Chris Nolan was set to direct a Howard Hughes biopic starring Jim Carrey, but Marty Scorsese beat him to it with 'The Aviator' with Leo DiCaprio. DiCaprio was fine, but I think Carrey would have delivered a remarkable performance.
What shelved film project do you wish had been made?
by Anonymous | reply 94 | July 8, 2025 9:24 PM |
Chicago with Liza, Goldie and Fosse directing.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 4, 2025 2:52 AM |
Haven't several projects about the Tate - Labianca murders been shelved? I don't count the most recent.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 4, 2025 2:56 AM |
The Day The Clown Died With My Sister.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 4, 2025 3:01 AM |
Sunset Boulevard
by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 4, 2025 3:02 AM |
Remake of Lady Scarface a follow-up to Pacino's remake of Scarface, directed by DePalma, starring Lucille Ball. Unfortunately she was advised by someone in her inner circle to pass and made Life with Lucy instead.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 4, 2025 3:03 AM |
Paul Newman was supposed to star and possibly direct The Runner Stumbles
by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 4, 2025 3:03 AM |
Take Me Out.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 4, 2025 3:24 AM |
Gypsy with Streisand.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 4, 2025 3:26 AM |
A biopic of Janis Joplin with Sia was in the works, would have been interesting.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 4, 2025 3:28 AM |
Just look at those thick thighs and huge ass on Himanshu!
by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 4, 2025 3:29 AM |
Stanley Kubrick's 'Napoleon'. Also, his version of 'A.I.', a script that he bestowed upon Spielberg.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 4, 2025 3:33 AM |
A Confederacy of Dunces, starring John Belushi.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 4, 2025 3:34 AM |
Citizen Kane ii
by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 4, 2025 3:36 AM |
I think the Nicholas Cage Superman thing would've been good.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 4, 2025 3:43 AM |
r15, he was also supposed to do Willy Wonka and dropped out, sadly he seems unstable.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 4, 2025 3:49 AM |
^Big news! Tear out the front page!
by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 4, 2025 4:04 AM |
Pretty Conductor: The Harriet Tubman Story.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 4, 2025 5:21 AM |
Are we talking only about projects that never made it to being filmed or worse--movies that were made and are never coming out?
by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 4, 2025 5:33 AM |
Vicki about suffragette Victoria Woodhull with our Faye directed by George Cukor.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | July 4, 2025 5:35 AM |
Stompanato with Sharon Stone as Lana Turner and Antonio Banderas as Johnny.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | July 4, 2025 5:39 AM |
There are a few movies that were actually made that will not see the light of day. That's much worse.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | July 4, 2025 5:56 AM |
Jodorowsky's Dune would have been insane.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | July 4, 2025 6:05 AM |
The next season of Mindhunters
by Anonymous | reply 24 | July 4, 2025 6:09 AM |
R23 has it right. The sheer quantity of quality talent associated with Jodorowsky's "Dune" was mind-boggling: H.R. Giger, Mobius, Dan O'Bannon, Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, Alain Delon, Mick Jagger, Pink Floyd...it may well have ended up being a mess, but it probably would have also ended up being the ultimate cult film.
R12 I'm not a huge Kubrick fan, but even if one were to stipulate to his genius or whatever, he would run into the same problem anyone trying to do a Napoleon film would: his life and career would be impossible to adapt with any satisfaction into a feature-length film. Even a three-hour film would be insufficient, as Ridley Scott's 205-minute abomination makes abundantly clear. "Barry Lyndon" is as much as we need from Kubrick on the pre-Industrial blackpowder age of Europe, I think.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | July 4, 2025 6:25 AM |
Jim Carrey is very needy as a dramatic actor, I would not have liked it.
Then again, I did not like Aviator. Cate Blanchett and Leo chowing down on the scenery.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | July 4, 2025 6:28 AM |
What r21 said. Long overdue
by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 4, 2025 6:38 AM |
The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Courtney Love. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Renee Zellweger. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Zooey Deschanel. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Brittany Murphy. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Amy Adams. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Pink. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Nina Arianda. The biopic of Janis Joplin starring Michelle Williams.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | July 4, 2025 7:01 AM |
R19 Both
by Anonymous | reply 29 | July 4, 2025 7:33 AM |
The Gore Vidal story, starring Kevin Spacey. This was, in fact, filmed for Netflix but quickly shelved when the Spacey scandals broke. I still want to see it.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | July 4, 2025 7:43 AM |
The rumored 3rd Joel Schumacher Batman movie starring Madonna as Harley Quinn. I know how DL feels about Madonna's acting ability but I think this would have been a good role for her. She would fit into Schumacher's campy version of Gotham.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | July 4, 2025 7:56 AM |
That sounds good r30. Despite my dislike of this predator he could be could in this.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | July 4, 2025 7:59 AM |
A proposed 1976 film starring Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis. Hepburn would have played a senator and Bette a taxi driver. Another never-done Bette project was the film version of "Follies". Bette would have sung "I'm Still Here".
by Anonymous | reply 33 | July 4, 2025 8:08 AM |
So many failed attempts at bringing 'A Confederacy of Dunces' to the big screen has led to some calling the ambition cursed.
Nick Offerman did successfully play the lead role in a Boston theater production in 2015.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | July 4, 2025 8:24 AM |
R13 Comment 34 was in response to yours.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | July 4, 2025 8:32 AM |
R6 - the title was The Front Runner (based on the Patricia Nell Warren novel)
by Anonymous | reply 36 | July 4, 2025 10:46 AM |
David Cronenberg's Frankenstein
Brian DePalma's The Demolished Man (based on the 1953 Alfred Bester science fiction novel)
by Anonymous | reply 37 | July 4, 2025 10:50 AM |
Garbo as "The Duchess of Langeais" to be directed by Max Ophuls, 1949. They got as far as shooting a few lighting tests (on YouTube).
by Anonymous | reply 38 | July 4, 2025 1:02 PM |
That was one I was also going to mention, R30. There's also a movie called Rich Man's Burden that was apparently shelved, though nude shots of the main actor still made it onto various male nudity sites. Another movie that got shelved was Peter Greenaway's Walking To Paris with Emun Elliott, who was also apparently nude in it. Nudity abounds in most Greenaway movies.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | July 4, 2025 3:12 PM |
The Montgomery Clift biopic
by Anonymous | reply 40 | July 4, 2025 3:16 PM |
Speaking of Alfred Bester above, there's the science fiction novel The Stars My Destination that was originally planned for director John Carpenter.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | July 4, 2025 4:01 PM |
Mike Myers' Sprockets.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | July 4, 2025 4:10 PM |
Napoleon by Kubrick.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | July 4, 2025 4:14 PM |
R43 - another Hitchcock film would have been The Short Night, which he would have made had he not gotten ill.
Among the male leads he considered were Walter Matthau, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen.
And among the female leads he considered were Catherine Deneuve and Liv Ullmann.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | July 4, 2025 4:56 PM |
Julie and Dick's SHE LOVES ME.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | July 4, 2025 5:00 PM |
House of Leaves, although it seems as though pieces of The Navidson Record from the book have been used in movies about houses that have mismatched interior and exterior dimensions.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | July 4, 2025 5:37 PM |
The Merry Widow - starring Barbra Streisand, directed by Ingmar Bergman (was expected to start production in late 1972). Based on the Lehar operetta.
Stardust Ballroom - based on the 1978 stage musical, starring Barbra Streisand, directed by Rob Marshall, music by the Bergmans who were to write all new music for this movie. Marshall was pushing for this in 2003, but shelved it. He tried again in 2006, with Bette Midler instead of Streisand (who was no longer interested), but it didn't go forward.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | July 4, 2025 7:07 PM |
Tarantino’s Star Trek movie.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | July 4, 2025 7:08 PM |
The sequel to Jupiter Ascending. Without the Russian family crap.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | July 4, 2025 7:11 PM |
5 years ago, America's favorite gay "bro" on the street rom-com star announced he was developing "Man in the Box." Oh, Sammie!
by Anonymous | reply 51 | July 4, 2025 7:23 PM |
Diana Ross in 'Josephine'.
Diana Ross and Liza in 'Jazz Babies'.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | July 4, 2025 7:35 PM |
The movie "Pay The Girl", (about Heidi Fleiss) starring Nicole Kidman. When she became too old, it went to Hillary Swank. Now she's too old so I'm not sure who it will be offered to next.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | July 4, 2025 7:48 PM |
Saturday the 14th
by Anonymous | reply 55 | July 4, 2025 7:54 PM |
I actually think a Paul Lynde biopic would be interesting
by Anonymous | reply 56 | July 4, 2025 7:56 PM |
Neill Blomkamp's 'Alien: Zeno' starring Sigourney Weaver which would have been a direct sequel to Jim Cameron's 'Aliens' and disregarded the storylines in the already made, subsequent sequels. Fan favorite characters Newt and Hicks would have survived and been in Blomkamp's film. Weaver seemed genuinely excited about the project.
20th Century Fox chose to go with Ridley Scott's prequel 'Alien: Covenant' instead and when it didn't do well at the box office, it was years before interest was shown in another addition to the franchise.
by Anonymous | reply 57 | July 4, 2025 9:00 PM |
Orson Welles' "Heart of Darkness."
by Anonymous | reply 58 | July 4, 2025 9:13 PM |
Glamorama
by Anonymous | reply 59 | July 4, 2025 9:53 PM |
The Auntie Mame remake with Tilda Swinton.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | July 4, 2025 10:48 PM |
Orson Welles’ “It’s All True”
It started as The History of Jazz, which would have had music by Duke Ellington and starred Louis Armstrong but morphed into a a Latin American anthology that included The Story of Samba when Orson was appointed a good will ambassador to Latin America and cajoled into making a documentary of Brazil’s Carnaval in 1942 as part of the Good Neighbor Policy. A regime change at RKO terminated the filming and years later much of the footage that had been shot was dumped into the Pacific Ocean.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | July 5, 2025 12:16 AM |
"Mame" starring Cher.
by Anonymous | reply 62 | July 5, 2025 1:53 AM |
"DIVA" starring Diana Ross.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | July 5, 2025 2:08 AM |
All the projects Gary Morton talked Lucy out of
by Anonymous | reply 64 | July 5, 2025 3:02 AM |
Dancer From the Dance.
Will it ever transpire?
by Anonymous | reply 65 | July 5, 2025 3:18 AM |
There was supposed to be a movie made about b-movie actress Susan Cabot starring Rose McGowan like 20 years ago and if you know that woman’s story you know it was make for a WILD story — maybe even too wild? It might be one of those examples of truth being so much stranger than fiction it couldn’t land. But Rose would’ve been great casting especially now that we know she’s truly unstable
by Anonymous | reply 66 | July 5, 2025 3:30 AM |
r65 Dancer from the Dance deserves to be a six- or eight-part series.
by Anonymous | reply 67 | July 5, 2025 5:38 AM |
Two parts just for the wardrobe.
by Anonymous | reply 68 | July 5, 2025 2:03 PM |
The White Hotel by DM Thomas. So many actresses attached to it over time, starting with Barbra to be directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Thomas wrote an entire book about the efforts made for the film version.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | July 5, 2025 3:03 PM |
I'm still hoping Scorsese can pull together his Devil in the White City movie although I'd rather somebody not Leo Dicaprio play HH Holmes (Tom Hardy would be better) - I have a feeling that one's dead for the time being though and will have to wait for a younger director in the future. If you can't get the money together for it with Scorsese & Leo then there's clearly an issue. I guess it would also make a great limited series, it's such a rich world
by Anonymous | reply 70 | July 5, 2025 3:23 PM |
A Confederacy of Dunces would be such a difficult movie to cast. Though, I've always envisioned Grace Zabriskie as Ignatius' mother.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | July 5, 2025 3:29 PM |
Ken Russell's Liza/EVITA
by Anonymous | reply 72 | July 5, 2025 3:39 PM |
I hope none of you bitches said Sex and the City 3.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | July 5, 2025 9:12 PM |
Second Ken Russell’s EVITA starring Liza with Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond costarring. He was also supposed to do a Sarah Bernhardt bio with Streisand.
Tina Turner was set to do a Merchant Ivory film in the early 2000s costarring Matthew Modine but it got stopped at the last minute.
I love the movie, but Educating Rita was written and planned for Dolly. Always wondered how she would have pulled it off.
by Anonymous | reply 74 | July 5, 2025 9:23 PM |
To a Violent Grave with De Niro and Barbra. A competing film with Ed Harris' Pollock.
April 17, 1993 12 AM PT
Abstract Vision: Barbra Streisand’s Barwood Films is developing a film on Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollock, based on Jeffrey Potter’s 1985 biography, “To a Violent Grave.” Robert De Niro is slated to play Pollock, and Streisand will play his wife, artist Lee Krasner. Christopher Cleveland is writing the script, focusing on the couple’s “complex, fascinating relationship,” according to Cis Corman, president of Barwood. Cleveland will have access to dozens of taped interviews conducted by Potter in the course of writing the book.
by Anonymous | reply 75 | July 7, 2025 4:42 AM |
Streisand's "Skinny & Cat", based on the life of photographer Margaret Burke-White and author Erskine Caldwell. This was a big project she was trying to get going since 1987-88*. She was to be the star / director/ and co-producer (along with Linda Yellen). It was acquired by her Barwood films. The search was on for her male co-star (rumored to be Robert Redford).
It kind of stopped and restarted for her throughout the 90s. By the early 2000s, she had dropped the idea of being the star, and rumors were she was 'in talks' with Madonna to star, but that died out by the mid-2000s. Then it was announced in the late 2000s she reached a deal with Cate Blanchett to star. opposite Colin Firth. Streisand acknowledged in 2012 'everything was in place' except for financing. The last time this project was mentioned was around ten years ago. I guess it's a goner.
*A TV movie about Burke aired in 1989 and starred Farrah Fawcett. It received bad reviews, and flopped in the ratings. Not even Farrah could escape the bad reviews. Co-producer Linda Yellen spoke on behalf of the Streisand project, saying the flop of the Fawcett movie only encouraged her and Barbra to move forward with their project. "It was poorly reviewed, and it wasn't the same story we're going to tell."
by Anonymous | reply 76 | July 7, 2025 12:13 PM |
Bogart Slept Here. A Neil Simon script directed by Mike Nichols starring Robert DeNiro and Marsha Mason.
Production shut down after a week of filming in 1975, when Nichols realized that De Niro was unable to adjust his intense Method style of acting to Neil Simon's precise dialogue. Simon reconceived the story, which was filmed two years later as The Goodbye Girl.
by Anonymous | reply 77 | July 7, 2025 12:47 PM |
James Kirkwood's novel "Good Time/Bad Times". Dorothy Loudon, Cliff Robertson, and Keith McDermott, were attached but the production was shut down and the film was never completed.
There should have been another actor to play against Keith McDermott - there were two protagonists. Maybe an unknown, maybe not yet cast. (I do believe McDermott was the object of Edmund White's affection. Maybe obsession.)
by Anonymous | reply 78 | July 7, 2025 2:00 PM |
An adaptation of "Paradise Lost" starring Bradley Cooper as Lucifer, directed by Alex Proyas of "The Crow" and "Dark City." The film was canceled because the special effects being planned would have had an astronomical price tag.
The Jurassic Park film that would have featured human/dinosaur hybrids. The script sounded insane.
by Anonymous | reply 79 | July 7, 2025 3:48 PM |
I love Dark City, r79. I'm sure Paradise Lost would have had some incredible sets.
I'd like to see Jurassic Park made by James Cameron. He was considered as an option and supposedly wanted a much scarier movie than what Spielberg made.
by Anonymous | reply 80 | July 7, 2025 4:42 PM |
Logan’s Run remake, scripted closer to the original novel than the 1976 version. This remake idea spanned back to the late 90s and went through so many stages, and directors, and producers over the decades. It seems forever cursed.
Heart of Glass: the Story of Blondie. This seemed like a reality sometime in the late 00s, around the time that Runaways film came out, even being publicly blessed by most of the original band members. There was a lot of back and forth about who should play Debbie, but Kirsten Dunst seemed to be the final choice. Again, it kept getting stalled, and then stopped.
I think in both cases there are various screenplays floating around.
by Anonymous | reply 81 | July 7, 2025 5:10 PM |
Douglas Sirk's biopic about Maurice Utrillo (supposedly he began to work on this in the early '60s and dropped it when he became ill).
by Anonymous | reply 82 | July 7, 2025 5:48 PM |
Peter Lefcourt's [italic]The Dreyfuss Affair: A Love Story[/italic] back when Tuc Watkins was young enough to play the lead. It was optioned by Universal about 5 years ago, but that project seems to have gone nowhere. Last I heard a German company had bought the rights for an adaptation about soccer players.
by Anonymous | reply 83 | July 7, 2025 6:28 PM |
Don Juan starring Ricky Ricardo
by Anonymous | reply 84 | July 7, 2025 6:37 PM |
R84 Perfect casting.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | July 7, 2025 7:13 PM |
Showboys- the sequel to Showgirls (1995).
by Anonymous | reply 86 | July 7, 2025 7:18 PM |
There was a project in the works about The Lonely Doll author Dare Wright. I think Naomi Watts was supposed to play her but it never got off the ground
by Anonymous | reply 87 | July 7, 2025 7:19 PM |
In the early 2000s, Sondheim pushed the idea of remaking the movie of his musical, 'A Little Night Music'. He claimed he was never happy with the Liz Taylor movie from 1977. He reportedly made offers to Glenn Close to star as Desiree, and with Angela Lansbury to play Madame Armfeldt. Both actresses were on board, but finding the right leading man posed a problem, and the project dragged on. The project was finally shelved when Sondheim decided to do the 2008 West End and 2009 Broadway revivals, instead.
by Anonymous | reply 88 | July 7, 2025 9:05 PM |
I, Claudius (1937). Production was dogged by ill-luck. A car accident involving Merle Oberon. And star Charles Laughton felt he never had a handle on the title role.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | July 8, 2025 5:54 PM |
Dark Blood (1993). Star River Phoenix died during production.
by Anonymous | reply 90 | July 8, 2025 5:58 PM |
The Anita Bryant bio-pic starring Ashley Judd.
by Anonymous | reply 91 | July 8, 2025 5:58 PM |
Sondheim was a bitch for not allowing Barbra to both star and direct "Gypsy".
by Anonymous | reply 92 | July 8, 2025 6:02 PM |
Divine Rapture with Marlon Brando, Debra Winger and Johnny Depp.
by Anonymous | reply 93 | July 8, 2025 6:11 PM |
I've posted this a few times in the past, but I will add it to the list...
Back in the late 90's (after the success of 'The Preacher's Wife' ), Will Smith proposed a remake for 'A Star Is Born' starring himself and Whitney Houston. Smith would co-produce the film, and partially finance it. It would take place in the world of R&B music, with Smith as the established star, and Houston the singer on her way up. Smith tried to start this for a few years, but Houston couldn't give a solid commitment, blaming her 'recording schedule' got in the way
By 2003, Smith finally said Houston was out (speculation was because of drugs, not her recording schedule), and he was 'in negotiations' with Janet Jackson (who was also interested in the Lena Horne musical biopic). Janet Jackson's negotiations dropped after February, 2004's "nipplegate" (as did her planned Horne movie), and Smith tossed the names of Beyonce and Sade. By 2010, the remake was still on - but no longer with Smith, and no longer in the world of R&B.
by Anonymous | reply 94 | July 8, 2025 9:24 PM |