Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's unrealized projects
The following is a list of unproduced Phil Lord and Christopher Miller projects in roughly chronological order. During their career, film-making duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under their direction. Some of these projects are officially cancelled or fell in development hell.
2010s
[edit]Bob the Musical
[edit]By December 2010, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were in talks to replace Adam Shankman and Mark Waters as directors of the movie musical comedy Bob the Musical for Walt Disney Pictures and Benderspink's Chris Bender and the late J.C. Spink and Contrafilm's Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson attached to produce the movie.[1] In December 2011, Lord and Miller were officially attached to direct the movie from a screenplay from Matthew Fogel, Marc Shaiman would work on the music, Robert Lopez would write the songs.[2][3] In July 2015, Lord and Miller were replaced by Michel Hazanavicius as director, Michael Chabon writing the script, Bret McKenzie would write the songs, Tom Cruise was in talks to star in the movie, and Bender, Spink, Flynn and Vinson still attached as producers.[4]
Untitled Ghostbusters film
[edit]In April 2014, Sony pursued a short list of potential directors for Ghostbusters 3, including Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but they passed on the project.[5]
The Greatest American Hero reboot
[edit]In August 2014, Lord and Miller were attached to reboot the 1981 TV series The Greatest American Hero for Fox. They were to executive produce the series, with 22 Jump Street co-writer Rodney Rothman writing the pilot and also executive producing.[6] By 2017, Lord, Miller, and Rothman were out as 20th Century Fox Television were interested in developing a female-led reboot from Fresh Off the Boat creator Nahnatchka Khan and would instead air on ABC.[7] However, ABC decided to not pick up the show in 2018.[8]
23 Jump Street/MIB 23
[edit]On September 10, 2014, 23 Jump Street was confirmed.[9] Channing Tatum had yet to sign on to the project, stating, "I don't know if that joke works three times, so we'll see."[10] On August 7, 2015, it was revealed that Lord and Miller would not direct the film, but instead write and produce. A first draft of the film's script has been completed.[11] On December 10, 2014, it was revealed that Sony was planning a crossover between Men in Black and Jump Street. The news was leaked after Sony's system was hacked[12] and then confirmed by the directors of the films, Lord and Miller, during an interview about it.[13][14] James Bobin was announced as the director in March 2016.[15][16] The title of the crossover was later revealed as MIB 23, and it was revealed that the crossover would replace a 23 Jump Street film. However, the project was canceled in January 2019. Shortly after, Phil Lord stated that, despite MIB 23 not happening, a third sequel entitled 24 Jump Street was in development.[17]
Female-driven 21 Jump Street
[edit]In early 2015, a female-driven 21 Jump Street film was rumored to also be in the works. In December 2016, Rodney Rothman was confirmed to direct the film.[18][19] In December 2018, Tiffany Haddish was confirmed to lead the film and Awkwafina is in talks.[20]
The Flash
[edit]By April 2015, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were writing a story treatment for The Flash film for the DC Extended Universe.[21] In October 2015, Seth Grahame-Smith was in negotiations to direct and write the script, based on the treatment by Lord and Miller.[22] He departed the project due to creative differences in April 2016.[23]
Solo: A Star Wars Story
[edit]In January 2017, Lord and Miller began directing a then-untitled film, a standalone Star Wars movie based on the Han Solo character. On June 20, 2017, it was reported that they had been fired from the project by Lucasfilm, after over four-and-a-half months of filming, about three-quarters through principal photography.[24] Lucasfilm announced that "creative differences" were the reason, with Entertainment Weekly reporting that Lord and Miller were going off-script and trying to make the film into more of a comedy. They were unwilling to compromise with Lucasfilm and writer Lawrence Kasdan on the direction of the film, preferring their vision. Two days later, Ron Howard was announced as the replacement, to complete the film and reshoots.[25][26] Lord and Miller received executive-producer credits on Solo: A Star Wars Story.[27]
In November 2017, Lord and Miller commented on their departure from Solo: A Star Wars Story. Lord stated "The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful. We had the most incredible cast and crew and collaborators. [...] We're really proud of the work we did on the movie and we wish everybody the best." Miller added "As Phil said, we had such a great relationship with cast and crew, we were really rooting for them. After we took a much-needed vacation, we got back into it and now we're writing and producing a sequel to The Lego Movie and producing a Miles Morales animated Spider-Man."[28]
Artemis
[edit]In September 2017, Lord and Miller were announced as co-directors of the film adaptation of Andy Weir's 2017 novel Artemis.[29] However, due to the Disney-Fox merger and producer Simon Kinberg ending his deal with the company, the fate of the project is unknown.
2020s
[edit]The Premonition
[edit]In May 2021, it was announced that Lord and Miller would produce and direct an adaptation of the book The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, which chronicles the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.[30]
Untitled Hall & Oates biopic
[edit]In a 2022 interview with /Film during promotion of The Afterparty, Lord and Miller expressed interest in making a biopic of Hall & Oates.[31]
References
[edit]- ^ Jay A. Fernandez; Borys Kit (December 6, 2010). "EXCLUSIVE: Phil Lord and Chris Miller in Talks to Direct Disney's 'Bob the Musical'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Graser, Marc (December 5, 2011). "New scribe tunes up Disney's 'Bob'". Variety. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Denette, Kelsey (December 5, 2011). "Marc Shaiman to Compose BOB THE MUSICAL Disney Film; Matthew Fogel to Write". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Kit, Borys (July 27, 2015). "Michael Chabon to Write Disney's 'Bob the Musical' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
- ^ Siegel, Tatiana; Kit, Borys (April 8, 2014). "Lord And Miller Off Ghostbusters 3?". Empire Online. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "'Greatest American Hero' Remake: Fox To Develop Pilot With Phil Lord & Chris Miller". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "'The Greatest American Hero' Reboot With Female Lead Gets Big ABC Commitment". Deadline. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (May 11, 2018). "The 5 Most Surprising Pilot Passes This Season". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
- ^ Aga, Chris (September 10, 2014). "'23 Jump Street' in the Works; No Director(s) Attached Yet". ScreenRant.
- ^ Lee, Ashley (October 17, 2014). "Channing Tatum Debates '23 Jump Street': "I Don't Know If That Joke Works Three Times"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
- ^ Wakeman, Gregory (August 7, 2015). "The 21 Jump Street Franchise Needs To Find Someone New To Take Over". Cinemablend. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
- ^ FRITZ, BEN (December 10, 2014). "Sony Plans 'Men in Black' – 'Jump Street' Crossover". WSJ. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ^ Converse, Simon; Eisenberg, Eric (January 14, 2015). "M.I.B./Jump Street crossover unofficially confirmed". Cinemablend. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ Alexander, Julia (March 4, 2016). "Report: 23 Jump Street will be a crossover with Men in Black". Polygon.
- ^ "That 21 Jump Street-Men In Black Crossover Is Actually Happening". Gizmodo.
- ^ Franich, Darren (April 13, 2016). "Sony confirms Charlie's Angels reboot, Jump Street-Men in Black crossover". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
- ^ Topel, Fred (23 January 2019). "Franchise Fred News: 24 Jump Street Is Being Developed". We Live Entertainment. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ "Female-Driven 21 Jump Street Spinoff Rumored to be in the Works". comingsoon.net.
- ^ "Rodney Rothman To Direct Female Driven Jump Street Spinoff". Deadline Hollywood.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (5 December 2018). "Exclusive: Tiffany Haddish in Talks to Star in New 'Jump Street' Movie". Collider. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
- ^ Busch, Anita (April 9, 2015). "'The Flash' Movie: 'Lego' Guys Phil Lord & Christopher Miller Building Warner Bros Pic". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 22, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
- ^ Kit, Borys (October 5, 2015). "'The Flash' Movie Finds its Director (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ Kit, Borys (April 29, 2016). "The 'Flash' Movie Loses Its Director (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ Kit, Borys (June 22, 2017). "Ron Howard Steps in to Direct Han Solo Movie (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
- ^ Stedman, Alex. "'Star Wars' Han Solo Film Loses Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller". Variety. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
- ^ "How the Han Solo film broke apart — with Ron Howard picking up the pieces". Entertainment Weekly. June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
- ^ Roettgers, Janko (March 23, 2018). "'Solo: A Star Wars Story': Phil Lord and Chris Miller Reveal Their Credit". Variety. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ "Phil Lord and Chris Miller Talk About Their Han Solo Firing". ComingSoon.net. November 20, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 26, 2017). "Phil Lord & Christopher Miller To Direct Martian Author Andy Weir's New Novel Artemis". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
- ^ Jackson, Angelique; Vary, Adam B. (May 10, 2021). "Phil Lord & Chris Miller to Direct 'The Premonition: A Pandemic Story,' Producing With Amy Pascal". Variety. Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
- ^ "Lord and Miller Actually Want to Make That Hall & Oates Biopic from the Afterparty [Exclusive]". January 29, 2022. Archived from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
