by David Lynch This doesn’t happen often. Lynch’s TV show was developed, the pilot was shot, and then dropped. (Not that unusual.) But then Lynch got funding to shoot some more scenes, re-edit the film, and release it theatrically. Not only did it work, it went on to win awards. The original TV pilot can…
Author: mike
King Kong
by Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson Jackson first developed this project back before doing The Lord of the Rings. This 1996 draft has a much different tone than the final 2005 film. Download screenplay
Kill Bill
by Quentin Tarantino Here’s an early draft, presumably the one that Harry Knowles loved so much.It contains scenes and characters that were dropped in the final version, and thus several chapter names are different. Note that it contains all ten chapters, as the movie wasn’t broken into two volumes until the post-production phase. Read comparisons…
I, Robot
by Harlan Ellison Ellison did a good job pulling Isaac Asimov’s stories into a cohesive script, but it was shelved anyway, never to be produced. Fortunately, fans can purchase the screenplay in book form, with many pretty pictures. You’ll have to go to the bookstore for this one. In the summer of 2004, director Alex…
Indiana Jones III
a.k.a. Indiana Jones IV a.k.a. Indiana Jones and the Monkey King a.k.a. Indiana Jones and the Garden of Life by Chris Columbus From what I can gather, this script was actually written by established screenwriter Chris Columbus. He wrote it unsolicited and presented it to the Lucas camp after the success of Temple of Doom….
Freddy vs. Jason
New Line commissioned tons of scripts for this project. They spun their wheels for several years, and then produced a movie that was good, clean, mediocre fun. Sure, I liked it, but I think that had more to do with director Ronny Yu than the quality of the writing. Briggs’ script is notable for its…
Dune
by Alexandro Jodorowsky In the mid 1970s, surrealist filmmaker Jodorowsky worked to put together his dream version of Dune – which would include many bizarre elements that author Frank Herbert understandably had problems with. He assembled a dream team of collaborators. French comic artist Moebius contributed some 3000 storyboards. British painter Christopher Foss and Swiss…
The Crow 3
I don’t know what the story is on “Resurrection,” but Zombie’s “2037” would have been interesting. He was really frustrated when they dropped him… and I was equally frustrated when The Crow Salvation turned out to be such a boring retread. Interestingly, I believe some elements from “2037” were later used in the fourth Crow…
Blade Runner
Writing this one was torture. Once Ridley Scott came in, he wanted everything tailored to his style. I love the final result, plotholes and all. For more about the history, see Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M. Sammon. Blade Runner (July 24, 1980) by Hampton Fancher Blade Runner (Feb 23, 1981)…
Batman 2
by Sam Hamm Here’s an early version of Batman Returns. Sam Hamm wrote the first Batman (and has taken a crack at many other comic book movies), so it made sense for him to do a draft of the sequel. The final screenplay was written by Daniel Waters. Download screenplay