Mann)
• City on Fire
• American Speed
• The Barrier (Ed Berger)
• American Psycho (Luca Guadagnino)
• Deep Cuts
• Enemies

Adam Sandler

• Hell Camp (Milos Forman)
• Very Bad Things (Peter Berg)
• Dino (Martin Scorsese)
• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
• The Five Johnsons
• Genie in a Bottle
• Good Cook, Likes Music (Wayne Wang)
• Son of the Bride
• Wild Pitch
• Collateral (Michael Mann)
• Wichita
• You Don't Mess with the Zohan sequel (Dennis Dugan)
• Untitled project (Stephen Dorff)
• Valet Guys
• Fat Man (Miguel Arteta)
• Hello Ghost (Chris Columbus)
• Grown Ups 3
• Untitled sports memorabilia film (Josh Safdie)
• Untitled project (Todd Field)

https://www.vulture.com/2012/06/the-lost-roles-of-adam-sandler.html

Films That Should Have Been Made

Top 5

• Mouche (1992) - Marcel Carné
• Man's Fate (2003—06) - Michael Cimino
• Cream Rises (2015) - Michael Cimino
• The Giant (1990) - Frank LaLoggia
• Wait for Me (2020) - Peter Bogdanovich

Runners-up

• Ronnie Rocket (1988) - David Lynch
• Paradise Road (1986) - Peter Bogdanovich
• The Streets of Laredo (1973) - Peter Bogdanovich
• Leningrad: The 900 Days (1990) - Sergio Leone
• The Actor (1975) - King Vidor
• Nostromo (1992) - David Lean
• The Tempest (1976) - Michael Powell
• Buddha (1996) - Ron Fricke
• Justified Sinner (1990) - Bill Douglas
• Mary, Queen of Scots (1970) - Alexander Mackendrick
• Grumpiest Old Men (1998) - Howard Deutch
• Grover and Maude (1979) - Colin Higgins
• One Epic Fall (2017) - Savage Steve Holland
• Untitled feature directorial debut (1959) - Edward Hopper
• Time Between Trains?
• Judge Dee?
• Hand Carved Coffins?
• Ambrose Chapel?
• Pantagruel?
• Bartholomew vs. Neff?
• It's Always Now?
• The Life of Jesus?
• The Last Outlaw / Woody Strode western / Valley Forge?
• Now, Mr. Gus?

Directors' "Dream Projects"

• The Demolished Man (Brian De Palma)
• Genghis Khan (John Milius)
• Save Me, Joe Louis (Spike Lee)
• The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes (Joe Dante)
• The Lord of the Rings (John Boorman)
• Kaleidoscope (Alfred Hitchcock)
• Mary, Queen of Scots (Alexander Mackendrick)
• Alexander (Baz Luhrmann)
• Comanche (Michael Mann)
• A Company of Angels (Kathryn Bigelow)
• A Confederacy of Dunces (John Waters)
• The Diary of Jack the Ripper (William Friedkin)
• Crusade (Paul Verhoeven)
• Conquering Horse (Michael Cimino)
• Sinatra (Martin Scorsese)
• Moll Flanders (Ken Russell)
• Genesis (Robert Bresson)
• King Shot (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
• Leningrad: The 900 Days (Sergio Leone)
• The Moviegoer (Terrence Malick)
• Mouche (Marcel Carné)
• Pinkville (Oliver Stone)
• Shantaram (Peter Weir)
• Technically Sweet (Michelangelo Antonioni)
• To the White Sea (Coen brothers)
• The Hawkline Monster (Hal Ashby)
• The Alienist (Philip Kaufman)
• Nostromo (David Lean)
• Wait for Me (Peter Bogdanovich)
• Time Between Trains (Todd Field)
• The Big 1-3 (Savage Steve Holland)
• Keith Moon Was Here (Alex Cox)
• A Cold Case (Mark Romanek)
• Ronnie Rocket (David Lynch)
• At the Mountains of Madness (Guillermo del Toro)
• Napoleon (Stanley Kubrick)
• Red Cars (David Cronenberg)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (John Landis)
• The White Company (John Ford)
• The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (Howard Hawks)
• Montezuma (John Huston)
• The Conquest of Mexico (Werner Herzog)
• The Defective Detective (Terry Gilliam)
• The Life of Jesus (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
• Justified Sinner (Bill Douglas)
• The Adventures of Harry Dickson (Alain Resnais)
• The Tempest (Michael Powell)
• Elective Affinities (Francis Ford Coppola)
• Tom Mix and Pancho Villa (Tony Scott)
• Valley Forge (Frank Capra)
• Chicago Loop (Nicolas Roeg)
• The Adventures of Balzac (Samuel Fuller)
• Time Steps (Penny Marshall)
• No Ordinary Time (Alan J. Pakula)
• Winchell (Bob Fosse)
• The Master and Margarita (Roman Polanski)
• Cork (Robert Altman)
• The Idiot (Andrei Tarkovsky)
• The Merry Widow (Ingmar Bergman)

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10069352/1/Bergman%20unrealised%20films%20Thomson%20SBR.pdf