Just because you’re a well-established director with award-winning hits and/or commercial successes doesn’t mean you can make any movie you want. Just ask Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola, Darren Aronofsky, and more. All these auteurs have had passion projects over the years they’ve had to kill or put on indefinite hiatus for a variety of reasons, which is a shame given how incredible all of them sound on paper.
Read More30 Essential Directing Tips From 30 Master Filmmakers
Christopher Nolan taking on Howard Hughes. Spike Lee making a boxing epic around Joe Louis. Kathryn Bigelow resurrecting Joan of Arc for a female warrior saga unlike any the big screen had ever really seen in the 1990s. We’d buy a ticket for all them years in advance if we knew they were definitely happening.
With many of our favorite auteurs currently in production on new movies,...
Read More30 Essential Directing Tips From 30 Master Filmmakers
Christopher Nolan taking on Howard Hughes. Spike Lee making a boxing epic around Joe Louis. Kathryn Bigelow resurrecting Joan of Arc for a female warrior saga unlike any the big screen had ever really seen in the 1990s. We’d buy a ticket for all them years in advance if we knew they were definitely happening.
With many of our favorite auteurs currently in production on new movies,...
- 7/28/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
As his planned take on Utopia falls by the wayside, we look at the other David Fincher projects that haven't (yet) seen the light of day...
From the outset, David Fincher has honed a very distinctive visual style. Gritty and visceral, yet clean and precise, his back catalogue is very impressive. From Fight Club and Seven to The Social Network and Gone Girl, he has managed to make films that are both high quality and that people love. Yet they often also cost a lot of money and, due to the often uncompromising nature of his films, studios can be reluctant to give him exactly what he wants. The inevitable result is that differences become irreconcilable and projects collapse.
Below we look at some of the projects that have fallen by the wayside.
Utopia
The story about fans of an obscure underground comic book who find themselves embroiled in a...
From the outset, David Fincher has honed a very distinctive visual style. Gritty and visceral, yet clean and precise, his back catalogue is very impressive. From Fight Club and Seven to The Social Network and Gone Girl, he has managed to make films that are both high quality and that people love. Yet they often also cost a lot of money and, due to the often uncompromising nature of his films, studios can be reluctant to give him exactly what he wants. The inevitable result is that differences become irreconcilable and projects collapse.
Below we look at some of the projects that have fallen by the wayside.
Utopia
The story about fans of an obscure underground comic book who find themselves embroiled in a...
- 9/21/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
For every movie that makes it all the way from someone's brain to the big screen, dozens are doomed to spend eternity in Hollywood purgatory — because, quite frankly, getting a major motion picture made is a total bitch.
Only a small fraction of screenplays ever catch the attention of a studio and get put into production, and as you'll see, even that is no guarantee they'll ever be finished. In the messy, ridiculously complicated and maddening process of getting movies made, sometimes even the best ideas slip through the cracks.
With that in mind, we've assembled a list of 15 potentially great movies that Hollywood has done some serious slacking on.
1. 'The Tourist'
A far cry from the forgettable Johnny Depp/Angelina Jolie movie of the same name, "The Tourist" is a famously beautiful script about a group of exiled aliens living human lives in Manhattan — think a darker,...
Only a small fraction of screenplays ever catch the attention of a studio and get put into production, and as you'll see, even that is no guarantee they'll ever be finished. In the messy, ridiculously complicated and maddening process of getting movies made, sometimes even the best ideas slip through the cracks.
With that in mind, we've assembled a list of 15 potentially great movies that Hollywood has done some serious slacking on.
1. 'The Tourist'
A far cry from the forgettable Johnny Depp/Angelina Jolie movie of the same name, "The Tourist" is a famously beautiful script about a group of exiled aliens living human lives in Manhattan — think a darker,...
- 7/2/2013
- by Adam D'Arpino
- NextMovie
The Book: Rendezvous With Rama
Synopsis:
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind’s first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams… and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.
Why it should be adapted:
Unlike the previous two entries, Doomsday Book and Brave New World, Rendezvous With Rama is straight-up Sci-Fi , with spaceships, aliens, and all of the fun jazz that comes along with that.
To be fair,...
Synopsis:
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind’s first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams… and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.
Why it should be adapted:
Unlike the previous two entries, Doomsday Book and Brave New World, Rendezvous With Rama is straight-up Sci-Fi , with spaceships, aliens, and all of the fun jazz that comes along with that.
To be fair,...
- 5/17/2013
- by Drew Koenig
- SoundOnSight
Also Says '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' Will Be Set "Post Civil-War," While 'Rendezvous With Rama' Is Dead While recently talking with MTV (which just named his film, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," the year's best movie), David Fincher gave quick updates on several of his most speculated-about projects, including Scott Rudin and Angelina Jolie's take on "Cleopatra," his long-delayed adaptation of "2001" author Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and, oddly enough, the "Fight Club" musical. While we're pretty sure everyone is sick and tired of hearing about "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," this interview did get a couple of great new stories out of the director. In terms of Lisbeth Salender's look, he said that, "We did a lot of exploring. We looked into the stitched, Sally from 'Nightmare Before...
- 12/19/2011
- The Playlist
David Fincher is a busy man. He's in the midst of an incredible amount of awards season love for "The Social Network," filming "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," setting up "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" as his first 3-D film, and planning for his next two films after that to be "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" and the Morgan Freeman-starring "Rendezvous With Rama."
In an interview with Collider, Fincher confirmed "20,000 Leagues" would be the first film he shoots in 3-D and implied that it would be his next film, though the director spent most of his time talking about his other projects.
Of "Rendezvous With Rama," an adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke novel, Fincher said it is "a great story that has an amazing role for Morgan Freeman who is an amazing actor and would be amazing in this thing. The question was can we get a script...
In an interview with Collider, Fincher confirmed "20,000 Leagues" would be the first film he shoots in 3-D and implied that it would be his next film, though the director spent most of his time talking about his other projects.
Of "Rendezvous With Rama," an adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke novel, Fincher said it is "a great story that has an amazing role for Morgan Freeman who is an amazing actor and would be amazing in this thing. The question was can we get a script...
- 1/3/2011
- by Terri Schwartz
- MTV Movies Blog
Morgan Freeman has been working on this adaptation for what feels like an eternity! And David Fincher has long been Freeman’s choice to direct the film, and that hasn’t changed.
I’d long given up on the likelihood of it happening. But, last October, in an MTV Movies interview while promoting action-comedy Red, Freeman seemed assured that Rendezvous With Rama, the movie based on the title of the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel of the same name, was still very much alive, and that he wanted it to be a 3D movie!
Now, in an interview with Collider, posted lat last week, Fincher added the following, when asked which of the many projects he’s attached to will most likely happen: “It’s a question of things lining up, I mean, you know Rendezvous With Rama is a great story that has an amazing role for Morgan Freeman...
I’d long given up on the likelihood of it happening. But, last October, in an MTV Movies interview while promoting action-comedy Red, Freeman seemed assured that Rendezvous With Rama, the movie based on the title of the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel of the same name, was still very much alive, and that he wanted it to be a 3D movie!
Now, in an interview with Collider, posted lat last week, Fincher added the following, when asked which of the many projects he’s attached to will most likely happen: “It’s a question of things lining up, I mean, you know Rendezvous With Rama is a great story that has an amazing role for Morgan Freeman...
- 1/3/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
David Fincher did a lengthy interview with Collider, in which he mostly talked about The Social Network since he's on the promotional swing for it these days. But of more interest to science fiction fans is that Fincher talked briefly about Rendevous with Rama which (along with about three other projects) might be the next film he does. The story, based on a famed Arthur C. Clarke novel, has long been championed by both Fincher and Morgan Freeman.
Fincher had this to say:
It's a question of things lining up, I mean, you know Rendezvous With Rama is a great story that has an amazing role for Morgan Freeman who is an amazing actor and would be amazing in this thing. The question was can we get a script that's worthy of Morgan and can we get a script that is worthy of Arthur Clark and can we do all...
Fincher had this to say:
It's a question of things lining up, I mean, you know Rendezvous With Rama is a great story that has an amazing role for Morgan Freeman who is an amazing actor and would be amazing in this thing. The question was can we get a script that's worthy of Morgan and can we get a script that is worthy of Arthur Clark and can we do all...
- 1/3/2011
- by Steven Lloyd Wilson
David Fincher is doing a little work promoting the DVD release of The Social Network, and he sat down for an hour-long interview with Collider [1]. There is some very detailed technical talk about the daily work of using multiple takes to build a scene -- great stuff for the hardcore film nerds -- and then mentions of future projects like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the long-in-development Rendezvous With Rama and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The director doesn't say much about his Jules Verne adaptation, but does say, 20,000 Leagues will be 3D. Frosty doesn't follow up much with that, other than asking if that'll be his next film, eliciting this answer: "I think that there’s a lot of movies that could be my next film." But there is a meaty quote about Rendezvous With Rama, the adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's novel about an encounter with a...
- 12/31/2010
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Actor Morgan Freeman of Revelations Entertainment is still interested in producing a film version of author Arthur C. Clarke's 1972 sci-fi novel "Rendezvous With Rama", with David Fincher attached to direct.
"We're still pushing for 'Rendezvous With Rama'," Freeman said. "That's a got-to-be-done movie...I've been trying for 15 years now to get a script...Fincher is still part of the conversation".
Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" is set in the 22nd century, involving a fifty-kilometre-long cylindrical alien starship that enters Earth's solar system. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers, who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries.
The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release.
The 'Rama' of the title is the star ship, initially mistaken for an asteroid and named after 'king Rama' who is considered to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu god 'Vishnu'.
"We're still pushing for 'Rendezvous With Rama'," Freeman said. "That's a got-to-be-done movie...I've been trying for 15 years now to get a script...Fincher is still part of the conversation".
Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" is set in the 22nd century, involving a fifty-kilometre-long cylindrical alien starship that enters Earth's solar system. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers, who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries.
The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release.
The 'Rama' of the title is the star ship, initially mistaken for an asteroid and named after 'king Rama' who is considered to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu god 'Vishnu'.
- 10/12/2010
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Morgan Freeman has been working on this adaptation for what feels like an eternity! I’d long given up on the likelihood of it happening. But, in the MTV Movies interview below for the upcoming action-comedy Red, posted earlier today, Freeman seems assured that Rendezvous With Rama, the movie based on the title of the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel of the same name, still very much has life.
David Fincher has long been Freeman’s choice to direct the film, and that doesn’t seem to have changed.
One interesting, although maybe expected development as Freeman reveals in the video below, is that he wants to embrace the times and make it a 3D movie!
In the hard science fiction novel, which I read at least a decade ago, a 30-mile-long alien spaceship with mysterious origins, is adrift in our Solar System, controlled by an unknown intelligence. What is it?...
David Fincher has long been Freeman’s choice to direct the film, and that doesn’t seem to have changed.
One interesting, although maybe expected development as Freeman reveals in the video below, is that he wants to embrace the times and make it a 3D movie!
In the hard science fiction novel, which I read at least a decade ago, a 30-mile-long alien spaceship with mysterious origins, is adrift in our Solar System, controlled by an unknown intelligence. What is it?...
- 10/12/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Morgan Freeman has wanted to bring an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's classic 1972 sci-fi novel "Rendezvous With Rama" to the big screen for the better part of a decade-and-a-half. But despite having David Fincher attached to direct back in 2007, the project -- which tells of a group of human explorers trying to unlock the mysteries of an alien vessel that enters the Earth's atmosphere -- has never taken off.
When MTV News chatted with Freeman at the junket for the action-comedy "Red," we asked the acting legend whether the spaceship has sailed on this particular "Rendezvous." He responded by uttering the word "no" about 37 times in a row. Care to elaborate, Mr. Freeman?
"We're still pushing for 'Rendezvous With Rama,'" he said. "That's a got-to-be-done movie. Just have to figure out how to do it. I've been trying for -- I don't know -- 15 years now to get a script.
When MTV News chatted with Freeman at the junket for the action-comedy "Red," we asked the acting legend whether the spaceship has sailed on this particular "Rendezvous." He responded by uttering the word "no" about 37 times in a row. Care to elaborate, Mr. Freeman?
"We're still pushing for 'Rendezvous With Rama,'" he said. "That's a got-to-be-done movie. Just have to figure out how to do it. I've been trying for -- I don't know -- 15 years now to get a script.
- 10/11/2010
- by Tom DiChiara
- MTV Movies Blog
Science fiction writers of every generation had their own visions of the future, but what if their predictions became a reality? Rob dons his silver suit and delves into the archives to find out...
To me, living in 2010 seems like the future (well a bit anyway), and some of the things people dreamt of in years gone by have indeed come to pass. We have iPods which contain all our music, videos and data like the PADDs in Star Trek, have unlocked parts of the human genome, cloned livestock and created primitive artificial life. And while we don't have jet-packs, teleporters or the ability to travel to Mars, current technology hasn't don't too badly on the whole.
We love our technology, all sleek, thin and mobile, full of wafer-thin elements that can pass data at massive rates, wrapped up in shiny and lovingly-designed bits of kit. The ‘aesthetic of the...
To me, living in 2010 seems like the future (well a bit anyway), and some of the things people dreamt of in years gone by have indeed come to pass. We have iPods which contain all our music, videos and data like the PADDs in Star Trek, have unlocked parts of the human genome, cloned livestock and created primitive artificial life. And while we don't have jet-packs, teleporters or the ability to travel to Mars, current technology hasn't don't too badly on the whole.
We love our technology, all sleek, thin and mobile, full of wafer-thin elements that can pass data at massive rates, wrapped up in shiny and lovingly-designed bits of kit. The ‘aesthetic of the...
- 6/28/2010
- Den of Geek
Nearly a decade ago I did a script review of Rendezvous With Rama, a heady sci-fi movie based on the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel. In the book Clarke told the story of a mammoth cylindrical spaceship that flew by Earth a century from now. A team of astronauts were sent to land on the vessel, find a way in and make contact with the aliens inside it, if there were any.
At the time the movie was being developed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and had Morgan Freeman attached to star as the captain of the Earth vessel. Even with a solid script and the involvement of Freeman and and Fincher, nobody wanted to cough up the $70 million it would've taken to make the movie a reality.
That's not good enough for two creative people out there. Philip Mahoney is a recent...
At the time the movie was being developed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and had Morgan Freeman attached to star as the captain of the Earth vessel. Even with a solid script and the involvement of Freeman and and Fincher, nobody wanted to cough up the $70 million it would've taken to make the movie a reality.
That's not good enough for two creative people out there. Philip Mahoney is a recent...
- 5/3/2010
- by Patrick Sauriol
- Corona's Coming Attractions
Ever since his film career started to take off after Seven (since Alien 3 didn't really do it) David Fincher has attached himself to a number of movie projects throughout his career. Indeed, some have said that just having Fincher attached to a movie likely means that he won't make it. For instance, in the mid 1990s Fincher had been attached to make a movie from Torso, based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis. No, you didn't miss the release of Torso -- it still hasn't been made yet.
A movie based on Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama has also been forever stuck in Fincher development hell along with another graphic novel adaptation, Black Hole. So when news breaks that David Fincher is attached to yet another movie in development, at this point I've learned to not get my expectations too high. I'll save that for...
A movie based on Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama has also been forever stuck in Fincher development hell along with another graphic novel adaptation, Black Hole. So when news breaks that David Fincher is attached to yet another movie in development, at this point I've learned to not get my expectations too high. I'll save that for...
- 3/16/2010
- by Patrick Sauriol
- Corona's Coming Attractions
For a long time, Isaac Asimov’s The End Of Eternity has been considered one of the truly unfilmable classics of science-fiction (along with titles like Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination and Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous With Rama).The likes of Ridley Scott (with Tom Cruise attached) have tried to adapt the novel, a complex thriller about an organisation called Eternity whose agents travel through time manipulating human history and preventing major disasters, and failed. But that hasn’t stopped New Regency from becoming the latest company to have a bash. The film, if it happens, will be produced by Vince Gerardis, whose company, Created By, represents the Asimov estate. New Regency is taking the project to potential directors before a writer is brought on board. For more on the novel and its mind-bending plot involving manipulative overlords, a time-spanning romance and the sort of paradoxes that...
- 11/14/2008
- EmpireOnline
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