During his long career, American filmmaker Jonathan Demme worked on a number of projects that never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell, were officially cancelled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.

1970s Shivers

The Confidence Man In 1974, it was announced that Demme was going direct a screenplay he wrote for Roger Corman based on The Confidence-Man, a novel by Herman Melville set on a Mississippi riverboat in the 1850s.

King of Cannibal Islands In 1977, Demme planned to direct his own adaptation of Herman Melville's Typee, produced by his then-wife Evelyn Purcell. In 1987, it was reported that Demme would direct the film with the producing assistance of Jeremy Thomas. This version was to be titled King of Cannibal Islands.

Creator

In the late 1970s, Demme was enlisted by Hal Ashby to direct Jeremy Leven's Creator as a film production for his company Northstar International. In 1980, the film rights were sold to Lorimar, with Demme attached to make the film, budgeted as roughly $8–10 million. Production was set to begin in Cambridge and Boston in March or April 1981 and last sixteen weeks, with a planned December release. However, by 1984, Kings Road Productions and Universal Pictures were now producing the film, with Demme no longer attached.

American Splendor As early as 1979, underground comix writer Harvey Pekar was first contacted by Demme with an interest in developing/making a film on his life as depicted in the American Splendor series. However, Demme was unable to raise money at the time since he was not yet an established director. He wrote to Pekar, "A movie is one of the harder things in life to accomplish." Unsympathetically, Pekar responded, "I want a movie!" As journalist Louis Black also recalled, "Harvey [always] complained: 'Demme? Demme? He's talking about having some kid waiting in line at a grocery cashier wearing headphones but Demme wants him to be listening to loud punk music! Punk music! I don't know anything about it and I'm not interested. That's not my trip at all.'" It wasn't until 1999 that development began moving forward on an American Splendor film; which eventually saw release in 2003, and was written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.

1980s Night of the Living Feelies In 1980, after seeing the post-new wave band The Feelies, Demme concocted a premise for a concert documentary in which zombified residents of a small town "lumber into a Feelies concert looking for a midnight snack" and are rejuvenated by the "raucous restorative powers" of their music. He wanted to film it in black and white at the band's home base in Haledon, New Jersey and open with solemn, "Walker Evans-like" portraits of "vaguely zombie-ish young people". The film would be called Night of the Living Feelies, and was described by the Feelies co-founder Glenn Mercer as being a combination of The Last Waltz and Night of the Living Dead. Though it never got off the ground, Demme later cast members of the group in his 1986 film Something Wild, and his idea was later mentioned in a 1988 article published by Time magazine.

Love Hurts

After Melvin and Howard, Demme set his next film as Love Hurts, from a screenplay written by Ron Nyswaner that he wanted to star Nick Nolte, who he said "would have been great as the central character." Demme later described his failure to convince Nolte to read the script as one of his biggest regrets, as he was "passionately desirous" to make the film and unable to at the time with another star. Later however, in 1990, the script was produced under director Bud Yorkin, and starred Jeff Daniels in the lead.

Crimes of the Heart

In 1981, Demme was attached to direct the film adaptation of Beth Henley's play Crimes of the Heart, executive produced by Burt Sugarman. At that time, Diane Keaton was in talks to star, but it fell through last minute and was later realized five years later under director Bruce Beresford.

Birdy

In 1982, Demme was pursued by A&M Films to direct Birdy.

Man Trouble

In 1983, Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson were cast to star in the romantic comedy Man Trouble, with Demme at that time attached to direct. The film was eventually made in 1992, albeit with Ellen Barkin in place of Keaton and Bob Rafelson in place of Demme.

Rosebud County

According to Peter Bogdanovich, in the early-to-mid-1980s, Demme nearly directed a script written by Larry McMurtry called Rosebud County for his company Moon Pictures. "We tried to get Barbara Stanwyck, but she said she hated the script because it was nothing but cuss words," he said. The project was later realized for television as Montana, but without Demme or Bogdanovich's participation.

Stealing Home

In 1984, a two-year option on the screenplay for Stealing Home was acquired by Jaffe/Lansing Productions, with Demme involved to direct the project. By 1986, Warner Bros. acquired the property, with writers Steven Kampmann and Will Aldis set to co-direct.

Handcarved Coffins In April 1984, Demme spoke of his intention to make a film of Truman Capote's "Handcarved Coffins", a novella which he described as "a hard-edged mystery, a mystery with violence."

Untitled John Milius collaboration Also in April 1984, Demme revealed that he talked with John Milius about making a film from one of his scripts, "a semi-political fantasy thriller", about a futuristic account of a Green Beret action set within the United States.

Peggy Sue Got Married

In September 1984, Demme was in preproduction on Peggy Sue Got Married for TriStar Pictures. Cast to play the lead at that time was Debra Winger, who disagreed with Demme's approach to the material and advocated for Penny Marshall to replace him as director. When Francis Ford Coppola took the helm, the part was recast for Kathleen Turner.

Extreme Prejudice

Also in late 1984, Carolco Pictures acquired Extreme Prejudice, a modern day Western written by John Milius, and was negotiating with Demme to direct. Demme envisioned Robert Mitchum in the role of the aging lawman. In December that year, Demme told Daily Variety he hoped to complete a rewrite of the screenplay by March and begin filming in Texas in summer 1985, with Milius aboard as a producer. However, neither Demme nor Milius stayed with the project and Walter Hill was brought aboard to direct the film with Nick Nolte in the Mitchum part.

About Last Night

In the mid-1980s, Demme was attached to direct Nick Nolte and Bill Murray in About Last Night, however, a "disastrous meeting" between them caused both to turn down the film. Following their departure, the film faced extensive rewrites and was directed by Edward Zwick, with Rob Lowe and James Belushi in their roles.

The Big Mamoo

Famous All Over Town Just before the Daniel Lewis James' death in 1988, Demme optioned his coming-of-age story Famous All Over Town—about a Mexican-American teenager in East L.A.—and enlisted him to pen a screenplay based on it. Though Demme took a liking to James, he felt that he "wasn't getting it close enough" to what he wanted and took the liberty of rewriting it himself; much to the chagrin of James, who wanted to be the only writer. Following this disagreement, Demme later recalled that the project "just kind of fizzled out."

Continental Drift In 1988, author Russell Banks was hired by Demme to help develop a screenplay based on Continental Drift, Banks' novel about anomie and Haitian refugees in Florida. Demme intended to direct the film, but the adaptation never materialized.

Quick Change

1990s Fatal Voyage In August 1990, Fatal Voyage was announced to be in the works at Orion Pictures, with Demme directing. The project was a World War II drama about the USS Indianapolis, a Navy ship that carried supplies for the bombing of Nagasaki.

Parting the Waters In the early 1990s, Demme sought to adapt Parting the Waters as a feature film, produced by Edward Saxon and Harry Belafonte. Anna Hamilton Phelan wrote the adaptation of the book, which was about the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Rapid Pace of Battle In 1993, it was reported that Demme and Edward Saxon would team with producer Eric Pleskow to develop Rapid Pace of Battle, a war drama based on the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Hayles. The film was under consideration to be Demme's next film, pending a screenplay.

Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos In July 1995, Entertainment Weekly reported that Tom Hanks' production company Clavius Base was developing a script from Neal Jimenez, Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos, which was based on Dennis Overbye's 1991 book about cosmologists. Hanks was set to produce and star in the project, while Demme was in talks to direct.

The Stopwatch Gang After Philadelphia, Demme spent eighteen months developing The Stopwatch Gang, which he was set to direct and produce for TriStar in 1995. Adapted from Greg Weston's book by playwright Beth Henley, the project was to star Kenneth Branagh, Kate Winslet and Bono as the gang of real-life Canadian bank robbers. "It's a wonderful, hard-to-characterize movie, not exactly a comedy, not exactly a thriller," Demme said. "And it proved to be the kind of movie no one wanted to finance. We had Bono; we had Kate Winslet pre-Titanic. We had all the locations. And the studios wouldn't make it without a giant star."

His Promised Land In 1996, His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor of the Underground Railroad was optioned by Tri-Star Pictures as a film project for Demme to direct.

The Morbidity of the Soul

Untitled magic film In November 1998, Demme stated in an interview that filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson would be writing a script for him to direct that was "set in the world of magic, against a carnival backdrop". Actor/magician Ricky Jay was also said to be working on the project. In 2000, Anderson confirmed his involvement, revealing that it was conceived from "left over stuff from a thing [Demme and I] were talking about a long, long time ago". By that point, Anderson surmised that the film was unlikely to be made, though he hinted at a possible future collaboration with Demme.

K-PAX

After Beloved, Demme considered directing the sci-fi mystery K-PAX as his next film, as he was interested in working with Will Smith who was attached to star at that time. After Demme passed, Smith dropped out of the project and the resulting film starred Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In 1999, it was reported that Demme, Chris Columbus, Rob Reiner and Brad Silberling were each in the running to direct the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, after Steven Spielberg departed from the project. The job ultimately went to Columbus, who also directed its sequel.

2000s Eye in the Door In March 2000, Demme was developing a screenplay adaptation of The Eye in the Door, the second in a trilogy of World War I-set novels, adapted by Ol Parker. He was set to direct the film at USA Films.

Asylum

In July 2000, it was reported that an adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel Asylum was in development at Paramount, with Demme hoping to direct the film. Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson were attached to star as the leads. In 2001, Stephen King signed on to rewrite the script for Asylum. It was expected to be Demme's next film following The Truth About Charlie. Richardson went on to star in the 2005 film.

Insomnia

Intolerable Cruelty

In October 2000, Demme was in negotiations to direct the Coen brothers' screenplay Intolerable Cruelty at Universal and Imagine Entertainment. Demme courted Hugh Grant, Tea Leoni and Geoffrey Wright to play the leads, but later dropped out of the project, and the Coens took over directorial duties. The final film starred George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones instead of Grant and Leoni.

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