Movies That Never Were (1 Viewer)

[MarioJ]

 

[Jon Martin]

This is a great thread!

One film that could have been interesting, Mike Nichols was to direct Terry Southern's BLUE MOVIE as an actual porn film, with major actors, in the 1970's. But, Ringo Starr had the rights to the book, and while I forget the story, something about his lawyer, it never got made. Stanely Kubrick was also interested in it. The book is hysterical.

Also the Michael O'Donoghue scripted EASY RIDER sequel, Orson Welles unfinished DON QUIXOTE, a lot of others.

 

[Will_B]

War Day, the novel about two authors traveling across America after a limited nuclear war had divided the country into different territories, was to hage been directed by Constantin Costa-Gavras, director of Missing, in 1983. The New York Times was excited about it. But then they didn't actually make the picture.

 

[Brian-W]

Thought I'd take a slightly different direction only because the "Movies that never were" will fill untold amounts of pages (although ones that came just shy of starting production are probably more interesting).

Men in Black. I remember when I had the script for this nearly 5 years before the film actually went into production and was released. Thankfully, the script I had and the final movie were largely unchanged. But what I found hysterical back in the day was that in the early stages at Sony, they had attached Arnold Schwartenegger and Sylvester Stallone as the stars of the film. Not sure how much ink actually went on paper to sign these deals (if at all), but it was laughable back then. Of course, the actual stars (Tommy Lee and Will Smith) weren't even on the radar then.

Back to Future. With Eric Stoltz - 'nuff said.

Johnny Mnemonic. I met with the producers of the film who pitched it to me, and at the time, they had Val Kilmer attached to the movie. Eight weeks later it had been changed to Johnny Depp. Finally, they called another eight weeks later and said that the final star would be Keannu Reeves. Again, not sure if deals with the former stars were signed and then backed out or what, but interesting nonetheless.

They Live 2. Ok, not really, but when I met with John Carpenter (when he was making Escape/LA), I asked about a sequel to They Live since it was so ripe for one. His response "I'll make a sequel to any of my movies if someone gives me the money." With all due respect (the man was a genius) I thought "whore". Escape/LA proves this...

Finally, I can't remember the name of it, but it was always in pre-production for the longest time (though the script went through many, many re-writes) was another film at Sony/Columbia. I got the revised scripts over the course of two and a half years, and the star never changed: Demi Moore. It sounds vaguely similar to a film in the theaters now (forgot the title, too lazy to look up, involves one woman in England who gets pregnant).

The plot was essentially a plague had taken over the world, and was slowly killing people off. Demi's job was to take this lab grown child who's blood essentially is the 'anti-viral' drug, and go through wastelands with gangs, infested people, etc. to a safe house in Los Angeles (think she starts in Utah). She bonds with this child that IIRC is ultimately going to be sacraficed to save the world. Was interesting...

 

[Brian-W]

If you mean Logans Run was cancelled, as of today, it's been ressurected...

Also, another film that I think isn't quite dead, but has been languishing for a number of years (and a Spielberg project) is Crimson Skies based on the MS Xbox game. But I think the release of Sky Captain/World Tomorrow killed off that idea.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Children Of Men?

 

[Jefferson Morris]

That one stings. I saw a Leone documentary in which someone related the story of the maestro enthusiastically describing the first shot of the movie. I won't repeat it all here, but suffice to say it would have been a very long tracking shot and no doubt would have been amazing.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Brian-W]

Yes, similar theme, but not the same movie.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I really wanted the True Lies sequel to happen, but it looks like that will never happen.

 

[PeterTHX]

Yes, terrorism isn't so funny anymore.

Hell, I'd settle for a decent SE DVD or Blu-ray of the first movie. But after 9/11 stuff like this is a touchy subject.

 

[Brian-W]

Ah yes, my friends movie Tick Tock, was in production, filming to start,but then 9/11 happened (filming scheduled a week after 9/11). Sony shelved it indefinitely...and the movie was about a terrorist too...

 

[Kevin M]

Ridley wasn't hired on to do Dune until after Alien was a hit, he opted out late in the game to do Blade Runner instead, I have read numerous interviews with him & the De Laurentiis' in Starlog back in the early 80's stating this. Also, none of Giger's Dune designs were used for Alien....in fact all of Aliens designs (Cobb-Foss-Giger-Moebius) were original to the film as was the subsequent set construction in England...Dan O,Bannon was instrumental in bringing many of these people involved with Dune onto Alien because he had worked on the film for so long.
I don't know where you got this info but it isn't at all what I have read and heard about the genesis of Alien over the years...and I have been fascinated with the film since 1978 upon seeing some of the set's in Fantastic Films.

 

[MikeRS]

Lance Henriksen as The Terminator





Evil Bishop!

 

[PeterTHX]

That's a new look for Bishop!

 

[Haden]

I remember Michelle Pfeiffer was originally considered for the lead role in Basic Instinct, but passsed due to her reluctancy to do nude scenes. What a shame....

 

[Shawn_KE]

I'm still waiting for History of the World: Part II

 

[Brian-W]

Surprised Goonies 2 hasn't been mentioned.

 

[burns81]

Todd S said:

This ended up coming out in the UK in 2005. Loosely based on Jeffrey Long’s novel. Saw it a few months ago. Nothing special. Written & directed by Neil Marshall.

"One year after a tragic accident, six girlfriends meet in a remote part of the Appalachians for their annual caving trip. Deep below the surface of the earth, disaster strikes when a rock falls and blocks their route back to the surface. The girls soon learn that Juno, the thrill-seeking leader of the expedition, has brought them to an unexplored cave and that as a result no knows where they are to come rescue them. The group splinters and each push on, praying for another exit. But there is something else lurking under the earth - a race of monstrous humanoid creatures that are adapted perfectly to life in the dark. As the friends realize they are now prey, they are forced to unleash their most primal instincts in an all-out war against an unspeakable horror - one that attacks without warning, again and again and again."

 

[Lucia Duran]

The Prisoner has been talked about for years as being made into a big screen film, but I haven't heard anything lately about it.

Clive Owen was up for the role of number 6.... he would have been great!

 

[KurtEP]

I could see that, he'd probably be one of the few I could imagine in that role.