Unfinished Films by Famous Directors
- Jem
- Joined: Sun May 01, 2005 11:03 pm
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Unfinished Films by Famous Directors
I was reading about Eisenstein's Que viva Mexico! last night, and it made me curious about any other unfinished films by famous directors. (unfinished or in planning stages before death)
Did anyone have any tales of other famous films that never came to be.
{Please delete this post if covered before}
Did anyone have any tales of other famous films that never came to be.
{Please delete this post if covered before}
- Dylan
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm
There are countless by Orson Welles, which are all described here.
Another that immediately comes to mind is Federico Fellini's "Journey of G. Mastorna," which Fellini himself believed may have been his greatest film, but during pre-production he fell ill (in part due to an uncontrollable feeling that something bad would happen to him during the production). Sick for many weeks, he closed it down indefinitely, and never returned. A documentary by Fellini himself was made about it (and can be found on disc two of the "8 1/2" DVD), and around a year before Fellini died, he produced a graphic novel of the screenplay (which I haven't been able to find, but I'd love to have it).
Another that immediately comes to mind is Federico Fellini's "Journey of G. Mastorna," which Fellini himself believed may have been his greatest film, but during pre-production he fell ill (in part due to an uncontrollable feeling that something bad would happen to him during the production). Sick for many weeks, he closed it down indefinitely, and never returned. A documentary by Fellini himself was made about it (and can be found on disc two of the "8 1/2" DVD), and around a year before Fellini died, he produced a graphic novel of the screenplay (which I haven't been able to find, but I'd love to have it).
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- Lino
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Von Stroheim's Queen Kelly was abandoned 1/3 of the way through filming. A partially-reconstructed version was released in the mid-80's.
David Lean was in pre-production on Nostromo at the time of his death.
Sergio Leone had secured financing for a film about the siege of Leningrad prior to his death.
RW Fassbinder was found dead with an unfinished screenplay about Rosa Luxembourg by his side. He was going to offer the lead to Jane Fonda.
The second part of Ralph Bakshi's version of Lord of the Rings was not completed due to the financial failure of the first part.
David Lean was in pre-production on Nostromo at the time of his death.
Sergio Leone had secured financing for a film about the siege of Leningrad prior to his death.
RW Fassbinder was found dead with an unfinished screenplay about Rosa Luxembourg by his side. He was going to offer the lead to Jane Fonda.
The second part of Ralph Bakshi's version of Lord of the Rings was not completed due to the financial failure of the first part.
- Steven H
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- Faux Hulot
- Jack Of All Tirades
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shumpy wrote:Was Jerry Lewis' The Day the Clown Cried ever completed? He's the only filmmaker on this list who could still wrap things up.
Spy Magazine article / Film Threat article and plot synopsis / Download the complete screenplay as a Word documentIn 1971, producer Nate Waschberger asked Jerry to direct and star in 'The Day the Clown Cried', based on Joan O’Brien’s book by the same name, about a German clown who was arrested by the Gestapo, interred in a concentration camp, and used to march Jewish children into the ovens.
Jerry lost close to 40 pounds to play the role. The shooting began in Stockholm, but Waschberger not only ran out of money to complete the film, but he failed to pay Joan O’Brien the money she was owed for the rights to the story. Jerry was forced to finish the picture with his own money.
The film has been tied up in litigation ever since, and all of the parties involved have never been able to reach an agreeable settlement. Jerry hopes to someday complete the film, which remains to this day, a significant expression of cinematic art, suspended in the abyss of international litigation.
- dx23
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Roger Ebert got David Gordon to explain why Dunces was put on hold in his bi-weekly answer man column.I think David Gordon Green filmed half (?) of an adaptation of A Confederacy of Dunces last year. Not sure about the casting of Will Ferrell as Ignatious, but Mos Def and Lily Tomlin were great choices. I think the Weinstein's cut funds, but I don't recall the reason.
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
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- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Andrzej Munk's Passenger, which I've never seen but would love to, is his acknowledged masterpiece, even though he died halfway through production. I believe the story has two layers - a contemporary story and flashbacks to Auschwitz - and the elegant solution was to use stills and voiceover to convey the modern part of the story. Thus there was no pretence of a completed work. More info here.
- Jem
- Joined: Sun May 01, 2005 11:03 pm
- Location: Potts Point
Yes, why not? Leone's intended 227-minute version of his masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in America" , was cut by ninety minutes for U.S release.Does this extend by definition to "butchered"?
I have read reports that the original director's cut (which may have been released briefly in Europe) is reputed to have been about 10 hours! More here.
- ben d banana
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I've been dying to see The Day The Clown Cried ever since that issue of Spy. This is exactly how I feel.
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- Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 5:33 am
Leone's cut debuted at Cannes in the cut that is 227 minutes. The extra hours you talk about do exist but do not have any dialog dubbed on them and never did. I think that the film was butchered only for American release and not elsewhere in the world. Leone's director's cut is still one of my favorite films of all films I have seen.Jem wrote:Yes, why not? Leone's intended 227-minute version of his masterpiece "Once Upon a Time in America" , was cut by ninety minutes for U.S release.Does this extend by definition to "butchered"?
I have read reports that the original director's cut (which may have been released briefly in Europe) is reputed to have been about 10 hours!
- Theodore R. Stockton
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- Cinephrenic
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- milk114
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does Kubrick's Artificial Intelligence (A.I) qualify under this heading? The only difference I remember from his pre-production stage and Spielberg's film is entering the pleasure city through female genitalia instead of lipstick-laden mouths. Maybe the Pinocchio references would have been excized if Kubrick had lived.
- Poncho Punch
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- Theodore R. Stockton
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On a re-release of 2001 vhs there was a gatefold that had a Kubrick interview in which he said that if he was alive in 2001 he would make a sequel. AI was to be a thematic sequel. In the interviews on the disc it is said that Kubrick thought it wo get into too many special effects and was in doubt of it so he turned the project over to Speilberg because he was impressed by Jurassic Park. Undoubtly, if Kubrick had made it there would not have been the obvious Pinochino refrencses or such a buisy set design.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
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That is very interesting - is there any connection to the 1986 Rosa Luxemburg that was directed by Margarethe Von Trotta and starred Barbara Sukowa?GulleyJimson wrote:RW Fassbinder was found dead with an unfinished screenplay about Rosa Luxembourg by his side. He was going to offer the lead to Jane Fonda.
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In a very general sense this was too be Hitch's(the director.... not Will Smith) new wave film. A kind of response to the more adventurous filmmaking that was coming out of Europe.Theodore R. Stockton wrote:Can someone elaborate on Kaleidoscope by Hitchcock I have never heard of this?
The footage amounts to little more than tests. Hitch seemed to be playing with light, using available light. I remember the camera being hand-held. The footage was rough.... more intimate, not the expected Hollywood gloss.
The content was rather generic. A woman... and maybe man.... in a dimly lite bedroom. I recall the woman being somewhat scantly clad.... I recall a shots of breasts... but this could be my memory fillling in. There was no sound and I took it that no sound was captured at the time. In any case it is clear in the footage that I saw no dialogue was taking place.
The footage to KALEIDOSCOPE is at the Academy Film Archive.
Last edited by Mysterypez on Wed May 18, 2005 3:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Cinephrenic
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