During his career, American film director Hal Ashby worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these productions fell into development hell or were cancelled, while others remain unrealized as of his death.

1950s Brave New World In his early days in the industry working as an assistant editor, Ashby discussed with his friend Tom Blackwell the possibilities of turning Aldous Huxley's Brave New World into a film. Ashby decided it wasn't viable, believing the material to be "way too far ahead of the Zeitgeist" at the time.

The Sound of Silence Around 1958, Ashby and Ian Bernard wrote a film script inspired by their activities with the antinuclear group SANE titled The Sound of Silence. Set twenty years after the dropping of the atomic bomb, the story follows a war correspondent obsessed with Hiroshima who begins a personal crusade to prevent further nuclear activity. Ashby and Bernard both thought of Robert Mitchum for the lead role, feeling he would be sympathetic with the film's views. Mitchum was supposedly interested, but nothing came of it.

1970s Owen Butler After shooting was completed on Harold and Maude, Ashby was setting up to direct a screenplay by Joseph Gillette titled Owen Butler, a satire in which the main protagonist systematically kills a number of high-profile figures and gets away with it. He already pitched the project to Robert Evans and interested Beau Bridges in the lead role, planning to get it made through a short-lived company he and Charles B. Mulvehill had just set up, Dumb Fuck Films.

Hair

In April 1972, Ashby was approached by producer Michael Butler to direct the film version of his stage musical Hair. After word got out that Ashby pulled out of directing North Dallas Forty, Butler told him that the offer to direct Hair was still on the table. By July 1974, a deal was set up to make the film at Paramount, with Colin Higgins and Michael D. Haller signed as screenwriter and production designer, respectively. While editing commenced on Shampoo, Ashby decided to go to England with Butler to work on ideas for Hair. However, Ashby eventually withdrew from the project due to ill health and, as Butler suspected, was "worried sick about the scope of the film project." The film was made in 1979 without his participation.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Simultaneously as Butler was trying to sign him to direct Hair, Ashby was in talks with Michael Douglas about adapting Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which Ashby would direct, Kesey would write, and Douglas would produce along with Saul Zaentz. After finishing shooting The Last Detail, Ashby returned to the project, and met up with Kesey in February 1973 to work on the script. Douglas and Zaentz wanted the film ready to shoot in July. Ashby began auditioning actors in New York that May, including Danny DeVito, James Woods, F. Murray Abraham, William Devane, Meat Loaf and John Belushi. Ashby wanted Jack Nicholson to play the lead character McMurphy, but both Douglas and Zaentz claimed he asked for too much money. When they continued to express dissatisfaction with Kesey's work, he and Ashby withdrew from the project. "I worked on that for a whole year or more and they wouldn't cast Jack Nicholson in the part," Ashby later said. "So I took a walk. That's the truth. They made up excuses." Ironically, Nicholson was later cast by Ashby's replacement, Miloš Forman, who also replaced him on Hair.

Three Cornered Circle

While Kesey was writing the screenplay for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ashby signed to direct MGM's Three Cornered Circle (alternately titled No Way Out), which was a modern take on James M. Cain's classic novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. Ashby saw potential in the script and immediately started pursuing Jack Nicholson to play the lead. Ashby shot screen tests with Andrew Davis of Nicholson and his then-girlfriend Michelle Phillips (who Ashby wanted to cast alongside him), but MGM balked at the choice. They wanted Raquel Welch to play the female lead and since they never came to agree, Nicholson and Ashby left the project and made The Last Detail together instead. Nicholson later brought the property to director Bob Rafelson in the early 1980s, and the film was produced as the only production under Ashby's NorthStar company banner.

Arigato During filming of The Last Detail, Peter Sellers, who wanted to work with Ashby, sent him a number of scripts including Arigato, based on Richard Condon's comic novel about a wine heist. Ashby enlisted Terry Southern to help with the script. Later, after One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest fell through, Ashby went to London to discuss Arigato with Sellers as well as Jerzy Kosinski's Being There, which the two would eventually realize in 1979.

North Dallas Forty

In March 1974, Ashby was announced as the director of Paramount Pictures' North Dallas Forty, with Jeremy Larner set to write, but he later pulled out of the deal. It was eventually directed by Ted Kotcheff, released in 1979.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

After shooting was completed on Shampoo, Ellen Burstyn contacted Ashby about directing her in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, from a script by Robert Getchell. Burstyn later told Ashby, "I was torn between you and Marty Scorsese, and finally decided on Marty because of a certain hard edge in Mean Streets that I thought would balance a certain softness in the Alice script."

Zebulon While previewing Shampoo, Ashby struck a development deal with United Artists to direct Rudy Wurlitzer's script Zebulon (alternately titled Beyond the Mountain), a Western about the myth of the American frontier originally written for Sam Peckinpah. Ashby also passed on Zebulon when it failed to fill UA with sufficient confidence. Later on, indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch expressed interest in the script, and spent time with Wurlitzer until it became clear that he wanted to take it in a different direction. They parted ways, and according to Wurlitzer, Jarmusch incorporated ideas of Zebulon into his film Dead Man.

The Great Brink's Robbery

After the release of Shampoo, Ashby was briefly linked to The Great Brink's Robbery (later named The Brink's Job), with Dustin Hoffman attached to star as gang leader Tony Pino. William Friedkin eventually directed the film, with Peter Falk in the Pino role.

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

For his next project, Ashby considered taking on I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, a novel about a suicidal teenage girl in a psychiatric hospital, or Bound for Glory. He chose to direct latter instead, fearing that with the release of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest it would seem as though he were trying to capitalize on its success with Rose Garden.

Henderson the Rain King During production of Bound for Glory, film editor Robert C. Jones gave Ashby a treatment he wrote. After Ashby read it, he employed Jones to help with rewrites on Bound for Glory and to adapt Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King, a property he had just acquired. Ashby had planned to have Jack Nicholson play Henderson, the middle-aged American who travels to Africa.

The Hawkline Monster In early 1976, Ashby announced plans to shoot The Hawkline Monster, a Gothic Western by the cult author Richard Brautigan, but not until the following summer, as he was not yet happy with Brautigan's script adaptation. He returned to the project after directing Coming Home, and rewrote Brautigan's draft by himself. In late 1982, Ashby was leaning toward doing the film with Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman and Clint Eastwood both considered to play the second lead, but the idea was put on hold. In 1988, at the same time he was preparing to direct Hand Carved Coffins and Vital Parts, Ashby was finally attempting to realize The Hawkline Monster, enlisting Rick Padilla to help him put together a step outline. He also lined up Nicholson and Harry Dean Stanton to play the two leads. Ultimately, he was forced to shelve these projects when he became terminally ill. Ashby had spent upwards of $100,000 of his own money just developing the film.

It wasn't until years later, in 2019, that the project reentered development in a deal that involved the estates of both Ashby and Brautigan.

No Beast So Fierce

In July 1976, Ashby was listed as the director of No Beast So Fierce (later called Straight Time), based on the semi-autobiographical novel by ex-con Edward Bunker. The project was brought to him by Dustin Hoffman, who had initially planned to direct as well as act, but changed his mind. However, Ashby had suffered heavy amounts of dust inhalation during production of Bound for Glory and was not able to accommodate the schedule due to his hospitalization. First Artists refused to delay the start date for his recovery and instead proceeded without him, hiring Ulu Grosbard in his place.

American Me

At the time of Coming Home'''s release, Ashby was considering directing American Me for Paramount as his next project, but by May 1978 he didn't feel the script was strong enough to proceed, so he passed on it. It was then announced that Floyd Mutrux was set to direct but the project was delayed until 1991, when Edward James Olmos boarded to produce and direct, as well as star.

Popeye

Ashby was also considering directing Popeye, with Dustin Hoffman at that time set to star. While Ashby wanted to work with Hoffman on a film, he allegedly withdrew from the project after a falling out the actor had with Jules Feiffer, who had been hired to write the screenplay. Robin Williams later took Hoffman's place, and the resulting film was released in 1980.

Journey to India In May 1978, Ashby signed a multi-picture contract with Lorimar Productions and Jack Schwartzman's JS Productions. In development under their deal was a then-untitled love triangle story Journey to India, written by Rudy Wurlitzer and two others written by Robert Downey and William Hjortsberg. Ashby would choose to direct Being There, Second-Hand Hearts and Lookin' to Get Out as his three films for the company instead.

Almost Together Also in development under Ashby's Lorimar deal was a script by Robert Downey Sr., Almost Together (alternately titled Victor Hiatus), which follows the plight of a man randomly selected to save the world who is more interested in getting laid. Downey later recalled that, at Ashby's request, Lorimar paid him to write the script, despite that he'd already written it.

Roadshow The third Lorimar project developed for Ashby, Roadshow (alternately titled Spangler), was a Western written by novelist William Hjortsberg, described as "a modern-day Robin Hood story." Ashby returned to it in 1986 after his deal to direct LaBrava fell through. However, a rights issue put the project into turnaround.

Grossing Out In 1979, after Being There, Ashby wanted to work with Peter Sellers again on a film written by Terry Southern called Grossing Out, about a toy designer who makes a pact with the Pentagon to produce weapons of mass destruction. After Sellers died, the film was scrapped.

1980s Hand Carved Coffins