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Unreleased And/Or Unfinished Films, TV Shows, Games & Music

Updated book out this week -

Tales from Development Hell (New Updated Edition): The Greatest Movies Never Made?

A compulsively readable journey into the area of movie-making where all writers, directors and stars fear to tread: Development Hell, the place where scripts are written, actors hired and sets designed... but the movies rarely actually get made!

Whatever happened to Darren Aronofsky's Batman movie starring Clint Eastwood? Why were there so many scripts written over the years for Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's fourth Indiana Jones movie? Why was Lara Croft's journey to the big screen so tortuous, and what prevented Paul Verhoeven from filming what he calls "one of the greatest scripts ever written"? Why did Ridley Scott's Crisis in the Hot Zone collapse days away from filming, and were the Beatles really set to star in Lord of the Rings? What does Neil Gaiman think of the attempts to adapt his comic book series The Sandman?

All these lost projects, and more, are covered in this major book, which features many exclusive interviews with the writers and directors involved.
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Amazon.co.uk
 
To follow on from the original post in this thread...

Watch: Amazing Footage Of The Day The Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis’ Unreleased, Controversial Holocaust Film

Perhaps the lost film of the last 50 years, The Day The Clown Cried was directed by its star, Jerry Lewis, way back in 1972. It’s the story of a clown in a Nazi concentration camp and is most notorious for the last scene of its screenplay, and presumably of the film as shot.

At risk of spoiling a movie you will most likely never, ever get to see, I can tell you that the climax takes place in a gas chamber, with the clown going in to face his death with a group of scared children, trying to make them laugh in order take away their fear. It ends with them all locked in, the kids laughing as the clown juggles stale bread, just about holding it together.

Some footage from behind the scenes of the film, and possibly including a take or two from the production, has now been posted to YouTube. It’s an incredible find.

Now, the screenplay for the film seems very sincere to me, and I would anticipate that it could have made for a powerful, remarkable film. A famous quote from Harry Shearer, however, suggests that this was not the case:

  • With most of these kinds of things, you find that the anticipation, or the concept, is better than the thing itself. But seeing this film was really awe-inspiring, in that you are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. “Oh My God!” – that’s all you can say… if you flew down to Tijuana and suddenly saw a painting on black velvet of Auschwitz. You’d just think ‘My God, wait a minute! It’s not funny, and it’s not good, and somebody’s trying too hard in the wrong direction to convey this strongly-held feeling.

That comes from a 1979 issue of Spy magazine, which apparently also quoted screenwriter Joan O’Brien in saying that she’d never allow for the film to be released. On the screenplay page, she says, the story was about the redemption of a selfish man, but in the film, Lewis lightened the tone and tried to make the clown more appealing, and this undermined the film significantly.

Without seeing the movie myself I’m curious how much people’s vested interests and relationships with Lewis clouded their perception, but it does seem like the director may well have judged this one very, very badly indeed. He even seems to think so himself, as you’ll see in this clip.
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Bleedingcool.com
 
I've just been watching it. Jerry in his "I am a very serious filmmaker" mode, as usual in his interviews, but just to get a tiny glimpse of what this film is like is tantalising. Just release it Jerry, I know you say it's too terrible to be unleashed every time you're asked, but it's like THE movie Holy Grail now, mostly because we know it's able to be seen if you let us.
 
I never expected to see anything of that film!

Not that I was looking forward to it. I've managed to see nothing of Life is Beautiful, despite its general availability.
 
At the risk of sounding like one of those who swears blind they've seen THAT Thunderbird photograph, I'm positive I found clips of this online a year or so ago... :?
 
More on the clown...

The day Jerry Lewis (finally) talked about 'The Day the Clown Cried'

Some mysteries just get juicier with age. At least, that’s how it felt on Aug. 10, when a seven-minute clip from an old Dutch TV documentary about the making of Jerry Lewis’ 1972 “lost” film, The Day the Clown Cried, was posted on YouTube by someone calling himself “Unclesporkums.” Back in 2009, I interviewed Lewis in his Las Vegas office about his career and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award he was slated to receive at that year’s Oscar telecast. The star, then 82, was gracious and chatty. That is, until I asked him about The Day the Clown Cried, a never-released movie that has become a sort of Holy Grail for movie buffs, like Orson Welles’ uncut version of The Magnificent Ambersons. “We don’t talk about that,” he said curtly, “not even if I found out you were one of my sons.” An eternity of silence — or, at least, what felt like an eternity of silence — followed.

His sensitivity was perhaps understandable. The project marked a huge departure for Lewis, who was 46 in 1972 when he traveled to Sweden to direct and star in the Holocaust-set film. Since his meteoric rise as the antic, rubber-faced half of a nightclub duo alongside Dean Martin in the ‘40s, Lewis had starred in dozens of box-office hits, parlaying that success into a second career as the unlikely, ground-breaking director of big-screen comedies like 1960?s The Bellboy and 1963?s The Nutty Professor. His ambition was limitless. And yet audiences still seemed to pigeonhole him as a purveyor of seltzer-and-banana-peel slapstick. The Day the Clown Cried might have changed that once and for all.
Lewis cast himself as a German circus clown named Helmut Doork who is sent to a Nazi prison and then a concentration camp, where he’s ordered to perform for wide-eyed Jewish children as they’re led to the gas chambers. Now, 40 years later, Lewis’ provocative premise has lost some of its shock value thanks to Roberto Benigni’s similarly-themed 1997 Oscar-winner, Life Is Beautiful. But the mystery surrounding The Day the Clown Cried has only deepened and grown more tantalizing over the decades.

Over the past 41 years, journalists and critics have speculated about the reasons why Lewis decided to never unspool his film. Was it because of a dispute with the French producer? Was it because the film hit too raw of a nerve? Or, as has been suggested by some who have claimed to have seen it (including comedian Harry Shearer) was it just embarrassingly bad? Lewis has always remained cagey about why the film never saw the light of day. And on the few occasions he has spoken about it, he’s been evasive and elliptical. He seems to relish both guarding the mystery and fueling it at the same time. He’s the keeper of a delicious riddle in an era when the internet seems custom-made to debunk them.

Two hours into my conversation with Lewis in 2009, after hopscotching through the highlights of his life in movies, Lewis seemed to soften up. As the interview was winding to a close, he leaned back in his chair and asked if there was anything else I wanted to know…

There was.
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Read the Q&A at
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/08/19/j ... lown-died/
 
12 Unpublished Novels We Wish We Could Read

Starting in 2015, fans of J.D. Salinger will be treated to a treasure trove of previously unreleased work, including new stories about the Glass family and a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. In the wake of exploding heads and spontaneous bowel evacuations prompted by that announcement, I got to thinkin': What other famous authors have work that's never seen the light of publication? Work their fans would kill to get their ink-stained mitts on, regardless of quality? That thinkin' got me to researchin', and it turns out numerous Holy Grails exist. Unfinished manuscripts and unrealized ideas taken to the grave; completed work deemed unfit for publication, whether by the author or publishing at large; material lost to time or destroyed in a fit of rage/self-pity/doubt. Mayhaps one day they will surface, emerging from the depths like Salinger's work did. It's even possible they could be works of genius (although another twelve volume sleeping pill a la Tolkien's History of Middle Earth is far more likely). But until that day arrives, they remain part of the 12 Unpublished Novels We Wish We Could Read...
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http://litreactor.com/columns/12-unpubl ... could-read

My pick of the 12...

'The Owl In Daylight' by Philip K. Dick

What we know: Dick had been working on this novel at the time of his death. He had already been paid a handsome advance, so of course the publisher wanted someone to finish the thing. Dick's estate reached out to numerous writers, but since the author left no outline, no one could figure out what the hell the novel was supposed to be about. There are numerous theories, based on different interviews with the author, but apparently it had something to do with a B-movie composer whose mind is taken over by a race of aliens that live in a world without sound. Their influence turns the man into an avant-garde sensation, but it also destroys his brain. The aliens offer to remove the chip, but he's like, Fuck that, I'd rather die for my art, and chooses to have his being transplanted into an alien so his consciousness can continue to create.

An alternate summary claims the book's about a scientist who is trapped in a theme park of his own creation by artificial intelligence who is forced to travel through multiple realities, a la Dante's Divine Comedy.

Why we want to read it: It sounds bat-shit bonkers, that's why.
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I noticed someone mention it in the comments, but I would have loved to have seen where Douglas Adams' The Salmon of Doubt was going. I read what there is of it last year and it's so sad it was never finished, it was a lot more promising than the depressing last Hitchhiker's novel. Plus he was planning another Hitchhiker's book too, because he was dissatisfied with Mostly Harmless.

Also, I note Stephen King is on the list, and it's a little absurd to want more from the man considering how prolific he is, but from the two extracts in Skeleton Crew his abandoned novel The Milkman would have been stupendously weird. Would have been great for him to finish it (the one mentioned at the link sounds like a Bachman book for sure).
 
but since the author left no outline, no one could figure out what the hell the novel was supposed to be about.
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Not much change there for a Dick novel... couldn't they just recycle the usual incomprehensible plot where you could pretty much figure out that all the main characters were deceased early on had to wade through huge amounts of claptrap to find out you were right.
 
10 minute video whizzes through 55 Planned Films That Never Got Produced...

Beyond talking about trailers and critiquing the films those trailers promote, writing for Cinema Blend occasionally includes reporting on a myriad of films that probably won’t ever exist. There is a palpable frustration that comes with seeing anticipated projects get abandoned by seemingly the only filmmakers who could have made the projects work. But it isn’t as if this problem only started in the Internet Age. From Hollywood’s earliest days, the best laid plans of directors and screenwriters have oft gone astray, and the amazing above video from Mental Floss singles out 55 such examples. And while it’s one of the biggest shames imaginable that Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon will never reach cinemas as its director intended, at least we never had to sit through Seriously, Dude, Where’s my Car? We dodged a bullet, people!

With his expected genial charm, John Green lays out some of the most outlandish and egregious films ever conceived, as well as the most incredible. He’s not unveiling any big secrets here, as much of what’s listed here are the directors’ white whales, but it’s still astounding hearing all of them back to back like this.

Right off the bat, Green hits upon arguably one of the strangest casting choices I’ve ever heard, with Martin Scorsese wanting the band The Clash, who made the briefest of cameos in The King of Comedy, to star in Gangs of New York. What’s more ridiculous than that? The Beatles starring in Lord of the Rings, that’s what. That’s the kind of idea that I can only stutter about. But what’s even more bizarre than that? The pre-David Lynch version of Dune, as conceived in what sounds like an opium nightmare by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who originally planned to cast the film with artist Salvador Dali and Orson Welles, with music by Pink Floyd and art direction from Chris Foss and H.R. Giger. (Thankfully, we’ll soon get a closer look at this madness with the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune.)

But it isn’t all about crazy ideas causing projects to implode. Sometimes it’s because someone involved with the project died, as was the case with The Confederacy of Dunces, which lost John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley, or the big budgeted Leningrad, whose director Sergio Leone passed before production could begin.

And while no mention was made of Terry Gilliam’s long-gestating Don Quixote adaptation, there is mention of Orson Welles’ version, which was meticulously planned but still unmade. The same goes for David Fincher’s Heavy Metal passion project, which I would love to see one day, as his career began with interesting music videos.

Given the abundance of superhero films currently flooding the market, one might think that no superhero project would ever get trashed, but that was the case with Tim Burton’s Superman Lives, with the terribly miscast Nicolas Cage. (Or maybe it was perfect casting.) The same unfortunately goes for the Wachowski’s planned Plastic Man feature, and the 1965 Godzilla vs. Batman, an idea which makes my brain hurt so good.
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http://www.cinemablend.com/new/55-Plann ... 39492.html
 
As this thread indirectly inspired my choice of user name, I thought (after lurking for many, many moons) I'd put my first post here :oops: :)

The most frustratingly unfinished game has to be Shenmue. I remember playing the first installment on the Dreamcast when it first came out, and being utterly enraptured and enthralled by it. The sequel proceeded to comprehensively knock my socks off.
In my mind, it actually fell halfway between game and movie, such was the depth of atmosphere and detail, and the strength of the storyline - which was definitely fortean, complete with powerful artifacts, ancient monastic orders and bizarre die-cast figure collections. There was also the brilliant portrayal of mid-80s Japanese culture, variously either fighting against western influences or assimilating them alongside its own mythically-driven history.
It didn't fit easily into any particular genre - it was firmly rooted in actual, real-life places, it was fairly linear for an adventure game, and it required the player to sit back and watch instead of button-mashing. I guess the whole niche-appeal, slightly self-indulgent ethos explains why it expired after only two games, instead of the planned four. If the games had continued to expand in size at the same rate, and taken advantage of (then) next-gen consoles, it would have been epic.
 
I never played that, but it sounds a bit more like a doujin or visual novel... they never really took off in the west.
 
"The Day the Clown Cried"- More Behind the Scenes Footage

What a way to start the new year! Thanks to ClassicKat, I present to you the rest of the footage from the behind the scenes Flemish documentary about the unreleased Jerry Lewis holocaust drama, "The Day the Clown Cried". This is the remainder of the footage from the full documentary, you've already seen the rest.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v96fv67ak0o
 
"What would YOU do? What would you DO? WHAT would you do?" Jerry was a stern taskmaster. I'm beginning to think TDTCC wasn't a comedy.

Here's a contemporary interview with the man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rJj5S1fwXE

Where he's pretty cagey about the plot. Nice that he had "sad clown" makeup on for the actual movie, in case we were in any doubt he was serious.
 
Trailer for the Documentary DOOMED! THE UNTOLD STORY OF ROGER CORMAN’S “THE FANTASTIC FOUR”

I’m always a sucker for stories about production fiascos and movies that almost happened, and Roger Corman‘s The Fantastic Four is a bit of both. Corman made the low-budget flick in 1992 because German producer Bernd Eichinger wanted to retain the rights, and although filming was completed, the picture was never officially released. Naturally, this has led to all sorts of speculation and conspiracy theories as to why it was buried, and Marty Langford‘s documentary DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s “The Fantastic Four” promises to go behind-the-scenes and provide some answers to what really happened with this unreleased oddity. The trailer looks promising, especially if you’ve never seen Corman’s lost superhero picture and want to know more about it.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.
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http://collider.com/doomed-untold-story ... r-trailer/
 
This is a fantastic thread..!
I don't think anybody has mentioned the BBC adaptation of "The Tripods" yet, have they?
I remember watching as a child, enthralled, back in the 1980's only for it to end incredibly abruptly. For years I thought that was how the story ended until I read a couple of years ago that a further series was scripted but never produced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tripods_(TV_series)

I also recall ringing the company Software Projects EVERY SINGLE DAY to enquire when the ZX Spectrum game "Attack of the Mutant Zombie Flesh-Eating Chickens from Mars" was going to be released.

Alas, it never was. 12-year-old me; crushed. :(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_Mutant_Zombie_Flesh_Eating_Chickens_From_Mars
 
I don't think anybody has mentioned the BBC adaptation of "The Tripods" yet, have they?
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The books it was based on were a trilogy, at the risk of seeming picky, it maybe hasn't been mentioned because the story was finished, just the adaptation got cancelled.

I loved the books, found the BBC version awful, trying to string one book out into an entire season when there wasn't enough material there just sucked.
 
OneWingedBird said:
I don't think anybody has mentioned the BBC adaptation of "The Tripods" yet, have they?
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The books it was based on were a trilogy, at the risk of seeming picky, it maybe hasn't been mentioned because the story was finished, just the adaptation got cancelled.

I loved the books, found the BBC version awful, trying to string one book out into an entire season when there wasn't enough material there just sucked.
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I was a big fan of the books too and was disappointed they didn't adapt the third one, but even I as a sci-fi loving kid was putting a brave face on the stupidly overextended, mostly Tripod-free TV adaptation. According to that the story ended with the Tripods winning.
 
I was very disappointed that the BBC pulled the plug on The Tripods.
The BBC then seemed to have a poor regard for SF.
 
I think if more people were actually watching it, then they'd have made another series to wrap it up, but it had been so stretched out with padding the audience figures were dwindling. It didn't make sense to spend all that money on something fewer and fewer people were tuning in for. Blame the programme makers for messing up, not the BBC bosses.
 
Any love for the Mad Max franchise around here? The fourth in STALL ment, Fury Road, is now in its tenth year of preparation, and about its 6th of actual production. Next year, if we're lucky, it might see public screenings. Some tasty bits footage of production, vehicles, costumes, etc only at this stage. I keep abreast of the sometimes bi-yearly :( updates here: http://www.madmaxmovies.com/

On a more Fortean note, here's the Wastelanders. A fanmob who storm the deserts of the US once a year to basically piss it up and shag like marauders. They look like they know how to have a 'Humungus' time.
http://wastelandweekend.com/ These people are seriously into the scene, and their costumes and vehicles are bloody remarkable. Perhaps I'll launch a thread on cult film fan communities and their behaviour. It is quite an interesting phenomenon to look into.

Check this out: Star Cars: Mad Max Fan Vehicles
 
Funnily enough I bought the Blu-ray box set a couple of weeks ago!

I thought I'd seen them all, but it turns out everything I thought was in Mad Max and Mad Max 2 ('Madder Max', MrsCarlos calls it) was actually all in the second one and I'd never seen the first one before :oops:

Mad Max - awesome. Tense, dark, terrifying in places.

Mad Max 2 - a totally different tone but still brilliant. The end chase sequence is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

Beyond Thunderdome - great start and great finish. Shame about the Peter Pan bit in the middle.
 
Several years ago I read an article about Richard Stanley - the original director of the notoriously troubled 1996 version of The Island Of Dr Moreau.

Despite it being essentially his project, Stanley left the production early on but went back as an extra, smuggled onto set by other disaffected cast and crew members.

I can't find any reference to it now, but I think it was in that original article (I think it was in Sight and Sound) that he said that he had wanted to turn his experience into a documentary.

It may have been a throwaway comment - but given the tortuous nature of the production, and the notoriously difficult characters involved, I suspect it would have made much better viewing than the actual film itself.

(More info here for anyone interested.)
 
HenryFort said:
isnt fury road a reboot ?
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I think it's set between 1 & 2.

When he actually was mad. I never found Max to be all that mad.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
HenryFort said:
isnt fury road a reboot ?
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I think it's set between 1 & 2.

When he actually was mad. I never found Max to be all that mad.
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Perhaps Mad in the sense of being Irate? He was more than a little peeved.
 
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