Over the course of his career, American film director and writerJohn Hughes had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage. Some of these productions fell intodevelopment hell or were canceled, while others he decidedly dropped himself.
In 1979,Matty Simmons hired Hughes andTod Carroll to write the script of thethirdJaws film as aNational Lampoon parody fromUniversal Pictures.[1][2][3][4] According to Simmons, the film was to starBo Derek andRichard Dreyfuss, and be directed byJoe Dante.[1][2]Rodger Bumpass was also to appear in the film.[5] However,Steven Spielberg, who directed thefirst film, managed to convince Universal not to make the film by threatening to never work with the studio again.[1][2][5] Nevertheless, Simmons credits the unmade film as to how Hughes began his career in the film industry.[1][2]
In 1982, Hughes scripted a comedy/romance reworking ofRomeo and Juliet forParamount Pictures set in a Chicago high school about a romance that happens in the division between two feuding groups, the Motorheads and the Sportos.[6] The idea later emerged in a speech byEdie McClurg inFerris Bueller's Day Off (1986).
In the early 1980s, Hughes andP. J. O'Rourke scripted an unproduced adaptation ofNational Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody which they titledThe History of Ohio from the Beginning of Time to the End of the Universe.[1][7] According to O'Rourke, "We never really got it to work and finally abandoned it. But it was fun to work together."[8]
The Joy of Sex: A Dirty Love Story was initially set to bePenny Marshall's directorial debut and Hughes' first produced script, which consisted of several unrelated vignettes. However, as a result of the death of starJohn Belushi in 1982, Hughes' script was not used for the final film. It would eventually see release in 1983, titledJoy of Sex, but without the involvement of Marshall either.[9]
In 1983, Hughes wrote a script titledDallas Debs, asatire onTexasdebutantes, which was due to enter production in spring 1984 throughAaron Spelling Productions, but nothing came of it.[10]
In June 1984, Hughes finished the first draft of an original screenplay titledFallen Angel. It is unclear whether Hughes had intended on directing the project as well.[11]
During the 1980s, Hughes wrote a script titledThe New Kid, and it was based on his experiences growing up.[1][12] According to Kirk Honeycutt, author ofJohn Hughes: A Life in Film, the story was "about a teenager's experiences in a new high school in Arizona."[13] When Hughes offeredHoward Deutch the choice to direct eitherThe New Kid orPretty in Pink (1986), Deutch chose to direct the latter film.[1]
Anthony Michael Hall claimed that during the making ofThe Breakfast Club (1985), Hughes had an idea for a film which he titledThe Last Good Year:
"At one point when we were doingThe Breakfast Club, John had an idea for a movie calledThe Last Good Year. It was something that he pitched to me as something he wanted to do with me, about the last good year being 1962, before theBeatles invasion. Maybe it was a sarcastic title. The idea was, I think, that the cultural shift was significant to him—the crossover in time fromPat Boone America toBeatles America. He didn't have too many of the story elements worked out, but, man, did he have a mix tape put together."[1][14]
Molly Ringwald claimed that after he finishedThe Breakfast Club (1985), Hughes had written a script based onThe Cure song, "The Love Cats."[1][14][15]
After he finishedPretty in Pink (1986), Hughes wrote the script of a film titledOil and Vinegar, which was to starMatthew Broderick andMolly Ringwald.[16] According toInquisitr, Broderick and Ringwald were to portray a couple who "spend a day in a motel room, swapping stories on life and love."[17] According to Broderick, "It was very intimate: it was just the two of them, basically, is my memory, often in a car. It was a very typical romantic comedy about two very different people who fell in love, but it was very inventive in its smallness."[18]
The film was to have been released byUniversal Pictures, but Hughes objected when the studio asked for rewrites.[18] Therefore, the creative differences between Hughes and Universal, along with Broderick and Ringwald's scheduling conflicts, are credited for why the film was never made.[18][19]
In 1990, it was reported that Hughes would directSylvester Stallone andJohn Candy in a comedy he had written titledBartholomew vs. Neff forCarolco Pictures.[20][21] The film was to have been about feuding neighbors.[22] Hughes had planned to direct the film right after he finishedCurly Sue (1991).[1][23] According to theLos Angeles Times, principal photography was scheduled to take place in the suburbs of Chicago during the summer of 1991.[20] The film was never made.[1][21]
In February 1991, it was reported that three new Hughes films weregreenlit for production by new20th Century Fox chairpersonJoe Roth;The Nanny,The Bugster andBall 'n' Chain, in addition to the already-shotDutch (1991).[24] Little is known about these proposed films other than that they were likely shelved after the underperformance ofDutch at the box office upon its release in July that year.
In November 1991, it was reported that Hughes would write, produce and directBlack Cat Bone: The Return of Huckleberry Finn for20th Century Fox.[25] It was to have been about thecharacter that was created byMark Twain but be set in modern times.[26] Principal photography for that film was scheduled to begin on March 16, 1992.[27] However, it was reported that Hughes was competing againstTriStar Pictures andWalt Disney Pictures, since both studios were also trying to make a Huckleberry Finn movie.[28] Disney eventually succeeded over Fox and TriStar following the completion ofThe Adventures of Huck Finn (1993).[29]
In September 1992, before the release ofDennis the Menace (1993), starWalter Matthau revealed that he was already signed to reprise his role as Mr. Wilson in a sequel.[30] In February 1993, Hughes toldVariety that he would return to write the sequel only on the condition of Matthau returning to play Wilson.[31] By 1996, it was reported thatDennis the Menace II was still being developed for Matthau, with the possibility of production starting afterGrumpiest Old Men.[32] A standalone sequel,Dennis the Menace Strikes Again was instead produced in 1998 but without the involvement of Hughes or Matthau.
Variety reported in October 1992 that Hughes and Warner Bros. were to do a remake of the 1957 filmThe Pajama Game.[33]
After four hand-drawn animated movies made byCinema Center Films andParamount Pictures, in November 1992, it was reported that Hughes would write and produce a live-action adaptation ofCharles M. Schulz'sPeanuts forWarner Bros.[34] Hughes reportedly visited Schulz at his home inSanta Clara, California to talk about adaptingPeanuts into a film.[35][36] According toVariety, Hughes planned to start writing the script on Christmas of 1992 and finish it by the spring of 1993, Hughes also verified that he would not direct the film.[35] It is believed that the critical failure ofDennis the Menace (1993), which Hughes wrote and produced for WB, is what prevented the movie from being made. ACGI film was finally released in 2015 byBlue Sky Studios and20th Century Fox Animation, now owned byDisney.
In 1993, Hughes reportedly wrote a script adapted from the musicalDamn Yankees, but it never came to fruition.[36]
Due to the commercial success ofHome Alone (1990), Hughes felt determined to makeThe Bee, a live action family comedy film that he wrote that required a $50 million budget.[36][37] According toDaniel Stern,The Bee is about "an architect who was trying to finish his project that day and a bee comes into the house and the guy gets distracted by the bee. And the entire movie is the bee forcing the guy to destroy his own house and take his life apart."[38] Author Kirk Honeycutt claimed thatThe Bee was inspired by Hughes "involvement in the development of Redwing Farms, where he worked to reforest the land and turn it into a proper English farm."[36] It is said that of Hughes script, only ten pages of it contained dialogue.[36][37][39]
The Bee was initially developed at 20th Century Fox, but by early 1993, Hughes sold the project to Warner Bros. after Fox passed on it.[36][37] Then in May 1994, WB put the project inturnaround.[37] By June that same year, it was officially announced that Hughes would write, produce and directThe Bee for Walt Disney Pictures with a budget of $25 million.[1][39]Simon Brew credits Hughes's 1994 departure from Hollywood, along with the critical and financial failure ofBaby's Day Out (1994), which he wrote and produced for Fox, as factors that led to the film's cancellation.[37]
In later reports, Daniel Stern claimed that he was going to direct the film.[38] According to Stern, Hughes visited him on the set ofHome Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), showed him the script ofThe Bee and asked him to direct it.[37] Stern further claimed that he worked on the script with Hughes.[37] It has also been reported thatSteve Martin was considered to star in the film.[36][37]
According to Hughes biographer Kirk Honeycutt, Hughes had originated the story for the 1994 comedyDumb and Dumber, and had even written an incomplete screenplay draft before eventually deciding to sell it to theFarrelly brothers and requesting the removal of his name.[40]
In 1995, it was announced that Hughes was set to write, produce and direct alive actionPeter Pan film as a joint venture betweenThe Walt Disney Company andTriStar Pictures.[41][42]
In 1996, Hughes had written a script titledTickets that followed a group of teenage strangers camped out all night in zero degree weather for tickets to their favorite band's farewell show. According toVulture, the script was never made into a film due to the release of the similarly themed filmDetroit Rock City (1999).[1]
In 1998, Hughes pitched a film version ofHow the Grinch Stole Christmas! to various studios before it was adapted into the2000 live-action film.[43]
Hughes was the initial director of the romantic comedyMaid in Manhattan (2002), a modern retelling ofCinderella then under the titleThe Chambermaid, withHilary Swank at that time set to star as the lead. However, by 2001, it was reported thatJennifer Lopez had replaced Swank and that Hughes would no longer be directing the film, opting to produce instead. He would later use a pseudonym on the final film as a result of excessive rewrites which changed his initial screenplay story.[44]
In 2002, Hughes had written a script titled TheGrigsbys Go Broke, which was about a wealthy family in Chicago who lose all of their money and are forced to move to the other side of the tracks.[1] It was later reported in 2010 thatParamount Pictures bought the rights to the script.[45] However, the studio officially confirmed that it was not negotiated to purchase the script.[46][47] In 2013, the project was back in development at Paramount, and it was revealed thatIce Age: The Meltdown screenwriter Jim Hecht would rewrite the script.[48] But, again, the film was left in development hell.
In 2005,Emilio Estevez was reported to have signed on to appear in a sequel toThe Breakfast Club (1985), with Hughes being involved as a writer:[1]
"John's got an idea for a sequel - mature aged students at college, all doing time again - for some reason or another. The twist would be that we're all the polar opposites of how we were in the original."[49]
There was an online rumor that at one point, Hughes was going to write and direct an adaptation of the1999 novel byStephen Chbosky. It was said thatShia LaBeouf,Kirsten Dunst andPatrick Fugit were set to play Charlie, Sam and Patrick respectively. The film was also said to have a dark comedic tone. However, Hughes never completed a screenplay before his death nor it was confirmed that he was at one point making it before his death. The novel however wasadapted and released in 2012 withLogan Lerman,Emma Watson andEzra Miller playing the roles of Charlie, Sam and Patrick. The film was written and directed by the novel's author Stephen Chbosky.[50]
John Hughes & National Lampoon's jaws 3,people 0.
