50 Great Unproduced Movie Scripts: 13. Manuscript by Paul Grellong

50 Great Unproduced Movie Scripts

The Best of the Black List

By Matt Maytum | Nov 29th 2010

"In advance of the new Black List (Hollywood's annual list of its favourite unmade scripts), here's 50 great screenplays that are just waiting to be made into potentially classic movies.

1. The Muppet Man by Christopher Weekes

The High Concept: This screenplay (which topped the 2009 list), is a biopic of Muppets creator and all-round fuzzy felt genius Jim Henson. It's said to include surreal moments with some of his hand-operated creations, and could tie in nicely with Jason Segel's Muppets movie."

Scene We'd Like To See: The script apparently begins with a hungover Kermit awaking after a drunken bender. Any scene showing the darker side of the Muppets could be amazing, like a Carnal Knowledge-style row between Kermit and his demanding other half Miss Piggy.

Dream Director: Michel Gondry could get some heartache in amidst the puppet antics.

Starring: Will Ferrell, the Muppets.


Read more: Film features: 50 Great Unproduced Movie Scripts | TotalFilm.com

 

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I fell over laughing. At would be the greatest movie ever. In Atlanta they have a puppet museum that features Henson and actual muppets. I was this close to my idols Ernie and Skesis... And the door in the Labyrinth. all movies should include muppets. Never mind, you are genius.

 

Yeah. This is almost as good as the apparently-brilliant Nick Cave Gladiator 2 script, where Maximus spends eternity in the afterlife, being badass while slaying gods and monsters.

 

I had a read of that "The Muppet Man" script...thank God Brian Henson and Disney quickly bought up the rights for Jim's story. I still have nightmares about some of the scenes. However good concept, a bio pic that MUST BE MADE, but it needs a deft hand.

 

2. Motorcade by Billy Ray

"The High Concept: Like all the best action movies, this has a winningly simple conceit (ideally any action movie should be able to be described as some twist on Die Hard). The President's motorcade is attacked en route to Los Angeles, which leaves plenty of room for dramatic speeches amidst the action.

Scene We'd Like To See: The President delivers a reassuring address to his citizens? from the back of his under-fire motorcade.

Dream Director: Tony Scott

Starring: It'd have to be Denzel Washington, a man who you can believe could run the country and beat you up."

 

I Want to **** Your Sister by Melissa Stack

"The High Concept: A guy tries to protect his younger sister from the amorous attentions of randy young men, as he knows all too well from his own experience what those people are like.

Scene We'd Like To See: Our guy spills the beans on all of his indiscretions as a 'playa' in an attempt to convince his sis that a male has never done anything nice for a young lady simply out of the kindness of his heart.

Dream Director: Easy A's Will Gluck could nail the tone.

Starring: Justin Timberlake and Dakota Fanning."

 

The Voices by Michael R. Perry

"The High Concept: Schizophrenic factory worker Jerry accidentally murders a colleague, and in the aftermath of the event he starts to get advice from his pets: a foul-mouthed cat and dog who 'talk' to him.

Scene We'd Like To See: After the shock of committing a murder, Jerry nervously chats away with his animals for a good five minutes before realising that they didn't used to be able to talk.

Dream Director: Chris Morris

Starring: Zach Galifianakis as nervy Jerry, veering from dead-eyed seriousness to completely unhinged. Have him voice the pets as well."

 

Samurai by Fernley Phillips

"The High Concept: During the 150 Year War in Japan, a vengeance-seeking ronin, a ninja and an English boy team up to bring down an evil Lord. There's plenty of scope for epic scale in terms of action and location.

Scene We'd Like To See: The taciturn ronin explains to his allies why he holds a grudge against the evil Lord (in addition to the fact that he's evil of course). His story unfolds visually as an animation in traditional Japanese style.

Dream Director: Nicolas Winding Refn would allow the action to unspool with minimal dialogue.

Starring: Unknowns who can convince in the fight sequences."

 

What an amusing thread. Very entertaining entries so far, though I'm not sure The Muppet Man strikes the proper tone with regard to the subject matter; and in any case drunken Muppets have already been done with PJ's Meet the Feebles.

As an aside, why does spellcheck only recognize the word "Muppet", but not "Muppets"? Or the word "spellcheck", for that matter?

 

6. "The Days Before" by Chad St. John

"The High Concept: A man uses a time-travel device to keep jumping backwards one day at a time in order to prevent a world-ending alien invasion. A nice potential blend of conspiracy thriller, epic alien action and human drama.

Scene We'd Like To See: In an attempt to win the trust of a woman who our hero knows will be vital to the plan, he buys a lottery ticket and promises she can have it if the Earth survives to witness Saturday's rollover draw.

Dream Director: After Source Code, we reckon Duncan Jones could handle this.

Starring: Reunite him with Moon man Sam Rockwell, and Source Code's Michelle Monaghan."

 

7 Keiko by Elizabeth Wright Shapiro

"The High Concept: After being adopted, and raised in Japan by Japanese parents, a white teenage girl heads to the US to discover her estranged birth father, who just happens to be comedian and erstwhile Wayne's World star Dana Carvey. The postmodern meta-laughs mean this could potentially be his JCVD.

Scene We'd Like To See: Carvey proves that he's got serious acting chops with a heartfelt monologue detailing the fate of Keiko's biological mother.

Dream Director: Sofia Coppola, putting a bit of a reverse spin on Lost in Translation.

Starring: Youth in Revolt's Portia Doubleday, Dana Carvey, and a Mike Myers cameo."

 

8 The Phantom Limb by Kevin Koehler

"The High Concept: A troubled PI investigates a gangster who's running a brothel catering for amputee fetishes, and the doctor who helps to make fantasy a reality for some of the perverse clientele. We can already hear the preparation of 'Ban This Sick Filth' banners...

Scene We'd Like To See: Expecting standard brothel practise, the PI gets something of a shock when he goes to meet the escort he has hired for 'research purposes'?

Dream Director: It'd have to be David Cronenberg. It's hard to imagine the script wasn't written without some inspiration from his ouevre.

Starring: Clive Owen"

 

9 A Fistful Of Quarters: The Legend of Nolan Bushnell by Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman

"The High Concept: As the title suggests, it's a biopic of Nolan Bushnell, the man behind Atari. As well as being an instrumental figure in the history of videogames, he also created American institution Chuck E. Cheese's. The script is said to focus on his 70s heyday.

Scene We'd Like To See: Bushnell has a eureka moment whilst playing a bit of table tennis, before the groundbreaking Pong is created.

Dream Director: We reckon King of Kong doc director Seth Gordon could atone for Four Christmases with this.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio's name was linked to the role when the script was first touted. It's difficult to imagine any role we wouldn't be happy to see Leo in?"


With the success of "The Social Network", I expect this may get produced.

 

10. Z for Zachariah by Nissar Modi

"The High Concept: This screenplay is based on the the 1976 novel by Robert C. O'Brien (you may have read it during school English lessons). It tells the story of teenage girl Ann Burden (the novel takes the form of a diary) following a nuclear fallout, and the arrival of a mysterious man in a radiation suit.

Scene We'd Like To See: Ann watches from the window of her base as she thinks she sees a mysterious figure in the far distance. She doesn't take her eyes off the man in the radiation suit, who slowly but surely makes his way down through the valley.

Dream Director: Brad Bird brings a non-patronising approach to material intended for 'young people'.

Starring: True Grit newcomer Mattie Ross, and Paddy Considine as Loomis."

 

11. $40,000 Man by Jonathan Goldstein and Sean Daily

"The High Concept: This script has been knocking around for a while now. Think of it as a comedy remake of The Six Million Dollar Man in which the bloke in question is put back together bionicallly for a paltry sum.

Scene We'd Like To See: The injured and repaired astronaut comes around from his coma to be told he's been bionically rebuilt. His face slowly drops as he's talked through the cost-cutting methods that went into desiging his bargain bod.

Dream Director: Todd Phillips should be able to handle to humour and the budget.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, playing against Iron Man type."

 

12 Galahad by Ryan Condal

"The High Concept: This is described as a revisionist take on the King Arthur legend from Galahad's point of view. The titular knight was the illegitimate son of Lancelot, and after he is knighted he joins the quest for the Holy Grail.

Scene We'd Like To See: The moment Lancelot brings his estranged son to the famous round table of Camelot. From a young perspective the famous knights and their leader could be shrouded in mystery and awe. And there's plenty of opportunity for macho posturing.

Dream Director: To do the tale full-scale justice, Ridley Scott would be top of our wishlist.

Starring: Henry Cavill as the young knight, Kevin McKidd as Lancelot, and Danny Huston as Arthur."

 

All we really need is a good, multi-film adaptation of The Once and Future King.

 

13 Manuscript by Paul Grellong

"The High Concept: This one concerns three ambitious young New Yorkers who are willing to do anything to see their literary aspirations realised. Could be smart and satirical as well as tense and nerve-shredding.

Scene We'd Like To See: The three main protagonists get together to offer constructive criticism of each other's manuscripts. Like American Psycho's business card scene, only with more snarky grammar jibes.

Dream Director: Exam's Stuart Hazeldine

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Adam Brody and Armie Hammer."