The following is a list of unproduced Adam McKay projects in roughly chronological order. American filmmaker Adam McKay has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects never went beyond development, were officially canceled, or progressed under a different production team.
In 1999, McKay and Will Ferrell wrote the business comedy August Blowout. The premise reportedly was to have seen Ferrell starring as a car salesman desperate to make his sales quote during his dealership's annual August clearance sale.[1] While the script impressed both Ben Stiller and Paul Thomas Anderson, McKay and Ferrell opted to make Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy instead, but would later produce a similar-plotted comedy, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.[2]
2000s
Utopia Road
In 2001, McKay co-wrote the screenplay Utopia Road with Jay Roach attached to direct, but it fell through, and Etan Cohen later rewrote.[2] According to Variety, the project was a comedy inspired by Roach's nearby idyllic neighborhood and "pits the neighborhood's most relentless socializer against a privacy-craving newcomer."[3]
In 2005, McKay was set to direct the comedy CEO from a screenplay by Ian Roberts and Jay Martel, but made Step Brothers instead.[2]
Channel 3 Billion
In 2008, McKay was set to direct and produce a sci-fi comedy film similar to Brazil entitled Channel 3 Billion, which he co-wrote with Dennis McNichols around the time The Other Guys started filming, but there has been no word about the film since.[2]
On June 29, 2011, McKay was attached to produce and direct the remake of Swear to God with Will Ferrell attached to star in after Warner Bros. bought Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland’s screenplay.[6] On August 10, 2012, Justin Theroux was hired to direct the movie instead of McKay.[7]
Uptown Saturday Night remake
On April 26, 2012, McKay was set to direct the remake of Uptown Saturday Night with Will Smith and Denzel Washington possibly attached to star.[8] On November 25, 2013, Nicholas Stoller was hired to write the screenplay for McKay’s remake, and Smith and Washington were set to star when their schedules line up.[9]
On April 15, 2014, McKay was eyeing to direct the comedy movie Border Guards for Columbia Pictures.[11]
Untitled Seth Rogen/Ben Schwartz comedy film
On September 18, 2014, it was reported that McKay would team with Ben Schwartz and Seth Rogen to direct them in an untitled comedy written by Schwartz. Gary Sanchez Productions, Point Grey Pictures and Good Universe preemptively purchased Schwartz's pitch. While the involved parties all seemed enthusiastic about the collaboration at the time,[12] the proposed film never went beyond the planning stage.
On May 5, 2016, McKay was set to direct and produce a film adaptation of Mark Waid’s comic book series Irredeemable, with Tommy Wirkola writing the screenplay, Boom Studios Ross Richie, Stephen Christy and Adam Yoelin producing and 20th Century Fox distributing.[14] But, on March 17, 2022, Netflix and Boom Studios were set to adapt Irredeemable and Incorruptible into a single film with Jeymes Samuel set to direct and produce and Kemp Powers writing the screenplay, without McKay's involvement.[15]
On July 29, 2010, McKay was set to produce the television adaptation of Julie Klausner’s memoir I Don’t Care About Your Band for HBO with Jessica Elbaum set as the show creator and Lizzy Caplan set to portray Klausner.[21]
Wheels
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