This remake went through a few directors as well as writers. James Cameron was attached, then Oliver Stone, and finally Tim Burton. Cameron gives his thoughts on the film in an Ain’t it Cool interview here. Read about Oliver Stone’s involvement at CHUD.com Read Mike White’s reviews of the Hayes and Hamm scripts in issue…
Category: Early Versions
Pandemonium Reigns/Pulp Fiction
by Roger Avary When Quentin Tarantino needed a middle section for Pulp Fiction, he asked friend Roger Avary if he could adapt a portion of the Pandemonium Reigns script. This became the Gold Watch segment in the final film. Avary.com used to have the script and an essay on how it evolved, but it appears…
A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: The Dream Lover
by Peter Jackson Back before Peter Jackson was a hugely successful director, New Line invited him to take a crack at the Freddy franchise. (Jackson was actually sleeping on Mark Ordesky’s couch for a time.) I’ve found references to the script, and it can be seen in a behind-the-scenes doc on the Infinifilm DVD release…
Natural Born Killers
by Quentin Tarantino Oliver Stone turned this one inside out. To this day, Tarantino hasn’t been able to watch the movie all the way through. Me, I like the final product, but I can see how heart-wrenching it could be for the writer. Download screenplay
Mulholland Drive (TV Pilot)
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…
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…