The account on classic and hit films. Details provided in our making of stories is direct from cast/crew or 3+ sources. Check out our podcast @ATRMPodcast 😁
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In 1991, Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho was published. An 80s-set satire about a serial killer, film studios were interested almost immediately. Within on year, producer Edward Pressman had bought the rights.
On the back of huge success with their hit sitcom Spaced, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg were looking to break into movies. After filming a Spaced episode called Art, where main character Tim imagines he’s in zombie video game Resident Evil 2, Wright had an idea for a feature…
The idea of a Star Trek prequel had been conceived by series creator Gene Roddenberry as far back as 1968. Nothing happened until the ‘80s when Star Trek writers Ralph Winter and Harve Bennett proposed an idea called Star Trek: The Academy Years. Rodenberry vetoed the idea.
Following the success of supernatural movies like Poltergeist and Ghostbusters, screenwriter Michael McDowell came up with a new idea: ‘what if we took the movie cliché of good people being haunted by bad ghosts, and flipped it?’ and developed it into a script, calling it Beetlejuice.
In the early 1960s, successful French author Pierre Boulle was working on his latest novel. A science fiction story set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future, it was called La Planète des singes, translated as Planet of the Apes.
After releasing his classic Dr Strangelove in 1964, Kubrick knew he wanted his next project to be a groundbreaking science fiction film. He got in touch with acclaimed sci fi author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke by letter, asking if he wanted to collaborate on a script.
In 1995, Nick Hornby finished his third book and first novel. Called High Fidelity, it was a reflection on life and romance through the eyes of London record store owner, Rob Fleming. Studios were interested immediately, and Touchstone Pictures optioned it for $500,000.
In 1995, Lana and Lily Wachowski had written Assassins. The producer of that film was Joel Silver, and the Wachowskis showed him their new screenplay called The Matrix. Silver loved the script, but not the Wachowskis’ insistence that they direct it themselves.
In 1967, struggling writer Mario Puzo started penning a new book – an epic crime thriller he called Mafia. Paramount literary scouts came across the manuscript when it was just a 20-page outline and took it to Paramount Vice President of Production, Peter Bart.
The idea of a filming revolving around the two DC icons at loggerheads was first discussed by Warner Bros in 2000. Andrew Kevin Walker then Akiva Goldsman wrote scripts, with Wolfgang Petersen mooted to direct. The project was cancelled by WB in 2004.
In 1996, aspiring 26-year-old filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his younger brother, Jonathan, went on a road trip across the US. Discussing ideas for projects, Christopher was struck by Jonathan’s idea about a man with anterograde amnesia hunting his wife’s killer.
The story began with Maria Von Trapp's memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers". Published in 1949 to promote her family's singing group, it told their story, fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria to America.
2/25 - E.T. 
After the success of The Wolverine in 2013, 20thCentury Fox were keen on a follow up and quickly approached director James Mangold, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, and star Hugh Jackman about returning.
Having appeared as Batman in the successful Batman vs Superman and Justice League, Ben Affleck was announced as the star, co-writer and director of a new standalone Batman film in 2016. Affleck and DC comics writer Geoff Johns wrote a script, called The Batman.
In 1986, the best-selling non-fiction book Zodiac was published. Written by Robert Graysmith – cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle – it told the story of the unsolved crimes of the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer at large in 1960s and 70s San Francisco.
In 1978, college pals-turned-comedians Christopher Guest and Michael McKean featured in a pilot for a sketch show called The TV Show. The pilot was unsuccessful but their sketch – about a parody rock band called Spinal Tap – was very well received.
In 1968, record company EMI formed a film division headed by producers Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley. Deeley purchased a spec script called "The Man Who Came to Play" for $19,000, about people who travel to Las Vegas to play Russian roulette.
One of Peele's inspirations for the film was a comedy bit by Eddie Murphy in his 1983 stand up film Delirious. Using The Amityville Horror as an example, Murphy joked that in horror movies, a haunted house is obvious, but the white family still move in.
Having had some success with Shallow Grave, producer Andrew MacDonald was looking for his next project. After reading Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting on a flight, he gave it to Shallow Grave director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge, convinced it would make a great film.
The concept originated from Andrew Bergman's 1971 treatment Tex X, purchased by Warner Bros. for $50,000. It was bought as a vehicle for blacklisted comedian Dick Gregory to lead, but plans soon changed.
