Best unproduced scripts… from 1992
Before there was the Black List, there was Stephen Rebello who would occasionally write an article on the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood. I remember seeing one such piece when I first broke into the business. And sure enough, a Google search surfaced this article from 1987. Evidently Rebello had done a similar list as far back as 1983.
Then in 1992, Rebello wrote this article in Movieline.
Two members of a very successful screenwriting team like to tell the story of how one of their scripts got such raves from a studio boss that they thought a surefire deal was in the making. When a good amount of time had passed without a bid on the script, the writers rang up their number one fan and were told, “Your screenplay’s too good. Put it in the drawer. We’ll only fuck it up.” Ain’t that the truth.
Twice before, in 1983 and 1987, I went digging for scripts that were just too good to get produced. My finds were unveiled in a now-extinct film magazine. Ten of those 20 screenplays have since been turned into such movies as Total Recall, Man Trouble, Jacob’s Ladder, The Princess Bride, Eight Men Out, At Close Range, Jacknife, Miracle Mile, Love Hurts and Everybody’s All-American. Another, Alive, arrives in theaters this month. It’s astounding, really, that any of these scripts got produced — they were that smart and off-center — let alone that a couple of the resulting movies earned profits and critical acclaim.
His 10 best unproduced screenplays dating back to 1992:
CORTÉS, written by Nick Kazan: “A searing portrait of the 16th-century conquistador who vanquished Eden-like Mexico and its exotic inhabitants.”
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, written by Robin Swicord: “Swicord’s script revolves around a character who ages backwards. It’s a moving, decade-spanning saga about being different, a freak, and being caught up in the cataclysm of the 20th century.”
EDWARD FORD, written by Lem Dobbs: “A pissed off, freaky, dead-on Hollywood satire that reads like a mating of Nathanael West and the Eraserhead-era David Lynch, Edward Ford makes The Player seem euphorically uncynical by comparison.
HAIR OF THE DOG, written by Steve Dejarnatt: “A quirky, raunchy, richly populated tale of a pill-popping, womanizing, hell-raising, failed Nashville crooner who fabricates a hoax about his imminent death and turns himself into an instant legend.”
HELLO, STRANGER, written by Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright: “It’s a smart, corkscrew-plotted farce that boasts zingy dialogue, hip romanticism, frenzied plotting and, oddly enough, an unexpected emotional kick. Here’s the setup: a cynical, ‘40s-style con man and a sexy, shrewd sharpie posing as his daughter scour the land for sucker sapiens.”
HYMN TIME IN THE LAND OF ABANDON, written by Jeffrey Bell: “A lonely Indiana kid’s life is altered forever when she discovers a battered old angel who can’t speak and lives on Twinkies. So is the life of her single mom, who’s addicted to Italian language study tapes and abusive men. The mom’s brooding, live-in boyfriend, a science teacher, goes ballistic when he’s faced with the same magical angel, and when he suspects his woman is falling in love with the angel’s mysterious protector, he terrorizes the mother and child.”
IT ONLY RAINS AT NIGHT, written by Neal Jiminez: “It’s about a lonely, bland bachelor who by day beheads society’s “enemies,” and by night practices gourmet cooking while listening to old Jack Benny radio shows. The crisis in this offbeat world occurs when he falls in love with the severed head (it can talk, too!) of one of his victims.”
LENYA, written by Becky Johnston: “Chronicles the tumultuous relationship of theatrical legends Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill, and sets the stage for a big, fat, Cabaret-style romantic drama with music. Remember those lighthearted movie songfests of yesteryear in which characters sang and danced for the joy of it? This isn’t one of those.”
MARIO AND THE MAGICIAN, written by Abraham Polonsky: “The screenplay adaptation was written by the estimable Abraham Polonsky over 40 years ago. Set in 1929 at an Italian seaside resort, the story’s events unfold like those in a foreign movie directed by, say, Luchino Visconti in his glory days. The characters include a well-to-do, badly married, Mann-like writer, his beautiful wife, their daughter (who, bullied by local hooligans, strips off her mud-flecked bathing suit in public and nearly incites a scandal) and a handsome waiter — named Mario — who loves the writer’s wife from afar. While these characters fill their lives with trivia that passes for substance, Fascist Black Shirts hover in the background, ready to prey on their complacency. The story strands are woven together during a performance by a mesmerizing, deformed magician who enthralls and taunts his audience, finally provoking his own murder.”
THE REVOLUTION, written by Michael Wadleigh and John Binder: “In this world, people also screw, cuss, spit fire, scheme, brutalize and, finally, triumph. The fact that all the characters are historical personalities — George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and General Charles Lee among them — makes “The Revolution,” a pulse-racer about America’s winning of freedom from England, all the more enthralling.”
And there’s this:
STILL UP FOR GRABS
Of the author’s 1983 and 1987 choices for the 10 best unproduced screenplays, the still-unfilmed include:
Harrow Alley, Walter Newman’s plague-years journal, an on-again, off-again project for years, long owned by George C. Scott.
Bad Manners, Steven Zaillian’s ’60s teenage comedy-drama, owned by producer Ray Stark.
Interface, Chip Proser’s science-fiction tale, once fancied by Francis Coppola.
Natural Acts, Michael Kozoll’s thirtysomething relationship study.
The Eagle of Broadway, a melange of fact and fiction that has long been a pet of producer Mark Johnson and director Barry Levinson.
The Tourist, Clair Noto and Patricia Knop’s altogether original, alienated-space-aliens black comedy, now in development at Universal.
Kinfolk, Stu Krieger’s family comedy-drama favored by producers Midge Sanford and Sarah Pillsbury, to which director Penny Marshall was once attached.
Ain’t That America, a drama about disenfranchised mill-workers by Frank Pierson, owned by Warner Bros.
Ozone, Rob Dunn’s raucous ’60s girl-group romp, owned by Warner Bros.
Lots of gaps in this type of thing. Of course, these are recommendations made by one person with his own particular world view. Fortunately the Black List came along to formalize an approach that gives us a much wider, better and more influential list of unproduced scripts.
By the way, Rebello is back in the news. He is a co-screenwriter on the upcoming project Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of ‘Psycho’ which just last week made headlines as Scarlett Johansson was cast to star as Janet Leigh in the movie.
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