Spring Break
What if ... The Beatles starred in the 'The Lord of the Rings'?
Madeline Ward
Issue date: 10/22/08 Section: Focus
When it comes to movies, things rarely happen the way they are planned. "Development hell" is a reality of the industry for scriptwriters. Projects get sidelined, actors express interest then drop out, directors die in plane crashes and shooting goes over budget. In the movie world, anything that can go wrong will.
For whatever reason, many scripts, even half-shot films, end up on the cutting room floor. Many hundreds more that have the potential to be great never make it past the front desk. Every feature length film goes through far more changes than anyone realizes.
Sequels are the first to get cut, but what about films that were huge box office successes? Whatever happened to Roger Rabbit, for example?
The sequel, which made it as far as a script, was supposed to have taken the white rabbit to the front lines of World War Two to fight Nazis. Another bombshell revelation, along the lines of "Luke, I am your father," was originally planned: Bugs Bunny is Roger Rabbit's father. But apparently having Looney Tunes star carrot-muncher get frisky was too risky, so one of the studios pulled out.
Within the current capes-and-tights blockbuster trend, there are a few standout examples of bizarre projects that never got off the ground. James Cameron, who has done everything from "Titanic" to "Terminator," was slated to do "Spiderman" for Generation X in the 1990s. Though the script was pretty good, even with heavy cursing, sex and violence, it did feature some questionable dialogue, such as "Wouldn't they have kittens if they knew Spiderman wasn't even a man."
The original Superman reboot was supposed to star Brendan Frasier with a script from Kevin Smith. Another version would have had Superman fighting Batman for 90 minutes.
Before "Citizen Kane," there was to be Orson Welles' "Heart of Darkness." The film was supposed to be his breakout hit. All of the action sequences were supposed to be shot in a first-person viewpoint, and the ending was to have a literal bleeding screen in what would have been one of the most shocking deaths in cinematic history.
For whatever reason, many scripts, even half-shot films, end up on the cutting room floor. Many hundreds more that have the potential to be great never make it past the front desk. Every feature length film goes through far more changes than anyone realizes.
Sequels are the first to get cut, but what about films that were huge box office successes? Whatever happened to Roger Rabbit, for example?
The sequel, which made it as far as a script, was supposed to have taken the white rabbit to the front lines of World War Two to fight Nazis. Another bombshell revelation, along the lines of "Luke, I am your father," was originally planned: Bugs Bunny is Roger Rabbit's father. But apparently having Looney Tunes star carrot-muncher get frisky was too risky, so one of the studios pulled out.
Within the current capes-and-tights blockbuster trend, there are a few standout examples of bizarre projects that never got off the ground. James Cameron, who has done everything from "Titanic" to "Terminator," was slated to do "Spiderman" for Generation X in the 1990s. Though the script was pretty good, even with heavy cursing, sex and violence, it did feature some questionable dialogue, such as "Wouldn't they have kittens if they knew Spiderman wasn't even a man."
The original Superman reboot was supposed to star Brendan Frasier with a script from Kevin Smith. Another version would have had Superman fighting Batman for 90 minutes.
Before "Citizen Kane," there was to be Orson Welles' "Heart of Darkness." The film was supposed to be his breakout hit. All of the action sequences were supposed to be shot in a first-person viewpoint, and the ending was to have a literal bleeding screen in what would have been one of the most shocking deaths in cinematic history.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Sonny Crockett
posted 10/23/08 @ 10:51 AM EST
Lennon, it is remoured was to play Gandalf, not Gollum.
Sonny
Lord of the rings fan
posted 4/09/09 @ 12:24 PM EST
Wow! Your post impressed me! I have never heard about these facts. Thank you.
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