Some scripts were pressed into service as sequels.
Some began in one genre and wound up in another.
Con Air
Nic Cage with long hair and a thick southern drawl.
An expensive sports car hitched to the back of a transport plane.
John Malkovich threatening a stuffed rabbit with a handgun.
I thought, well, I can do something with this.
That wasNic Cages idea.
Rosenberg took these ideas and incorporated them into his already salty and quotable script.
Put the bunny back in the box, indeed.
Thats not the movie they made.
Im going to shoot you between the balls!
In fact,Brainscanmay have been even darker in an earlier draft.
I still thought I was going to be pretty much just an off-screen voice.
But then 9/11 happened, and the entire project was quietly set aside.
Years later, theWW3.comscreenplay was dusted off and reworked as aDie Hardsequel by Mark Bomback.
I was a guy who was writing ninja movies and trying to get a job.
That screenplay was soon picked up as an expensive vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And who did the studio bring in to rewrite it?
You guessed it Shane Black.
And I said, I promise, I didnt.'
According to Eszterhas, the major reason for the films failure was Friedkins alterations to his script.
When I read the review I got nauseous, Eszterhas wrote.
Because I agreed with [the critic] Dolores Barclay.
It was one of the scenes that was not in my script, that Billy Friedkin had inserted.
Think about Gustav Mahler.
He was a genius, a creative maestro, and he never got one good review in his life.
But the original screenplay, written by Brendon Hood, had a far more bold, sci-fi infused premise.
