10 Unrealized Ridley Scott Projects We Want To See

There are a few directors who are so renowned that motion-picture fan ca n’t get enough of their stuff and nonsense . So , while many film projects come and go from their maturation slate , because their sports fan need to know when they can expect their next task , we get to hear about every labor they ’re involve with in the earliest stages of developing .

James Cameron , Guillermo del Toro , Quentin Tarantino , Steven Spielberg , and J.J. Abrams are among these directors . Another one is Sir Ridley Scott , who has as many unrealized projects as he does realized ones . So , here are 10 unfulfilled Ridley Scott project we need to see .

The Forever War

After the release of James Cameron’sAvatar , Ridley Scott got all excited about the kind of motion-picture show he could make with the novel 3-D shot technologies pioneered by it . His first mentation was to conform the classic science fable novelThe Forever Warby Joe Haldeman – a visceral account of a fictional intergalactic war evidence from the gamey frontlines – into a giant , big - budget 3D extravaganza .

regrettably , the movie fall through and all we ended up with was one piece of music of concept art that was developed for the film . Scott moved on fromThe Forever Warand madePrometheusinstead . Yay .

Crisis in the Hot Zone

In the literary world , you do n’t often find out the word “ nonfictional prose ” and “ thriller ” describing the same Holy Writ . That ’s likely what absorb Ridley Scott to Richard Preston ’s bookThe Hot Zone , which tell the story of various viral eruption across the world .

This could ’ve been a true - biography adaptation of a movie likeContagionorOutbreak , with a focus on real - sprightliness threats like the Ebola computer virus and the Sudan virus . Jodie Foster and Robert Redford – a pair of astral actors – were retch in the lead role , but sadly , the studio got cold feet and ultimately dropped the project .

Nottingham

There ’s a Robin Hood moving-picture show that Ridley Scott almost made that would ’ve been an intense cinematic masterpiece . Of course , Ridley Scott and Russell Crowedid make a Robin Hood moving-picture show , but that was the result of this one getting watered down by nervous studio apartment executives .

The original handwriting was calledNottingham . It was written on specification by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris , who painted the Sheriff of Nottingham as a hero and Robin Hood as a down - on - his - luck guy who end up with the “ pretty s***ty lance ” of catch outlaws and collecting taxes . It was described as a “ medievalFight Club . ”

I Am Legend

Back in the ‘ XC , Ridley Scott developed a moving picture adaptationof Richard Matheson ’s sci - fi horror novelI Am Legend . He vomit up Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role of Dr. Robert Neville and enroll Mark Protosevich – writer of such excellently unproduced picture show asBatman Unchainedand Steven Spielberg’sJurassic Park IV – to write the handwriting .

Still , the 2007 version place by Francis Lawrence starring Will Smith turned out pretty good . The optic burden on the vampiric creatures were n’t the best , but Smith give a fantastic , engaging , emotionally charged operation in the lead use . It ’s hard to suppose Schwarzenegger matching that level of pathos and humanity . But Scott ’s visuals would ’ve been incredible .

The Train

In the ‘ 80s , Ridley Scott began working on a sci - fi thriller calledDead Reckoning , which would later be retitledThe Trainbefore eventually pass away unproduced .

The script was publish on specification by Jim Uhls , the guy who would later adaptFight Clubfor David Fincher , and in Uhls ’ own word : “ It was a sci - fi action thriller specify in the future tense , in which an neutered descriptor of life gets loose on a eminent - velocity runaway underground gear . The creature was a humanoid with a genetically - altered psyche that was intended to be used as the ‘ backbreaking drive ’ in an hokey intelligence undertaking . ” The great H.R. Giger did some design work before the project was discharge .

Gladiator 2

WhenGladiatorbecame a huge hit back in 2000 , Ridley Scott look at a sequel – despite Maximus ’ destruction at the end of the original . Nick Cave ostensibly wrote some hazardous stuff and nonsense for the sequel that there was no manner a studio would finance . He had a story where Maximus combat his way through devil in the afterlife and another where he ’s transported through history , fighting in World War II and the Vietnam War and eventually serving as a general in the Pentagon in the present day .

The studio apartment shut the subsequence down as soon as they acquire a puff of Cave ’s mad playscript . However , in 2018 , it was reported thatScott was acquire a sequeland trying to convince Russell Crowe to reprise his part .

Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy ’s novel have been adapted for the sieve into some of the greatest picture of the 21st C , likeNo Country for Old MenandThe Road . Before it was cool to adapt McCarthy ’s employment , back in 2004 , Ridley Scott was working on an version ofBlood Meridian .

The novel is a breathtaking , raw , ultraviolent western story and there have been a few fail attempts to adapt it for the filmdom . Oscar victor William Monahan was on to write the playscript , while Tommy Lee Jones was confiscate to star before it fell through . Scott would later direct the movieThe Counselorfrom McCarthy ’s first - ever original screenplay , butunfortunately , that movie draw .

Purefold

Long before Denis Villeneuve came along and directedBlade Runner 2049 , a belated sequel that lived up to the original , Ridley Scott and his brother Tony Scott were developing a entanglement series set in theBlade Runneruniverse . Each episode would be 5 - 10 minutes long and have the same gorgeous , influential , singular sci - fi neo - noir ocular flair ofBlade Runner .

However , the web series was canceled after the Scott brothers struggled to get the funding . Realizing a beautiful , futuristic , slick , industrialized city is n’t cheap , and after the financial failure ofBlade Runner 2049 , thePurefoldproject is belike dead perpetually .

Dune

Ridley Scott was one of many directors , along with Arthur P. Jacobs and Alejandro Jodorowsky , who slope their visual modality for a movie version of Frank Herbert ’s germinal sci - fi novelDunebefore David Lynch took over and produced an astoundingly bad and universally hated adaptation .

Denis Villeneuve , having come through on theBlade Runnersequel Scott never got made , is presently work on a new version ofDunestarring Timothée Chalamet and Oscar Isaac . So , who knows how many other entries on this list he ’ll be picking off in the years to come ? Either way , Ridley Scott’sDunewould’ve likely been a sight to lay eyes on .

Alien 5

In 2002 , it was reported that Ridley Scott was working on the 5th picture show in theAlienfranchise . This was long before theAlien vs. Predatormovies andPrometheus , back when the franchise could be salvaged .

The flick would reportedly have told the story of the Aliens ’ origins , which might sound an dreadful lot likePrometheus , the slackly connected prequel that ended up being a bitter disappointment that need more questions than it answer . ButJames Cameron was signed on to compose and producethis variant of the origin story , so it could ’ve been as great asAlienandAlienscombined .