Jonathan Demme's unrealized projects

The following is a list of unproduced Jonathan Demme projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American filmmaker Jonathan Demme worked on a number projects that never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell, were officially cancelled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.

In 1974, it was announced that Demme was going direct a screenplay he wrote for Roger Corman based on The Confidence-Man, a novel by Herman Melville set on a Mississippi riverboat in the 1850s.^[1][2]

In 1977, Demme planned to direct his own adaptation of Herman Melville's Typee, produced by his then-wife Evelyn Purcell.^[3] In 1987, it was reported that Demme would direct the film with the producing assistance of Jeremy Thomas.^[4]

In the late 1970s, Demme was enlisted by Hal Ashby to direct Jeremy Leven's Creator as a film production for his company Northstar International.^[5] In 1980, the film rights were sold to Lorimar, with Demme attached to make the film, budgeted as roughly $8–10 million. Production was set to begin in Cambridge and Boston in March or April 1981 and last sixteen weeks, with a planned December release. However, by 1984, Kings Road Productions and Universal Pictures were now producing the film, with Demme no longer attached.^[6]

In 1981, Demme was attached to direct the film adaptation of Beth Henley's play Crimes of the Heart, executive produced by Burt Sugarman. At that time, Diane Keaton was in talks to star,^[7] but it fell through last minute^[8] and was later realized five years later under director Bruce Beresford.

In 1982, Demme was pursued by A&M Films to direct Birdy.^[9]

In 1983, Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson were cast to star in the romantic comedy Man Trouble, with Demme at that time attached to direct. The film was eventually made in 1992, albeit with Ellen Barkin in place of Keaton and Bob Rafelson in place of Demme.^[10]

In 1984, a two-year option on the screenplay for Stealing Home was acquired by Jaffe/Lansing Productions, with Demme involved to direct the project. By 1986, Warner Bros. acquired the property, with writers Steven Kampmann and Will Aldis set to co-direct.^[11]

In April 1984, Demme spoke of his intention to make a film of Truman Capote's "Handcarved Coffins", a novella which he described as "a hard-edged mystery, a mystery with violence."^[12]

Also in April 1984, Demme revealed that he talked with John Milius about making a film from one of his scripts, "a semi-political fantasy thriller", about a futuristic account of a Green Beret action set within the United States.^[12]

In September 1984, Demme was in preproduction on Peggy Sue Got Married for TriStar Pictures. Cast to play the lead at that time was Debra Winger, who disagreed with Demme's approach to the material and advocated for Penny Marshall to replace him as director. When Francis Ford Coppola took the helm, the part was recast for Kathleen Turner.^[13]

Also in late 1984, Carolco Pictures acquired Extreme Prejudice, a modern day Western written by John Milius, and was negotiating with Demme to direct. Demme envisioned Robert Mitchum in the role of the aging lawman.^[14] In December that year, Demme told Daily Variety he hoped to complete a rewrite of the screenplay by March and begin filming in Texas in summer 1985, with Milius aboard as a producer. However, neither Demme nor Milius stayed with the project and Walter Hill was brought aboard to direct the film with Nick Nolte in the Mitchum part.^[15]

In the mid-1980s, Demme was attached to direct Nick Nolte and Bill Murray in About Last Night,^[16] however, a "disastrous meeting" between them caused both to turn down the film.^[17] Following their departure, the film faced extensive rewrites and was directed by Edward Zwick, with Rob Lowe and James Belushi in their roles.^[16]

In 1988, author Russell Banks was hired by Demme to help develop a screenplay based on Continental Drift, Banks' novel about anomie and Haitian refugees in Florida.^[18] Demme intended to direct the film, but the adaptation never materialized.^[19][20]

In the early 1990s, Demme sought to adapt Parting the Waters as a feature film, produced by Edward Saxon and Harry Belafonte.^[21] Anna Hamilton Phelan wrote the adaptation of the book, which was about the civil rights movement in the 1960s.^[22]

In 1993, it was reported that Demme and Edward Saxon would team with producer Eric Pleskow to develop Rapid Pace of Battle, a war drama based on the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Hayles. The film was under consideration to be Demme's next film, pending a screenplay.^[23]

In July 1995, Entertainment Weekly reported that Tom Hanks' production company Clavius Base was developing a script from Neal Jimenez, Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos, which was based on Dennis Overbye's 1991 book about cosmologists. Hanks was set to produce and star in the project, while Demme was in talks to direct.^[24]

After Philadelphia, Demme spent eighteen months developing The Stopwatch Gang, which he was set to direct and produce for TriStar in 1995.^[25] Adapted from Greg Weston's book by playwright Beth Henley,^[8] the project was to star Kenneth Branagh, Kate Winslet and Bono as the gang of real-life Canadian bank robbers.^[22] "It's a wonderful, hard-to-characterize movie, not exactly a comedy, not exactly a thriller," Demme said. "And it proved to be the kind of movie no one wanted to finance. We had Bono; we had Kate Winslet pre-Titanic. We had all the locations. And the studios wouldn't make it without a giant star."^[26]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2025)

^[27][28][29]

In November 1998, Demme stated in an interview that filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson would be writing a script for him to direct that was "set in the world of magic, against a carnival backdrop". Actor/magician Ricky Jay was also said to be working on the project.^[30] In 2000, Anderson confirmed his involvement, revealing that it was conceived from "left over stuff from a thing [Demme and I] were talking about a long, long time ago". By that point, Anderson surmised that the film was unlikely to be made, though he hinted at a possible future collaboration with Demme.^[31]

After Beloved, Demme considered directing the sci-fi mystery K-PAX as his next film, as he was interested in working with Will Smith who was attached to star at that time. After Demme passed, Smith dropped out of the project and the resulting film starred Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.^[32]

In 1999, it was reported that Demme, Chris Columbus, Rob Reiner and Brad Silberling were each in the running to direct the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, after Steven Spielberg departed from the project.^[33] The job ultimately went to Columbus, who also directed its sequel.

In March 2000, Demme was developing a screenplay adaptation of The Eye in the Door, the second in a trilogy of World War I-set novels, adapted by Ol Parker.^[34] He was set to direct the film at USA Films.^[35]

In July 2000, it was reported that an adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel Asylum was in development at Paramount, with Demme hoping to direct the film. Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson were attached to star as the leads.^[35] In 2001, Stephen King signed on to rewrite the script for Asylum. It was expected to be Demme's next film following The Truth About Charlie.^[36] Richardson went on to star in the 2005 film.

In October 2000, Demme was in negotiations to direct the Coen brothers' screenplay Intolerable Cruelty at Universal and Imagine Entertainment. Demme courted Hugh Grant, Tea Leoni and Geoffrey Wright to play the leads, but later dropped out of the project, and the Coens took over directorial duties. The final film starred George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones instead of Grant and Leoni.^[37]

Throughout the 2000s, Demme pondered a film version of Beth Henley's play Family Week, before directing an Off-Broadway revival of the show in 2010. "Over the years I have spoken to some actresses about it," said Demme "They read it, and they loved it, but it was just one of these things that hasn't happened."^[8]

In 2008, it was reported that Demme was replacing Martin Scorsese as director of the Bob Marley documentary, initially set to be released in 2010. Demme soon exited as well,^[38] and the film was made instead by Kevin MacDonald, in 2012.

In 2009, the film rights to Dave Eggers' book Zeitoun were acquired by Demme, who announced plans to direct a hand-animated adaptation. Daniel Pyne was to write the script, and Donald Harrison Jr. and Zafer Tawil were to compose the score.^[39] In 2012, Demme updated that the film was "in active development [...] It's been so challenging to find the money for an animated film about a Muslim American family set against the backdrop of hurricanes and floods. We've really kind of channeled our energy into the script for the time being. It's something that's going to happen."^[40] At this stage, artist Charlie Griak was hired to develop animated imagery based on the script.^[41]

In August 2010, Demme was set to direct the feature film adaptation of Bart Baker's novel Honeymoon with Harry, with Paul Haggis writing the screenplay, Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper in talks to star, producing the movie with Dave Bartis, Elloit Abbott, & Avram Ludwig.^[42] The following year, Demme left the film due to De Niro's non-committal to starring.^[43] In 2017, Nick Cassavetes signed on to direct the film.^[44]

In October 2010, it was reported that Demme had read the script for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and wanted to direct the film.^[45]

In 2012, it was reported that Demme was attached to direct the family dramedy Old Fires from a script by Heather McGowan about a world-renowned architect who comes out of a coma wanting to reconnect with his children and win back his wife's love. Production was set to begin in summer the following year.^[46][41] In 2013, it was revealed by Jennifer Ehle (who was cast to star in the film alongside Bryan Cranston and Jason Segel), that it had been postponed due to inability to secure financing.^[47]

According to David Edelstein, prior to his death, Demme wanted to make a film of the 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which later was produced as a 2017 HBO film with Oprah Winfrey.^[48]

• Jonathan Demme's unrealized projects at IMDb