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Posts tagged as lost projects

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of Adam McKay

by | March 7th, 2013

Ranking alongside Judd Apatow and Todd Phillips as one of the biggest modern comedy filmmakers, Adam McKay has built two empires with writing/producing partner Will Ferrell – Gary Sanchez Productions and Funny Or Die – that have grown to dominate the movie, TV, and web comedy landscape. With Anchorman 2 now filming in Atlanta for a December release, 2013 could be McKay's biggest year yet. Here's a look back at all of Adam McKay's projects that never got made – including the crazy car salesman movie he and Will Ferrell wrote during their SNL days, his Brazil-esque sci-fi movie, and a Broadway musical starring Ron Burgundy:

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of John Hughes

by | July 12th, 2012

One of the most prolific comedy filmmakers of all-time, you can’t really compare John Hughes’s dominance of big screen comedy in the 1980s to the work of anyone modern. Even Judd Apatow, who’s pumped out hit films at a consistent rate for the better part of the last decade, doesn’t work as fast as Hughes, who was cranking out two or even three popular comedies a year throughout his 80s heyday, with many of these films going on to become iconic classics.

Part of the reason John Hughes was able to rapidly pile up projects is that he was an incredibly fast writer who didn’t care much for rewriting. [...]

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of Dan Harmon

by | May 24th, 2012

The Internet’s been abuzz this week with the news that Dan Harmon has been let go as showrunner of his much-loved NBC sitcom Community, but long-time fans of Harmon’s work know he’s no stranger to frustrating experiences in the entertainment industry. Along with frequent writing partner Rob Schrab, with whom Harmon created the long-running short film fest Channel 101, Harmon has had his fair share of movie and TV projects that never made it to screens. Let’s take a look now at Dan Harmon’s lost projects, including the script about giant ants that landed him his first agent, his cult hit pilot about a talking motorcycle, and early plans [...]

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of Michael O'Donoghue

by | February 28th, 2013

Lost Roles is a weekly column taking a different comedian, actor, or writer each week and exploring all of their movie and TV projects that almost happened but didn't.

This week, we turn our attention to Michael O'Donoghue, one of the major creative forces behind National Lampoon magazine and Saturday Night Live during the two comedy franchises' 1970s heydays. After leaving his job as SNL's head writer in 1978, O'Donoghue began working on a variety of movie projects, but given the sluggish nature of the film industry and the fact that O'Donoghue's work is often too daring and edgy for mainstream audiences, most of the movies he wrote never [...]

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of Louis C.K.

by | June 28th, 2012

The entire comedy industry has been gushing over Louis C.K. ever since his FX show Louie debuted in 2010 (preceded by the industry gushing over him at a lower volume for about a decade prior to that). That’s because he’s pulled off an impressive feat that no one in the history of comedy has ever done before: being the country’s preeminent stand-up and an excellent filmmaker at the same time. Ever since he ditched his early persona as an absurdist jokesmith and became a deeply personal comedian, C.K. has become the closest thing this current crop of stand-ups has to a Pryor or a Carlin. One might argue that [...]

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

by | July 19th, 2012

Getting a movie through Hollywood’s grueling development gantlet is a difficult enough task, and after a process that can, in some cases, take decades, there’s no guarantee a movie will be well-received critically or commercially. It took husband-and-wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris five years to get their first movie made, 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine, which became a hit with critics and audiences alike. You’d think that having a major hit under their belts would make it so Dayton and Faris have an easier time getting their sophomore film to theaters, but it’s taken another five years for them to put together their second movie, the fantasy/comedy/drama [...]

Lost Roles

The Lost Projects of Seth MacFarlane

by | June 21st, 2012

He’s been called “the smartest man in TV” by Entertainment Weekly after he cornered the market on Fox animated sitcoms. Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, Patriotic Family Guy, and Black Family Guy, is one of the most successful writers in TV history – pulling off the rare feat of balancing three shows at once. The guy’s stock continues to rise too, as he branches out into feature films this year with his big-screen directorial debut, Ted. The guy's been so busy the past decade, it's a wonder he hasn't spontaneously combusted.

Whether you’re a Seth MacFarlane fan or a comedy snob who’s part of the Trey Parker/Matt [...]

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