Telling the story of Hollywood one movie at a time. Behind-the-scenes stories sourced direct from cast/crew or 3+ verified sources. Podcast + daily posts. 🎬
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In 1983, Universal planned for their next big movie to be an adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. They wanted Burt Reynolds as Bourne and Jack Clayton to direct. Reynolds schedule was so busy that the idea never got off the ground.
Warner Bros had been looking to reboot Batman since the flop of Batman & Robin in 1997. Daren Aronofsky was attached to direct and was interested in casting Clint Eastwood as an older Batman. WB rejected his pitch though.
In summer 1977, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were on holiday together in Hawaii. Spielberg was keen on directing a James Bond movie but Lucas said “I’ve got something better than Bond…” and told him about his idea for a whip-cracking, globe-trotting archaeologist…
In the mid-1980s there was a joke in Hollywood that after beating Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, Rocky Balboa would have to fight an alien next. In response, screenwriters Jim and John Thomas took wrote a screenplay about a killer alien coming to earth. They called it Hunter.
The biggest filmmaker in the world in 1981, Steven Spielberg wanted his next film to be a more personal story. He had an idea for a film – Growing Up. Inspired by his parents divorce, it was about the alienation Spielberg felt as a child.
Jurassic Park is based on a novel written by Michael Crichton. Crichton’s concept was deemed so strong by Hollywood that studios were bidding on the rights to the book before it was even published.
The previous big-screen entry in the series had been Superman Returns in 2006. There were plans for a sequel titled Man Of Steel and director Bryan Singer and star Brandon Routh wanted to return but, disappointed with box-office returns, Warner Bros cancelled plans.
A young screenwriter looking for inspiration, Graham Yost was recommended by his father to watch Runaway Train, a 1985 action flick starring Jon Voight about an out-of-control train. Yost loved it, but thought it would be better if the train had a bomb on board.
Gremlins was conceived by Chris Columbus when he was an NYU student as a script to show potential employers. He never thought it would be a film but it got into the hands of Steven Spielberg who said “it’s one of the most original things I’ve come across” and bought it.
SNL comic Dan Aykroyd was brought up in an environment where ghost and ghouls were part of his family - his great grandfather was a spiritual researcher and his dad wrote a book called A History of Ghosts. Aykroyd always wanted to put his experiences into a screenplay.
In 1991, New Zealand screenwriter Andrew Niccol wrote a script for an original film. Based on an idea of a reality TV show following the life of an unsuspecting person, it was a science fiction thriller in tone, and called The Malcolm Show.
The first Trek movie, The Motion Picture, had released in 1979 and been a commercial success. Executive Producer and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry set to work writing a sequel almost immediately.
In 1987, Anne Spielberg (sister of Hollywood legend, Steven) came up with an idea for a movie about a young boy in the body of a grown man. Developing the idea with co-writer Gary Ross in under an hour, the two wrote a screenplay, eventually calling it Big.
The Untouchables first existed as a book co-written by American Prohibition agent Eliot Ness in the 1950s. Paramount had adapted that book into a TV show in the 50s and 60s and, 20 years later, decided they wanted to develop it for the big screen.
In 1974, screenwriter Ronald Shusett came across a short story by science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick. Published in 1966, the story was called We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and revolved around implanted memories. Shusett loved it and snapped up the rights.
In 1983, aspiring American screenwriter Randall Wallace visited Edinburgh to learn about his own Scottish ancestry. Seeing a statue of William Wallace at Edinburgh Castle, he asked a tour guide who he was. The story he heard gave him an idea for a movie.
Following the huge success of the first film in 1986, Tom Cruise was first approached about a Top Gun sequel in 1990. He declined at the time. The first film had received some criticism for promoting warfare and Cruise said it would be “irresponsible” to make a sequel.
When Alejandro Jodorovsky’s ill-fated Dune project collapsed in 1976, effects supervisor Dan O’Bannon was left homeless. Living with his writing pal, Ronald Shusett, they came up with the idea for a science fiction/horror film. One which would change their lives forever.
George Lucas originally wanted his old pal Steven Spielberg to direct ROTJ. As Spielberg was a member of the DGA he had to decline as Lucas had dropped his DGA membership after disagreements over the credits on The Empire Strikes Back.
George Lucas' first film was THX-1138 in 1971. It was a box office bomb but did pique studios' interests. UA offered Lucas a two-film deal. The first was American Graffiti. The second was what Lucas called “a space opera that’s a bit like a western, a bit like James Bond.”
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had always intended to make a trilogy of Indiana Jones. Spielberg said he wanted to make a 3rd to fulfill his promise to Lucas and to atone for the criticism he received for the darker Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
