A multitude of interesting films miss out on getting made every year for a variety of reasons, but there are some that stand out from the rest because the thought of “what if” is simply too fascinating to dismiss.
But in many cases, the studios’ decisions to pass on a project can’t be entirely criticized — some of the following projects are flat out bizarre and could just as easily be a financial disaster as a hit.
Still, it would be amazing to see any of the following seven projects realized even if they sound pretty crazy.
The best movies never made >
"Gladiator 2," directed by Ridley Scott and written by Nick Cave
Of all the “what ifs” on this list, "Gladiator 2" is probably the craziest of the bunch and likely never had a chance of actually being made. To start with, how do you make a sequel for a film whose protagonist died at the end? No, this wasn’t an origin story or a film about a different character. Screenwriter Nick Cave explains it best.
“[Crowe] rang me up and asked if I wanted to write 'Gladiator 2,'” Cave explained. “For someone who had only written one film script, it was quite an ask. ‘Hey, Russell, didn’t you die in "Gladiator 1"?’ ‘Yeah, you sort that out.’”
From there, it appears that Cave held nothing back in crafting a reason for Crowe’s character Maximus to return to the screen while writing one of the most insane stories that only a rocker could think up. “So, [Maximus] goes down to purgatory and is sent down by the gods, who are dying in heaven because there’s this one god, there’s this Christ character, down on Earth who is gaining popularity and so the many gods are dying, so they send Gladiator back to kill Christ and his followers,” Cave explained.
“I wanted to call it 'Christ Killer,'” he continued. “In the end you find out that the main guy was his son so he has to kill his son and he was tricked by the gods. He becomes this eternal warrior and it ends with this 20-minute war scene which follows all the wars in history, right up to Vietnam and all that sort of stuff and it was wild.”
Cave is probably embellishing this story at least a little at this point, but the script did reach the studio with Ridley Scott and Crowe in tow and the basic plot he describes is true according to reports. “It was a stone-cold masterpiece,” he said. “I enjoyed writing it very much because I knew on every level that it was never going to get made. Let’s call it a popcorn dropper.”
"Return of the Jedi," directed by David Cronenberg or David Lynch
When George Lucas was looking for directors for the last film in the "Star Wars" trilogy, "Return of the Jedi" (or "Revenge of the Jedi" as it was then called), he approached two young directors known for their uncompromising visions: David Cronenberg and David Lynch. But Lynch declined Lucas’ offer in order to direct "Dune, "and Cronenberg would later do the same, directing "Videodrome" and "The Dead Zone" shortly after.
Many years later, Cronenberg would explain why he turned down the offer. “You’re really restricted by the format that’s been established,” he said. “So for a really inventive or innovative director, that’s being put in a straitjacket.” There little doubt that Lynch felt the same way and while he moved on to a similar sci-fi project, he was afforded much more creative influence that Lucas was surely offering.
So while neither Cronenberg nor Lynch were truly close to directing "Return of the Jedi," it’s still a fascinating “what if” for a film that could have benefitted from either director’s strong vision. While it’s hard to picture exactly what a Lynch "Star Wars" film might have been, there’s no doubt that a Cronenberg version would been significantly darker, even if he played within Lucas’ terms.
"Batman: Year One," directed by Darren Aronofsky
For a director who has frequently leaned toward art-house style filmmaking (before this year’s box office hit Noah), it’s interesting that Darren Aronofsky has often been attached to big-budget commercial films throughout his career.
He was once attached to the "RoboCop" reboot, the "Watchmen" adaptation, and last year’s "The Wolverine"— all films you wouldn’t normally associate with the talented director. But by far the strangest of the films he worked on was a Batman reboot entitled "Batman: Year One," which would later pave the way for Christopher Nolan’s "Dark Knight" trilogy.
Following the "Batman and Robin" disaster, Warner Bros. was looking to inject some fresh blood into the property and hired Aronofsky following the success of his second feature, "Requiem for a Dream." Aronofsky then brought in comic writer Frank Miller, who had worked with the director on an unproduced script for "Ronin," and the pair got to work crafting what is one of the most fascinating depictions of the iconic character.
“My pitch was 'Death Wish' or 'The French Connection' meets Batman. In 'Year One,' Gordon was kind of like Serpico, and Batman was kind of like Travis Bickle (the protagonist of 'Taxi Driver'),” Aronofsky explains in an excerpt from the book "Tales From Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made" written by David Hughes.
In Hughes’ book, the synopsis for the film is described as follows:
Young Bruce Wayne is found in the street after his parents’ murder, and taken in by ‘Big Al,’ who runs an auto repair shop with his son, ‘Little Al.’ Driven by a desire for vengeance toward a manifest destiny of which he is only dimly aware, young Bruce (of deliberately indeterminate age) toils day and night in the shop, watching the comings and goings of hookers, johns, pimps, and corrupt cops at a sleazy East End cathouse across the street, while chain-smoking detective James Gordon struggles with the corruption he finds endemic among Gotham City police officers of all ranks.
It isn’t hard to see why Warner Bros’ balked at the idea of departing so radically from the comics and opted for the more conventional Batman story Nolan would later pursue. But there’s no denying that it would have been extremely interesting to see Aronofsky and Miller do what they wanted with the character, even if it didn’t really feel all that much like an actual Batman story.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
