Films that never materialized?

Satyajit Ray’s The Alien, a Peter Sellers film that was never made

 

There's a great documentary out there: The Death of Superman Lives, which goes into great detail why the Nicholas Cage movie pictured above was never made...



The whole movie is actually (illegally) up on YouTube, but I'd encourage you to watch it via Netflix or Amazon so the filmmakers get paid.

I've told this story before: around 1980, we got a call from Jerry Lewis' office in Beverly Hills and they sent over about half an hour of the film for me to transfer so they could have it on videotape to shop to distributors. It was unfinished, but I think there were maybe 4 or 5 five-minute scenes that were more or less complete. All I can remember is that it was terrible, it looked real cheap, Jerry didn't look good in it, and the print was beat to hell. No, I didn't keep a copy for myself (which were and still are the rules). Most of the people out there who have seen pieces of the movie I suspect saw it from this tape we made for Jerry.

I think Mr. Lewis was right not to release the film, because it was very hokey, very amateurish, and just kind of a real bad idea all the way around.

 

It’s Alive starring Peter Lorre and Frankie Avalon, an AIP movie that never was

 

Found this on James Garner's IMDb page:

In 1960 MGM toyed with the idea of doing an all-male remake of The Women (1939) which would have been entitled "Gentlemen's Club". Like the female version, with an all-female cast, the remake would have involved an all-male cast and the plot would have involved a man (Jeffrey Hunter) who discovers among his comrades that his wife is having an affair with another man (Earl Holliman). After Hunter's character travels to Reno, NV, to file for divorce and begin a new life, he instead finds himself doing what he can to rectify matters after discovering that the other man is only interested in money and social position. Because of what he discovers, Hunter's character decides to win his true love back. Although nothing ever came of this, it would have consisted of the following ensemble had it come to fruition: Jeffrey Hunter (Martin Heal), Earl Holliman (Christopher Allen), Tab Hunter (Simon Fowler), Lew Ayres (Count Vancott), Robert Wagner (Mitchell Aarons), James Garner (Peter Day), Jerry Mathers (Little Martin), James Stewart (Mr. Heal), Ronald Reagan (Larry), Troy Donahue (Norman Blake), and Stuart Whitman (Oliver, the bartender who spills the beans about the illicit affair).​

 

A remake of "The Swimmer" rumored to star Alec Baldwin.

 

The Bobby Fuller Story. At one point Tom Cruise was gonna be Bobby.

 

Looking forward to this:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay‘s twenty-year journey to the screen may finally be coming to an end. A limited series adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel novel has been set up at Showtime through CBS Television Studios with a big production commitment. It will be written and executive produced by Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, who have signed a multi-year overall deal with CBS TV Studios.

 

1933:

 

The Brian Wilson biopic with either Jeff Bridges or William Hurt in the role, depending on which gossip/movie magazines you were reading... Rumours about this were around in the late 80s, probably pushed by Landy.

 

Surprised no-one has mentioned the Tull project War Child

The "War Child" movie was written as a metaphysical black comedy concerning a teenage girl in the afterlife, meeting characters based on God, St. Peter and Lucifer portrayed as shrewd businessmen. Notable British actor Leonard Rossiter was to have been featured, Margot Fonteyn was to have choreographed, while Monty Python veteran John Cleese was pencilled in as a "humour consultant". (per wikipedia)

More info on the abandoned project here:

The Abandoned War Child Movie Outline -The Official Jethro Tull Website

 

About a decade or so back, some celebrity-fronted production company had bought the rights to make a docudrama about pop anti-virtuosos the Shaggs; nothing seems to have developed from this since then.

 

Presumably the Rosemary’s Baby knock-off that materialized in the mid-‘70s.

 

Spike Lee used to talk about making a Jackie Robinson biopic. "42" was OK, but I would have loved to see Lee's take on the story.

 

Actually, that picture is reason enough.

 

Jon Hamm (Mad Men) would be GREAT in this! There's a great little film in there somewhere, with just a few tweaks here and there. It's tough to take what is essentially a GREAT 30-minute Twilight Zone episode and stretch it into 100 minutes.

 

Hamm ought to be the next Philip Marlowe.

 

Yeah, the Burt Lancaster movie is good but a tad overlong. Agreed that Hamm would be great in the title role.

 

*shudder*

I love Bobby Fuller, I can't picture this.

I'm also very glad that the Keith Moon film starring Mike Myers never came out.

 

I bet that the Jackson C. Frank documentary Blues Run The Game never comes out.

I mean, over 3 years ago was the last update?
IMDB:
Status: Filming
Updated: 10 November 2016

 

I dunno; Cruise isn't a bad physical match to Fuller and I don't see why he couldn't have pulled it off. The guy can surprise you.

 

Is there any potential producer out there currently kicking around a Marlowe film or streaming series? I would like to see that, as long as it takes place sometime between the 1930s and 1950s. Don't know if I would want a millennial Philip Marlowe. There was a series on HBO in the 80s starring Powers Boothe, who was very good in the role.

 

There was this...

 

I could actually see Ashton Kutcher playing Bobby.....there is a definite resemblance there.

 

The big-budget Chinese sci-fi epic Empires of the Deep is "completed" (according to its IMDb page anyway) and was supposed to be released in 2013, but aside from a trailer, it has yet to see the light of day.



Empires of the Deep - Wikipedia

 

Officially this is not released.

Officially it is also not a movie.

Officially it is also not real.

Officially I wish it was.