The following is a list of unproduced Doug Liman projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American filmmaker Doug Liman has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially canceled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.
In 1997, following the release of his second film Swingers , Liman was attached to direct United Artists' The Breakers starring Alicia Silverstone and Angelica Huston in the cast, but he opted to helm Go in its place instead. [1] This project eventually became Heartbreakers , which was made in 2001 but without the involvement of Liman, Silverstone or Huston.
Also in 1997, it was reported in Variety that Liman was additionally attached to Working Title's Bachelor No. 2, which follows "a guy who wins a dream date with a gorgeous woman who turns out to be a nightmare." [1]
On November 7, 1999, Liman was set to direct Wayne Rice and Gina Goldman’s spec screenplay Sonny Bright with the Farrelly Brothers attached as producers. [2]
On June 17, 2002, it was reported that following the release of The Bourne Identity , Liman was in the process of completing a new screenplay that involved military action set in Martha's Vineyard. [3]
Also on June 17, 2002, it was reported that Liman was working on a television pilot for HBO. [3]
On December 15, 2002, it was reported that an hourlong NBC drama Southcom about soldiers stationed in Puerto Rico was being developed by Liman's company Hypnotic, with Matthew Carnahan hired to write and executive alongside. Liman was to direct if the script was greenlit as a pilot. [4]
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Also on December 15, 2002, [5]
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On June 30, 2004, it was announced that Warner Bros. Pictures had acquired a pitch for an untitled action drama centered on the California Highway Patrol, to be directed by Liman and scripted by Sheldon Turner; Liman would also produce the film alongside Dave Bartis and Jonathan Shestack. [6]
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On September 26, 2007, it was reported that Liman was "open to directing" the two-hour backdoor pilot for the Knight Rider series reboot, [10] though he would ultimately only serve as executive producer on the project.
On November 27, 2007, Liman was set to direct an untitled science fiction film for DreamWorks Pictures about a lunar expedition, with Jake Gyllenhaal set to star. [11] On June 6, 2011, it was announced that the film, now titled Luna, would be co-financed by New Regency and Skydance Media for Paramount Pictures, with Simon Kinberg joining the project as a writer and producer. [12] On September 9, 2015, Tom Cruise signed on to star in the film, which was now titled Luna Park. [13]
On February 16, 2010, Liman was set to direct Geoffrey S. Fletcher's screenplay Attica with Liman producing the movie with Dave Bartis, Elloit Abbott, & Avram Ludwig. [14]
On May 7, 2010, Liman was set to direct a film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers with Peter Straughan and Bridget O'Connor writing the screenplay and Lionel Wigram producing for Warner Bros. Pictures, [15] but it was canceled that August, due to Paul W. S. Anderson's competing 2011 adaptation; Liman would ultimately direct the All You Need is Kill adaptation, Edge of Tomorrow , instead. [16]
On July 13, 2010, Liman was set to direct Monte Reel's non-fiction novel The Last of the Tribe: The Epic Quest to Save a Lone Man in the Amazon with Liman producing with Dave Bartis, Ed Saxon, Steve Schwartz, and Paula Mae Schwartz. [17] On April 15, 2015, it was announced that Paul Haggis had entered talks to direct the project, with Liman now only involved as a producer. [18]
On September 3, 2010, Liman was set to produce a film adaptation of Robert Ludlum's novel The Osterman Weekend with Jesse Wigutow writing the screenplay and Peter Davis, Simon Kinberg, Jeffrey Weiner, and Henry Morrison producing for Summit Entertainment, [19] On February 28, 2012, it was announced that Brian Kirk had entered talks to direct the project, [20] but on May 18, 2016, the adaptation was likely incorporated into a planned shared universe of Ludlum adaptations for Universal Pictures, Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions & James Vanderbilt's Mythology Entertainment without Liman. [21]
On March 21, 2011, Liman was set to direct a Two-Gun Cohen biopic with Matt Brown writing the screenplay, Rob Reiner and Alan Greisman producing in collaboration with the Chinese company Galloping Horse. [22]
On November 30, 2011, it was announced that Liman would direct Everest, based on the Jeffrey Archer novel Paths of Glory about mountaineer George Mallory's attempts to scale Mount Everest in the 1920s , for Sony Pictures, with Sheldon Turner adapting the novel. [23] On September 24, 2012, it was announced that Tom Hardy had entered talks to star as Mallory. [24] In October 2013, it was announced that the project was preparing to begin production in March 2014, but that Hardy had dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. [25] On June 16, 2021, it was announced that Ewan McGregor had been cast as Mallory, alongside Mark Strong as Arthur Hinks and Sam Heughan as George Finch. Production was expected to begin in January 2022, with HanWay Films now handling the project's international sales and cinematographer Martin Ruhe, production designer Oliver Scholl, and composer T Bone Burnett all attached to the project. [26]
On September 7, 2012, Liman was set to direct and produce the film adaptation of Olen Steinhauer's novel The Tourist for Sony Pictures. [27]
On November 5, 2013, Liman was set to produce Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan's romantic dramedy series Heartbeats, with Liman's business partner Dave Bartis will serve as executive producers and Jones and Mohan will co-executive produce the series for Starz. [28]
On November 19, 2013, Liman was set to take over directing the comedy El Presidente from Jay Roach, with Tom Cruise starring, Paul Attanasio writing the script, and Warner Bros. set to distribute. [29]
On October 20, 2015, Liman was set to direct the feature film adaptation of Philip Reeve's novel Railhead with Gary Graham writing the screenplay, Liman producing the movie with Dave Bartis, Denise DiNovi, and Allison Greenspan for Warner Bros. distributing. [30]
On March 9, 2016, Liman was set to produce Karzan Kader's biographical crime film The Year of The Great Storm , with Johanna Baldwin writing the screenplay and producing along with Tyler Perry, George C. Wolfe, Ozzie Areu, Matt Moore, and Russ Stratton. [31]
On August 24, 2016, Liman was set to direct a Justice League Dark film entitled Dark Universe set in the DC Extended Universe, with Michael Gilio set to write the screenplay and Scott Rudin producing. [32] On May 23, 2017, Liman left the project. [33]
On June 7, 2017, Liman was set to direct the feature film adaptation of Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's novel Unearthed for Columbia Pictures and Cross Creek Pictures, with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth set to write the screenplay. [34]
On July 12, 2019, Liman was set to produce and direct Crazy Talented based on a short story by Steven Gould with Michael Karnow writing the Quibi series. [35]
On May 26, 2020, Liman was set to direct and write a film to be filmed on the International Space Station, with Tom Cruise set to star and produce the project with Liman in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX, [36] and on October 11, 2022, Cruise was confirmed to be the first civilian to do a spacewalk for the movie. [37]
In March 2022, Liman signed on to direct and executive produce a television series adaptation of the 2015 book Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by activist and financier Bill Browder. [38]
On May 18, 2022, Liman was set to direct the Otto Skorzeny biopic based on Ronen Bergman‘s nonfiction book Rise and Kill First with Story Syndicate and Abot Hameiri producing the movie. [39]
On November 21, 2023, it was announced that Liman would direct a reboot of The Saint for Paramount Pictures, with Regé-Jean Page starring. [40]
On April 28, 2010, Liman was in talks to direct the American remake of Gambit for Summit Entertainment with the Coen brothers writing the screenplay, which Michael Hoffman ended up directing. [41]
On May 25, 2011, Liman was offered to direct The Wolverine after Darren Aronofsky left the project, but before James Mangold was hired to direct. [42]
On October 8, 2013, Liman was in negotiations to direct the action thriller Narco Sub, with David Guggenheim writing the screenplay and Genre Films and Scott Free Productions producing for 20th Century Fox. [43] On May 28, 2014, Antoine Fuqua was set to direct Narco Sub instead of Liman. [44]
On June 4, 2018, Liman was in talks to direct the reboot of The Cannonball Run for Warner Bros. with Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant in talks to write the screenplay. [45]
The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action-thriller film directed by Doug Liman and written by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron. Based on Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel of the same name, it is the first installment in the Bourne franchise, and the film stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. In the film, Jason Bourne (Damon) suffers from psychogenic amnesia and is forced to fight to unlock his identity and his mysterious connection to the CIA.
Douglas Eric Liman is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing the films Swingers (1996), Go (1999), The Bourne Identity (2002), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Jumper (2008), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), American Made (2017) and Road House (2024).
David Ayer is an American filmmaker known for making crime films that are set in Los Angeles and deal with gangs and police corruption. His screenplays include Training Day (2001), The Fast and the Furious (2001), and S.W.A.T. (2003). He has also directed Harsh Times (2005), Street Kings (2008), End of Watch (2012), Sabotage (2014), and The Beekeeper (2024). In 2016, he directed the superhero movie Suicide Squad from the DC Extended Universe, and then the urban fantasy film Bright (2017) for Netflix. He has twice collaborated with actor Shia LaBeouf: first with the World War II drama Fury (2014), then the crime thriller The Tax Collector (2020). He has also collaborated with his friend Cle Shaheed Sloan who has appeared in four of his films.
Shawn Adam Levy is a Canadian filmmaker and actor. He is the founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. His work has spanned numerous genres, and his films as a director have grossed a collective $3.5 billion worldwide.
Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, Kristin Hahn and Jennifer Aniston. The company first signed with Warner Bros. as a replacement for Brad Grey Pictures, a company operated by Brad Grey. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO of Paramount Pictures and Pitt became the sole owner of the company. The president of the company was for many years Dede Gardner, but she and Pitt named Jeremy Kleiner co-president with Gardner in 2013. Three of the production company's movies, The Departed, 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight, have won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The Tourist is a 2009 espionage novel written by Olen Steinhauer, that was featured on The New York Times' list of best sellers.
Andrés Walter Muschietti is an Argentine film director and screenwriter who had his breakthrough with the 2013 film Mama. He gained further recognition for directing both films in the It film series, the 2017 film adaptation of the Stephen King novel and its 2019 sequel, It Chapter Two. In 2023, he directed the DC Extended Universe film The Flash.
Vertigo Entertainment is an American film and television production company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2001 by Roy Lee and Doug Davison.
The following is a list of unproduced Sam Raimi projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director and producer Sam Raimi has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects, are officially cancelled and scrapped or fell in development hell.
The following is a list of unproduced J. J. Abrams projects in roughly chronological order. During a career that has spanned over 30 years, J. J. Abrams has worked on projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction.
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The following is a list of unproduced Kathryn Bigelow projects in roughly chronological order. During her long career, film director Kathryn Bigelow has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under her direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially cancelled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.
The following is a list of unproduced Ron Howard projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Ron Howard has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially cancelled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.
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.
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The following is a list of unproduced Matt Reeves projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director and producer Matt Reeves has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell, were officially cancelled, or would eventually be completed by a different production team.
The following is a list of unproduced Christopher McQuarrie projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell, were officially cancelled, or would eventually be completed by a different production team.
The following is a list of unproduced Paul Greengrass projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, British filmmaker Paul Greengrass has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially canceled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.
Gyllenhaal, who is coming off "Rendition" and "Zodiac," is currently shooting the Jim Sheridan-directed "Brothers" with Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman and will follow that by teaming with Doug Liman on an untitled project at DreamWorks that revolves around a moon expedition.