Project update
After a month of baby duty, it’s back to work. This seems the perfect time to take stock of all the projects I have out there, and figure out exactly what their status is.
★ ACTIVE ★
Prince of Persia
Jordan Mechner, who created the videogame, wrote the movie adaptation, which he and I are executive producing with Jerry Bruckheimer Films at Disney. The script is great. Next step is to get a director. That discussion is just beginning.
I get more comments and suggestions about this project than any other. So let me clarify what I know, and what I don’t know. First, the movie is much more like The Sands of Time than Warrior Within. Second, we have no idea who will star in it, nor where we will shoot it. Third, that’s all I know. Or at least, all I can say.
Ops
This is the Fox TV show that Jordan and I set up last year about two guys who work as private military contractors. For various reasons, we didn’t end up shooting the pilot during the usual production schedule. Instead, Jordan and I ended up writing an almost entirely new pilot script which we (and Fox) are a lot happier with. Now there’s talk about shooting the pilot outside of the normal schedule, which would be fine with us. Or it could go away completely. That’s show business.
The Eye
I did a few weeks’ of work on this thriller at Paramount, an American remake of the Pang brothers movie. I’m happy with the work I did, but it’s not my movie in any creative-ownership sense.
Father Knows Less
I rewrote this comedy, set to star Dustin Hoffman as a second-time dad, for New Line. Director Shawn Levy left the project, so I suspect they’re looking for a replacement. (Actually, I know they are, because I’ve talked to two friends who were sent it.)
Untitled Broadway Musical
I’m writing the book for a Broadway musical currently in very, very early stages of development. It’s been interesting adapting to the challenges of storytelling on the stage. No, I can’t say what the project is, or whether it will ever happen. Based on the very busy schedules of everyone involved, it could take years.
How to Eat Fried Worms
This project, an adaptation of Thomas Rockwell’s book, was the very first script I was ever hired to write, way back in 1995. Originally, the project was set up at Imagine, then it migrated to Nickelodeon. I assumed the project was dead and gone, when suddenly I read that it was filming in Austin.
Bob Dolman, who was brought in to rewrite the script after me, is directing. Producer Mark Johnson called to tell me filming was going well. I haven’t read the shooting script — or any script at all — so I don’t know how much resemblance it bears to the movie I wrote so many years ago.
★ FINISHED ★
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The movie is now out in almost every market, and looks to be closing in on $200 million domestic box office. I’ve seen the special features for the DVD, which are quite cool, although I don’t know the exact release date for the disc. But something tells me it would be a great stocking stuffer. Hint.
When I did Q&A’s for the film, many people asked if we were going to make a sequel, such as Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. As far as I know, no. That was never in the plans. Tim and I have never talked about it.
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
The film is now finished, and ready for its debut at the Toronto Film Festival. I’m really happy with how the film turned out. I didn’t originate the project — I came on board after they had started filming — but I enjoyed working with the team to figure out how to get it in its best shape. In addition to shared screenwriting credit (along with Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler), I share lyric credit on several of the songs.
Charlie’s Angels
I keep getting questions about whether there will be a third one. I doubt it. I love the characters, and I love the people involved, but we’re all off doing other things now. I don’t foresee getting back together to make another one.
★ LIMBO ★
Tarzan
My modern-day, pan-African adaptation of Tarzan is in a (permanent?) holding pattern at Warner Bros. Last year, we started to go out to directors, but now it’s not clear what the next step is. There’s disagreement about many things, including my basic take on the entire movie.
It’s frustrating, because Tarzan is one of the best things I’ve ever written. It’s certainly one of the most difficult. You have a hero who grows from an infant to a man, and doesn’t learn how to speak until page 40. A lot of it plays like a silent movie, yet it has big Joseph Campbell-y hero themes that I generally avoid, but which work great for a film like this.
I really wanted this to be a trilogy. Now, I’d settle for a mono-gy.
Untitled Zombie Western
Largely due to readers’ terrific suggestions for a new title, I’m seriously considering dusting off this long-buried spec. Not that I think anybody’s itching to make a zombie movie after the disappointing returns for Land of the Dead. But I’ll at least add it to the Downloads section once I get it cleaned up.
Fury
There’s been some discussion about turning this unsold spec — the most violent thing I’ve ever written — into a graphic novel or a videogame. Both ideas make sense; the story is sort of a cross between Grand Theft Auto and The Terminator. But there are other projects that require my immediate attention, so I may just let this back-burner for a while.
★ QUESTION MARKS ★
Alice
This adaptation of American McGee’s videogame was looking pretty dead, when it suddenly sprang back to life with the announcement that Marcus Nispel would be directing, with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role. The Hollywood Reporter article lists Erich and Jon Hoeber as the screenwriters.
Back in 2000, the project was set up at Dimension, with Wes Craven attached to direct. I wrote a long treatment — not a full script, as the Hollywood Reporter article states — and left the project under less-than-felicitous circumstances. But I’ve kept up with American McGee, who’s a friggin’ rock star.
I have no idea whether the movie will incorporate any of the material from my treatment, or if the current incarnation even has the applicable rights. If you’re interested in tracking the progress on the project, American’s site is your best bet.
Barbarella
Oh, sweet Barbarella. This adaptation of the French comic book series about a sexually-liberated space explorer was set to star Drew Barrymore, but a tangle of rights issues got in the way. It was tremendous fun to write. Of all my unproduced projects, it’s probably my favorite.
There were rumors recently that Lindsay Lohan was going to play the part. I think that was just fanboy fantasy. Although, honestly, last-year’s Lindsay (the nice girl who was in Mean Girls) would have been great.
My agent got a call a few months ago from a producer who claimed to have the rights to Barbarella. I doubt he had all the right he thought he had, and he certainly didn’t have the right to my script, which is co-owned by Fox and Warner Bros. So I don’t see this getting made any time soon. (Although I would have said the same about How to Eat Fried Worms.)
★ PRESUMABLY DEAD ★
Thief of Always
An adaption of Clive Barker’s novel. The first project I was ever fired off of.
Untitled John August Thriller
This Sony project was intended to be a big summer event movie, but a competing project suddenly roared to life. I never ended up writing the script. In many ways, that’s good, because I don’t think our movie would have gotten made anyway.
Demonology
This Paramount thriller is about two prep school girls who have to save Manhattan from the Apocalypse. Sort of a cross between Clueless and Aliens, which is why it will never get made.
Fantasy Island
A big-budget feature adaptation of the classic TV show. My version was a lot like Lost, except that Lost is a lot better than my movie would have been.
Fenwick’s Suit
Based on the book by David Small, a family comedy about a guy whose suit develops a life of its own. The studio gave up on it, but I think it could have worked.
Bad Hospital
An HBO dramedy about a terrible hospital. Not haunted, not evil, just really crappy. It was created by Julie Siege; I was executive-producing. Ultimately, we never made it out of development, but Julie landed a spot on Invasion.
Articles
August 22nd, 2005 at 4:06 pm
How does one tell the difference between “limbo” and “presumably dead?” One would think the line is rather gray…?
August 22nd, 2005 at 4:35 pm
shades of gray….
August 22nd, 2005 at 6:17 pm
Funny thing about the zombie western…someone else is doing it too. Check out .
Eddie
August 22nd, 2005 at 6:20 pm
woops…didn’t get the link right in the previous comment. It should have read Check out Devils Due.
Eddie
August 22nd, 2005 at 6:28 pm
There was also The Wretched that Chow Yun Fat was supposed to star in, as I think I mentioned in my comments on that last post.
John — I assume you know this already, but in case you don’t, Fried Worms is being made by Walden Media, one of the main companies I read for. A great book, and I trust you did a great job of adapting it. If you’re curious, I could ask how similar to your version it is.
Also, I was wondering if you might be able to give us some time frame on all these different projects, in terms of when they were started, etc. I find this really amazing to see how many different projects that you’ve worked on are still up in the air. That’s H’wood, eh?
August 22nd, 2005 at 11:22 pm
“How to Eat Fried Wormsâ€?, and how you didn’t know about it. I was a little confused and had to find out if you were connected to the film. You have said a couple times that you wrote it in the mid-nineteen’s. Are you connected or get any credit for How to Eat Fried Worms, or have they gone in a totally different direction with another adaptation?
August 23rd, 2005 at 3:14 am
Incidentally the original Tarzan movies were Joseph Stalins personal favorites. He had them screened again and again…afterwards he would make the highest ranking party members (all male ofcourse) dance with eachother to the sounds of howling dogs….into the wee hours of the morning.
August 23rd, 2005 at 11:48 am
ja
you’re working on the eye remake? how’s that going? would like to see that
August 23rd, 2005 at 3:17 pm
Demonology – “sort of a cross between Clueless and Aliens” sounds, to me, like the reason it SHOULD be made.
August 23rd, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Hi John,
My first post for your site, but I’ve been reading it for a while and trying to catch up. Amazing amount of projects, and I would say diversity as well. I bet “Fury” is one hell of a good read.
Anyway, thanks for all the great insight.
Mark Mark’s Screenwriting Page
August 24th, 2005 at 5:41 am
are you finding the wonderful world of tv writing just as satisfactory as movies?
August 24th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
Tarzan should definitely be a trilogy based on the first two books. It’s a movie that should be made but for some reason never has been. Greystoke came the closest, but I don’t know what they were thinking when they decided to abandon the books and go to England. Also, it should be done Period. Modern Tarzan just doesn’t work. Same reason why Peter Jackson is doing Kong set in 1933.
John, thanks for the updates on all your projects. Very cool reading. I wish other folks would do this, too.
August 24th, 2005 at 4:46 pm
I’m amazed by the breadth of genres here. How is it that you’ve avoided being branded (or marketing yourself) as a specialist in a particular genre? Is it because GO was an amalgam of different genres?
August 24th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Ben –
I think the reason I get hired for a variety of genres is that I’ve very active about seeking out different kinds of projects. I didn’t want to be known as “the guy who does (fill in the blank)”. It took me longer to get traction because of that, however. I could have knocked off a few teen movies right after Go, for example, but I was in it for the long haul.
August 25th, 2005 at 5:57 pm
Demonology sounds tonally a bit like Buffy… which is an awesome reason for it TO get made… I’ll cross my fingers.
August 30th, 2005 at 8:09 pm
Demonology: As a theatrical release, probably not. As a DVD or Interent release, more likely.
But, go small budget and minimize the special effects. Don’t emphasize them, have them blend into the film. Much like the scenics in old films. A kindly old man with disturbing habits can be more frightening than a huge demon with a spiky schlong.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:18 am
It’s a bizarre irony that Tarzan of the Apes has been one of the most frequent cinema subjects in history, yet no one has ever filmed the story that ERB actually wrote. I’d bet that most people who consider themselves familiar with Tarzan have no idea what the books are about and how much better they are than the films. The original material is certainly more engaging and a lot more gruesome, e.g., Tarzan’s “yell” was really an inhuman, bloodcurdling shriek — not a yodel. Sticking close to the source material has certainly paid off for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Batman Begins.” If your script is as faithful an adaptation as it sounds, the resulting film/s will open a lot of eyes, fill a lot of seats, and sell a lot of DVDs. And it will tell a story that’s inspired a hundred years of moviemaking — finally. Please don’t give up. I would obviously love to see this film get made, and I know I’m not alone.
November 3rd, 2005 at 11:58 am
[...] Here’s an update on my previous post, about my current projects. [...]