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Alternate Movie History

post #1 of 89
1/29/12 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 

I'm a big alternate history fan, but it seems that, save a few stories here and there, there's not a lot that's been written about alternate pop culture history. (The most memorable piece I can think of is David Thomson's "Dean at 50," which has the aging star getting seduced by the Kennedy mythos and taking the rap for Chappaquidick.) One of the reasons I liked Jeff Greenfield's recent book THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED -- about alternate scenarios involving both Kennedy brothers and Gerald Ford -- was how it addressed the pop culture ramifications of one event or the next. For example, Greenfield has the late 1960 attempt on Kennedy succeeding, which means that the James Bond novels don't take off without the President's endorsement. 

 

The other alternate history that sticks with me from Greenfield's book is about Robert Altman and MASH. Greenfield posits that, via Robert Kennedy avoiding assassination in 1968 and being elected President, RFK ends the Vietnam War before 1970, meaning the public is tired of revisiting it, leading to MASH flopping at the box office -- and the TV series being scrapped before it even gets on the air. The question I keep returning to is what happens to Altman afterwards? Does he keep trying to get movies made, or is MASH it for the forty-five year old? I tend to lean towards the latter, but I can't see Altman giving up. My "alternate history" has him returning to TV, where he had already  directed episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Combat that tried to do something new with the form -- and by the late seventies, TV was going through its own creative renissance. I like to think that by hooking up with the right people -- maybe Grant Tinker or James L. Brooks, possibly Bruce Paltrow -- he would have helped kick off the second "golden age of television" early, which could lead to cable getting into the game of competing with the networks earlier, too. (Of course, you'd have to come up with a plausible reason for cable to get into homes earlier, too.)

 

Anyway, I guess this is similar to that "Movie God" game that Drew McWeeney plays, but I thought it might be fun to try something here. So I propose a game.

 

Rules:

 

1. First person proposes a question, a "what if" from movie history. It can be, for example, a flop succeeding at the box office, an actor taking a role (or perhaps more than one), a director passing -- or not passing -- on a film.

 

2. It has to be drawn directly from movie history, meaning you can't do something like our 'What if Good Directors Did Bad Movies?' thread. 

 

3. Get creative -- just don't post a couple of lines. Take the time to think it out. It's not a race, but, once the question is answered, that poster asks the next question.

 

I'll start with an easy one.

 

Variety, 1994 - Academy-Award winner nominee Leonardo DiCaprio has chosen his next project. The twenty-two year old thesp will star in "Boogie Nights," writer-director P.T. Anderson's sophomore film, about the porn industry in the seventies. DiCaprio will play Dirk Diggler, a dishwasher who becomes a very big star. The "Gilbert Grape" star was also considering James Cameron's epic Titanic film, currently in pre-production at Fox...

 

 

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post #2 of 89
1/29/12 at 5:35pm

Since you brought up "Dean at 50" I have an excuse to post this brilliant little piece of "alternate history":

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post #3 of 89
1/29/12 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 

Even though that's a commercial for an investment firm, those effects were surprisingly well-done. I like the suggestion that had Dean lived, he would have beaten Paul Newman out for roles AND on the racetrack, similar to the ongoing 'theory' that Johnny Depp and River Phoenix would have continued to compete for roles through the 80s and 90s, with Phoenix being the quirky art chick crush of choice as opposed to Depp.

 

Here's another one I really like, albeit a bit silly, which David Ansen wrote for the 40th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death: 

 

 

 

Quote:

In some alternate universe, Marilyn Monroe, who did not die 40 years ago this week, remains a contemporary and relevant -- if reclusive -- figure. Saved by an "It's a Wonderful Life" intervention as she sat staring at the pill bottle (Bobby Kennedy was her Clarence), she went on Prozac and swore off men. In 1965, she won the Oscar for best supporting actress, playing Gertrude in Roman Polanski's still-edgy "Hamlet," with James Dean as the Prince, Humphrey Bogart as Claudius and Sal Mineo as Ophelius; in her acceptance speech, she announced her retirement.


Now 76, she continues to run her home for abused children, and the only photographs of herself she permits are snapshots with Norma's Kids.

 

Gimme dat Hamlet plz.

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post #4 of 89
1/29/12 at 8:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonard View Post

 

Variety, 1994 - Academy-Award winner nominee Leonardo DiCaprio has chosen his next project. The twenty-two year old thesp will star in "Boogie Nights," writer-director P.T. Anderson's sophomore film, about the porn industry in the seventies. DiCaprio will play Dirk Diggler, a dishwasher who becomes a very big star. The "Gilbert Grape" star was also considering James Cameron's epic Titanic film, currently in pre-production at Fox...

 

 


1.  DiCaprio assesses the insane shooting schedule and, after talking to various veteran crew members from previous Cameron films, opts out of TITANIC.

 

2.  DiCaprio goes through with BOOGIE NIGHTS.  

 

3.  Mark Wahlberg never gets the "legit film" break and is stuck doing B-movie action films like SHOOTER and CONTRABAND for his entire career.

 

4.  DiCaprio gets on swimmingly with P.T. Anderson and agrees to play Frank T.J. Mackey in MAGNOLIA.  

 

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post #5 of 89
1/29/12 at 8:57pm

My wife gets cast in Heavenly Creatures instead of Winslet (she did actually audition).


She then goes on to have massive success, but still meets me and inexplicably falls in love and marries me.

 

I never have to work again.

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post #6 of 89
1/29/12 at 9:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bain View Post

My wife gets cast in Heavenly Creatures instead of Winslet (she did actually audition).


She then goes on to have massive success, but still meets me and inexplicably falls in love and marries me.

 

I never have to work again.



Mine would have been more like-

 

My wife gets cast in Heavenly Creatures instead of Winslet (she actually did audition).

 

She then goes on to massive success, and I marry Kate.

 

I never mind going to work again- because I get to come home to that.

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post #7 of 89
1/29/12 at 9:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post



Mine would have been more like-

 

My wife gets cast in Heavenly Creatures instead of Winslet (she actually did audition).

 

She then goes on to massive success, and I marry Kate.

 

I never mind going to work again- because I get to come home to that.


:)  

 

I genuinely prefer my missus to Winslet though.  In fact there's not many women I'd put over my missus, so yeah, I guess work isn't that bad!

 

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post #8 of 89
1/29/12 at 9:50pm

Jesse Aaron Presly, Elvis's stillborn twin, lives. The Elvis Bros. are a farm-circuit attraction playing barn dances and revivals. Col. Tom Parker, sees Jesse as the more charismatic, talented of the two and breaks up the act. Elvis becomes a moody teen, reading poetry and eventually hithchiking to New York City and exploring the coffeehouse folk scene, while his brother ascends to stardom. Elvis meets rambling Jack Eliot and Woody Guthrie while his brother is making terrible, popular movies. Elvis becomes a hero for the youth counter-culture, appearing at Woodstock, the Montery Pop Festival and the Isle of Wight. He abandons music to focus on human rights and social justice. Jesse Aaron plays Vegas, eats peanut butter and banana sandwiches dying, constipated in the bathroom. Elvis never makes Harum Scarum, Clam-Bake or Roustabout, the world continues to turn. 

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post #9 of 89
1/30/12 at 12:15am

As an admirer of the films of Stanley Kubrick, I put forward a selected alternate filmography based on films he was developing at some point.


What if...
Spielberg had never made Schindler's list?

Result:

Stanley Kubrick's 'The Aryan Papers' (1990s)
From 'Wartime Lies' by Louis Begley (published 1977)
Synopsis:
A Jewish Mother and Son try to escape the Nazi holocaust.

Uma Thurman and Julia Roberts were considered for the female lead while Joseph Mazzello had been selected to play the young boy. Locations had been chosen but the film was cancelled a few months before principal photography was to begin.

"We were very committed to do this film," Harlan recalls. "We had done enormous amounts of research and preparation, but there came a point when he and Warner boss Terry Semel decided it would be better to do AI first. It had to do with Schindler's List," he said. "It was such a good film and so successful, and Stanley's film would have come out about a year later. He'd already had this experience with Full Metal Jacket, which came out the year after Platoon, and that hurt us, there's no question about it." So in 1995, The Aryan Papers was abandoned and Kubrick returned to AI.


What if...
In the late 60's, three movies about Napoleon had not been released and subsequently flopped?

Result:

Stanley Kubrick's 'Napoleon' (Early 1970s)
Originally slated to follow 2001, then A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick discussed Napoleon at some length in several interviews around the late 1960s early 1970s. With Jack Nicholson confirmed to play the eponymous emperor, Kubrick plans for Napoleon would have made it easily the most ambitious project he had ever attempted. The film was to feature battle sequences filmed by helicopter with thousands of troops marching in historically accurate formations. Certainly, if the film had ever been made, it would have been to be an epic on the grandest of scales.


What if...
Kubrick had been dead set on making a comedy?

Result:

Stanley Kubrick's 'Traumnovelle' - starring Steve Martin (1980s)
Synopsis:
Possibly a comic version of Arthur Schitzler's "Traumnovelle," - now made as Eyes Wide Shut
Development-
In the mid eighties, Kubrick was impressed by Steve Martins 'The Jerk' (1979) and was anxious to do a project with him. They met a few times but not known whether any story or script ideas had been discussed. Diane Johnson said recently revealed that Kubrick at one time conceived his adaptation of "Traumnovelle," to be a comedy and he: "explored it with Steve Martin". Michael Herr also reported Kubrick's interest in doing "Traumnovelle" as a dark sex comedy with Steve Martin in the lead, Herr says that he, Diane Johnson and David Cornwall aka John Le Carré were also approached by Kubrick to write it.


Edited by Rockley - 1/30/12 at 12:31am
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post #10 of 89
1/30/12 at 3:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ratty View Post


1.  DiCaprio assesses the insane shooting schedule and, after talking to various veteran crew members from previous Cameron films, opts out of TITANIC.

 

2.  DiCaprio goes through with BOOGIE NIGHTS.  

 

3.  Mark Wahlberg never gets the "legit film" break and is stuck doing B-movie action films like SHOOTER and CONTRABAND for his entire career.

 

4.  DiCaprio gets on swimmingly with P.T. Anderson and agrees to play Frank T.J. Mackey in MAGNOLIA.  

 

 

So who gets the Titanic role?  And would it have affected the film's success one bit?
 

 

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post #11 of 89
1/30/12 at 5:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post

 

So who gets the Titanic role?  And would it have affected the film's success one bit?
 

 


 

After failing to land Leo, Cameron gives in and casts the studio's first choice - Matthew McConaughey - on condition that they increase the budget of his already expensive film no questions asked. Thanks to this, the production of TITANIC continues with less interference from Fox. However, audiences reject the film, finding McConaughey's performance as Jack too cocky and brash.

 

Without the repeat business of teenage girls, TITANIC is a bomb - relegating Cameron to work on low budget films where he started

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post #12 of 89
1/30/12 at 9:31am

Yeah, Titanic sans Leo is probably a barely break-even at the best case.  Remember, Leo was white hot with most females after Romeo & Juliet, which I think was a big contribution to the film's success.  

 

McConaughey would have been a terrible choice, esp. with Winslet.  

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post #13 of 89
1/30/12 at 12:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Allen View Post


 

After failing to land Leo, Cameron gives in and casts the studio's first choice - Matthew McConaughey - on condition that they increase the budget of his already expensive film no questions asked. 



Just as an aside, wasn't Titanic's already ginormous budget the subject of much speculation?  As I recall, before it started its unstoppable run at the box office, people were waiting for it to severely tank.

 

 

 

 

Quote:
McConaughey would have been a terrible choice, esp. with Winslet.  

 

What about with Kate Hudson?  I'm getting hives just thinking about it!

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post #14 of 89
1/31/12 at 7:22am

I thought I heard something of Paul Rudd being the next choice after Leo. That would have been interesting.

 

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post #15 of 89
1/31/12 at 10:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Venture View Post

I thought I heard something of Paul Rudd being the next choice after Leo. That would have been interesting.

 


"You taste like a burger, Rose.  Go jump."

 

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post #16 of 89
1/31/12 at 10:09am

If I remember correct, the runner-up for Jack was Christian Bale.

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post #17 of 89
1/31/12 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FilmNerdJamie View Post

If I remember correct, the runner-up for Jack was Christian Bale.



IT'S NOT WHO I AM, BUT THE NAKED PICTURES I PAINT OF YOU THAT DEFINES ME.

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post #18 of 89
1/31/12 at 10:58am

"YOU'RE NUDE, ROSE. THAT'S FUCKING UNPROFESSIONAL!!!!!"

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post #19 of 89
1/31/12 at 11:24am

"I'm not the streetwise bumpkin you need, but the one you deserve."

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post #20 of 89
1/31/12 at 11:29am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by FilmNerdJamie View Post

If I remember correct, the runner-up for Jack was Christian Bale.


"RMS TITANIC!  CADILLAC OF THE SEAS!"

 

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post #21 of 89
1/31/12 at 11:50am

"Rose, do you like John Philip Sousa?  His early work was a little too nouveau Romantique for my taste, but when 'Semper Fidelis' came out in '88, I think he really came into his own, both commercially and artistically.  The whole composition has a crisp, clear sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the march a big boost.  He's been compared to Kenneth J. Alford, but I think Johnny has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.  In '96, JP released this, "The Liberty Bell", his most accomplished composition to date.  I think his undisputed masterpiece is "Stars and Stripes Forever", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics, but they should!  Because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of patriotism, but a personal statement about the man himself."

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post #22 of 89
2/1/12 at 1:10pm

Mark Hamill dies in a car crash in 1977. Lucas has enough footage to complete Star Wars, but does he scrape any plans for a sequel or does he move on with Empire and replace Hamill? If so, who replaces Hamill? Tom Hulce? William Katt?

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post #23 of 89
2/1/12 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schwartz View Post

"Rose, do you like John Philip Sousa?  His early work was a little too nouveau Romantique for my taste, but when 'Semper Fidelis' came out in '88, I think he really came into his own, both commercially and artistically.  The whole composition has a crisp, clear sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the march a big boost.  He's been compared to Kenneth J. Alford, but I think Johnny has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.  In '96, JP released this, "The Liberty Bell", his most accomplished composition to date.  I think his undisputed masterpiece is "Stars and Stripes Forever", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics, but they should!  Because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of patriotism, but a personal statement about the man himself."



"Cal, don't just stand there, eat her ass."

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post #24 of 89
2/1/12 at 1:20pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomTastic View Post

Mark Hamill dies in a car crash in 1977. Lucas has enough footage to complete Star Wars, but does he scrape any plans for a sequel or does he move on with Empire and replace Hamill? If so, who replaces Hamill? Tom Hulce? William Katt?


I'd go with Katt.  He bears the closest resemblance and seems best able to make the move from gee-whiz farm boy to Jedi knight.

 

CBS passes on a detective series set in Hawaii called Magnum PI.  This allows that show's lead, Tom Selleck, to accept the lead role in the George Lucas/Steve Spielberg co-production Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

How successful is Raiders with Selleck as Indy instead of Ford?  And what happens to Ford's career without this second signature role?

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post #25 of 89
2/1/12 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post

 


I'd go with Katt.  He bears the closest resemblance and seems best able to make the move from gee-whiz farm boy to Jedi knight.

 

CBS passes on a detective series set in Hawaii called Magnum PI.  This allows that show's lead, Tom Selleck, to accept the lead role in the George Lucas/Steve Spielberg co-production Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

How successful is Raiders with Selleck as Indy instead of Ford?  And what happens to Ford's career without this second signature role?

 

Raiders proves to be a modest box office hit thanks to the attachment of Spielberg and Lucas alone, but audiences don't find attachment with Selleck. He performs the role fairly well but the romantic tension between Indy and Marion just doesn't have the same impact. Also Raiders is no longer remembered for a few of its iconic scenes.

 

Spielberg enjoys working with the actor and continues to give him bit parts in all of his movies until attaching him to star as John H. Miller in Saving Private Ryan.

 

Edit: Ford wraps up Return of the Jedi Empire and goes into production with Scott on Blade Runner. Without Ford attached to Raiders the year before, Blade Runner has an even worse opening weekend, but the film is still well regarded among film fans. Ford continues to get cast in lesser and lesser roles in Hollywood. He maintains a huge cult following, but studios feel he lacks enough star power to carry a movie.

------

 

After listening to the pitch for Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel decides to pass on helping to finance the movie. Tarantino is left with his original 30,000 budget.
 

 


Edited by J. Ryan - 2/1/12 at 1:44pm
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post #26 of 89
2/1/12 at 4:26pm

Roderick Thorpe's novel, "Nothing Lasts Forever," becomes the basis for "Commando 2" rather than "Die Hard." Bruce Willis doesn't cross over from television to film. Meanwhile, the box office success of "Commando 2," guarantees a second sequel as well as a series of knockoff films: "'Commando 2' on a bus," "'Commando 2' on a battleship," "'Commando 2' in a hockey stadium," etc.

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post #27 of 89
2/1/12 at 5:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post

 

CBS passes on a detective series set in Hawaii called Magnum PI.  This allows that show's lead, Tom Selleck, to accept the lead role in the George Lucas/Steve Spielberg co-production Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

How successful is Raiders with Selleck as Indy instead of Ford?  And what happens to Ford's career without this second signature role?


Modest success, at best.  Selleck was an unknown, whereas Ford was coming off two of the biggest hits of all time.  

 

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post #28 of 89
2/1/12 at 5:46pm

X-Men flops. Consequently:

 

- Directors like Christopher Nolan and Sam Raimi continue to make cool little genre exercises. We still wonder what they could do with bigger budgets. Or maybe they would have gotten a shot at the big time some other way. Nolan at least might still have clawed his way up, even if at this point in the alt universe he hasn't yet gotten Inception made.

 

- As Schwartz pointed out in another thread, Heath Ledger still lives. Hugh Jackman sticks mainly to the stage. Tobey Maguire remains in the indie sphere. 

 

- The superhero comics market suffers a brutal crash after the weight of the mythology shuts out new readers. The boom of indie, autobiographical, and generally non-superhero comics is therefore a hundred times stronger than it was in reality. By the end of the decade, comics are widely recognized in both critical and public circles as a legitimate art form. Superheroes now comprise one small genre of a rich, complex variety of comics, and they are mostly concerned with fun and not continuity.

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post #29 of 89
2/1/12 at 5:57pm

Tom Cruise is accidentally killed from an errant sword swing while filming The Last Samurai (this almost did happen). The world mourns. Minority Report is the last complete film starring Cruise and he earns an honorary Oscar for his performance, the film having been released during TLS shooting. Cruise's death forces Steven Spielberg to scrap War of the Worlds as he wanted Cruise to star in it and instead jumps straight into making Munich, which has a longer shooting schedule and an earlier release date, now released at the end of 2004, where it handily claims Best Picture. The award and the film's surprising box office commit Spielberg to making even more dramas and he gets his Lincoln movie, with Liam Neeson, out in time for Lincoln's bicentennial. He produces more daring fare, especially in regards to Israeli relations with the world and earns himself praise for his thoughtfulness. The Mission: Impossible movies, however, are revived with little known TV star Josh Holloway, who impresses in his debut role in JJ Abrams' Mission Impossible: III and earns himself a franchise that churns out a new entry every two years, a lighter, funner Bond. In 2012, the 6th one will be released in the summertime.

 

Basically, what I think would happen, Tom Cruise dies and everyone can honestly say, 'Man, wouldn't it be awesome if they made another Indiana Jones movie?' because Crystal Skull would not have worked into the timeline, Spielberg is too busy and there's no way Lucas is touching it.

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post #30 of 89
2/1/12 at 6:31pm
Thread Starter 

Okay, you geniuses. Somebody do Heath Ledger living.

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post #31 of 89
2/1/12 at 10:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonard View Post

Okay, you geniuses. Somebody do Heath Ledger living.


He wins the Oscar and goes on to star in the beloved "Gentlemen Bastards" fantasy franchise.  

 

Also, The Dark Knight makes about $100 million less at the box office.  

 

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post #32 of 89
2/2/12 at 12:36am

I was just thinking about what might have happened if Ledger hadn't died. For one thing, I think he would have started choosing better projects. I don't believe he has the most impressive filmography, but he was on the verge of changing that in a big way. Regarding his immediate future after playing The Joker, did anyone think his role would have been expanded in Nolan's third Batman movie since he played it so well (and it was so well-received) in "The Dark Knight"?

 

A friend of mine said at the time that one of the unfortunate things about Ledger's death was that it meant we'd never get a Joker movie (as in a Batman movie where The Joker is even more of the main focus...I don't think he was referring to a spin-off). I, on the other hand, always believed The Joker's screen time in future Batman movie would be reduced, if anything.

 

I would expect Nolan to be smarter than the Pirates of the Caribbean people who decided to put Johnny Depp front and centre in Pirates sequels after the character's popularity took off, resulting in people getting tired of him quickly. Too much of a good thing and all that. I imagine Ledger in the third Batman movie being more like Hannibal Lecter, having maybe one or two electric scenes where Batman visits in prison and he offers some taunts in juicy dialog that could be interpreted as veiled advice.

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post #33 of 89
2/2/12 at 10:46am

I believe the original plan that Nolan and Goyer had for the third Batman movie was the trial of The Joker, so Ledger would've played a pretty significant role.

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post #34 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:14am

OK, smarter-than-me folks, extrapolate all the ripples from this: Viggo Mortensen tragically drowns halfway through the filming of Lord of the Rings, when the stream he was floating down becomes unexpectedly rapid and an unnoticed eddy pulls him under. This too came very close to happening.

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post #35 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteboy Jones View Post

X-Men flops. Consequently:

 

- The superhero comics market suffers a brutal crash after the weight of the mythology shuts out new readers. The boom of indie, autobiographical, and generally non-superhero comics is therefore a hundred times stronger than it was in reality. By the end of the decade, comics are widely recognized in both critical and public circles as a legitimate art form. Superheroes now comprise one small genre of a rich, complex variety of comics, and they are mostly concerned with fun and not continuity.


This one hundred times over. I would love for the superhero comic to vanish. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc are beloved brands for a reason, but the amount of interesting stories left to tell is really small. I would gladly give up some of the better comic movies to essentially help remove the stagnation from modern comics. After all, I'd still have some of the WB super-hero stuff (B:TAS and S:TAS).

 

If X-Men flopped, it probably wouldn't have the effect mentioned above. The original success of Blade would at least warrant Marvel to try out one or two more characters. X-Men being a success helped fast track Spider-Man, but we were bound to get a Spider-Man movie regardless. The Superman and Batman franchises both proved to be successful, spawning eight films between the two. One ensemble picture, X-Men, wouldn't have tanked the entire industry. 

 

Still, I adore the idea of several different viable genres in the comic industry. 

 

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post #36 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trav McGee View Post

OK, smarter-than-me folks, extrapolate all the ripples from this: Viggo Mortensen tragically drowns halfway through the filming of Lord of the Rings, when the stream he was floating down becomes unexpectedly rapid and an unnoticed eddy pulls him under. This too came very close to happening.


Jackson has to go back to Stuart Townsend. Everyone laughs his Aragorn off the screen in Fellowship, it flops, and the other two go directly to DVD.

 

Also no Viggo trilogy for poor Cronenberg.

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post #37 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomTastic View Post

Mark Hamill dies in a car crash in 1977. Lucas has enough footage to complete Star Wars, but does he scrape any plans for a sequel or does he move on with Empire and replace Hamill? If so, who replaces Hamill? Tom Hulce? William Katt?



Richard Thomas who leaves The Waltons to take over the role.

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post #38 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whiteboy Jones View Post

X-Men flops. Consequently:


- The superhero comics market suffers a brutal crash after the weight of the mythology shuts out new readers. The boom of indie, autobiographical, and generally non-superhero comics is therefore a hundred times stronger than it was in reality. By the end of the decade, comics are widely recognized in both critical and public circles as a legitimate art form. Superheroes now comprise one small genre of a rich, complex variety of comics, and they are mostly concerned with fun and not continuity.

 

Why not throw in world peace while you're at it?

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post #39 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:41am

Gene Roddenberry is allowed to be involved with the making of Star Trek 2. 

 

The second Star Trek film tanks when people who were happy with the first Star Trek see this new film as just a redo of City on The Edge of Forever except this time its about how Kennedy must die in Dallas.  Talks of a new Star Trek show die, Patrick Steward has moderate success in Britian but never makes a breakthrough to America.  Also X-Men never takes off because they just can't find a sutable actor to play the Professor.

 

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post #40 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:45am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trav McGee View Post

OK, smarter-than-me folks, extrapolate all the ripples from this: Viggo Mortensen tragically drowns halfway through the filming of Lord of the Rings, when the stream he was floating down becomes unexpectedly rapid and an unnoticed eddy pulls him under. This too came very close to happening.

 

Nobody realizes the specialness of the man. Peter Jackson, not wanting to go back to the well of Stuart Townsend, instead delays the remainder of shooting for a few weeks while he patches together a demo reel of finished footage specifically to woo one man back into the role:

 

Daniel Day Lewis

 

According to IMDB, Lewis was approached to play Aragorn, but turned it down. Having been moved by the footage and realizing that the character was more than he originally thought, and seeing the care brought forth by Jackson and company, DDL signs on and simply MURDERS the role. His role is expanded slightly and he of course, never breaks character. He and McKellan are nominated for best supporting actor, though neither wins. His turn in TTT is called "breathtaking" and on his back, he brings Best Picture to both TTT and RotK. Despite of, or because of, the seriousness of the actor, Jackson asks Lewis to star in his remake of King Kong, a role that was going to go to Adrien Brody. Lewis accepts because he had a lot of fun on Rings and is a huge fan of the original film.

 

End result: internet nerds fucking love King Kong. The only movie that Lewis does not make is the Ballad of Jack and Rose. The marketing team for There Will Be Blood gets to put 'Lord of the Rings' Daniel Day Lewis' on the poster, much to cinephile's chagrin, but the film is released to a wider audience because of it, is a far more resounding success and while No Country still wins best picture, the success of TWBB allows PTA to fast track The Master, which was released in awards season 2011 and is now the front runner in the Oscar race.

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post #41 of 89
2/2/12 at 11:48am

1982. Ivan Reitman takes a meeting with Dan Aykroyd. The two have talked about working together, Aykroyd was a huge fan of Stripes, so the meeting is set up to discuss possible ventures. Reitman goes first: an adaptation of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with Aykroyd playing Ford Prefect, and Bill Murray as Zaphod. Columbia had already optioned the film rights, Aykroyd and Murray were white hot after Trading Places and Stripes, and Reitman was itching to try his hand at a big effects-driven comedy. Aykroyd loves the idea so much that he immediately agrees to the project, so much so that he decides not to tell Reitman his own idea about inter-galactic ghost hunters... 

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post #42 of 89
2/2/12 at 12:28pm

I actually had Day-Lewis pegged for Aragorn back after Last of the Mohicans.  The roles are kind of similar.

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post #43 of 89
2/2/12 at 12:43pm

 

Originally Posted by Schwartz View Post

Why not throw in world peace while you're at it?


Well I thought that went without saying.

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post #44 of 89
2/2/12 at 12:54pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post

I actually had Day-Lewis pegged for Aragorn back after Last of the Mohicans.  The roles are kind of similar.


Good as Viggo was, I really wish Day Lewis had taken the role.

 

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post #45 of 89
2/2/12 at 12:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Clark View Post

1982. Ivan Reitman takes a meeting with Dan Aykroyd. The two have talked about working together, Aykroyd was a huge fan of Stripes, so the meeting is set up to discuss possible ventures. Reitman goes first: an adaptation of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with Aykroyd playing Ford Prefect, and Bill Murray as Zaphod. Columbia had already optioned the film rights, Aykroyd and Murray were white hot after Trading Places and Stripes, and Reitman was itching to try his hand at a big effects-driven comedy. Aykroyd loves the idea so much that he immediately agrees to the project, so much so that he decides not to tell Reitman his own idea about inter-galactic ghost hunters... 



You beautiful genius!

 

May I submit one of the Pythons for Arthur? Eric Idle?

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post #46 of 89
2/2/12 at 1:06pm

Am I alone in thinking Aykroyd and Murray would be kind of terrible for those roles?

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post #47 of 89
2/2/12 at 1:11pm

Speaking of DDL, he successfully convinces Tarantino to cast him instead of John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction." Travolta's career isn't revitalized, and "Battlefield Earth" never happens. 

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post #48 of 89
2/2/12 at 1:12pm

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post

Am I alone in thinking Aykroyd and Murray would be kind of terrible for those roles?


 

It would be a very SNL'd Hitchhiker's Guide but Bill Murray as President of the Universe is just too tempting, surely?

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post #49 of 89
2/2/12 at 1:20pm

As a President of the Universe, yes.  As Zaphod?  No.

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post #50 of 89
2/2/12 at 1:25pm

Regardless, Ackroyd would be a terrible Ford.   And only slightly better for Arthur.

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