For most films, it’s a long, strange road from concept to screen, and sometimes those roads lead to dead ends. In Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, screenwriter and filmmaker Joshua Hull guides readers through development hell. With humor and reverence, Hull details the speed bumps and roadblocks that kept these films from ever reaching the silver screen. From the misguided and rejected, like Stanley Kubrick’s Lord of the Rings starring the Beatles; to films that changed hands and pulled a U-turn in development, like Steven Spielberg’s planned Oldboy adaptation starring Will Smith; to would-be masterpieces that might still see the light of day, like Guillermo del Toro’s In the Mountains of Madness, Hull discusses plotlines, rumored casting, and more.
To help bring these lost projects to life, 50 artists from around the world, in association with the online art collective PosterSpy, have contributed original posters that accompany each essay and give a glimpse of what might have been.
Author Joshua Hull took some time to discuss the book, it’s origins, the artists involved, and his own favorite project.
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FOG!: What was the genesis of Underexposed!?
Joshua Hull: 100% out of my love for movies and the alternative poster scene. I’ve been a massive fan/customer of companies like Mondo, Gallery1988, Hero Complex, and Grey Matter for years. That appreciation led me to PosterSpy’s website and their amazing poster community…where I hovered for years, blown away by the passion and talent there.
On the flipside, I absolutely live for movies. All genres, all sizes. I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of these infamous movies that fell apart or got away from legendary filmmakers like Kubrick and Hitchcock. If it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone…and it does!
So, for me, the idea came out of my desire to just get a taste of what some of these films would have looked like. What if these unmade concepts had alternative poster art that gave you a taste of them? Alternative posters…for alternative movies…that are hanging in the lobby of an alternative movie theater. That was the concept, and like most of my ideas, I just let it hang out in the back of my mind for years.
Until late 2018…when Jack from PosterSpy put a call out looking for contributing writers. I pitched him the concept as a monthly column BUT he told me it should be a book. From there, we dove into uncharted territory…and here we are with a stunning book in our hands two years later.
Most of the titles you wrote about are legendary unproduced projects; how did you discover the more underexposed projects?
Going into the book, I really wanted to shine a light on some of the lesser-known unmade films out there. You look at titles like Superman Lives and Jodorowsky’s Dune, two of the most infamous unmade films out there. Both have wonderful documentaries on them…so I wanted to touch on different Burton and Jodorowsky titles.
Same with Stanley Kubrick. Napoleon is probably his most well-known unmade title, but there’s an 800-page book on that film that came out in 2018. I wanted to go the exact opposite route with Kubrick and cover an insane title that would catch people off-guard: The Lord of the Rings starring The Beatles. That was my mindset with the films. Obviously, we’d have familiar titles like Justice League: Mortal, Alien 5, and The Day the Clown Cried, but we would also throw in these weird, crazy, fun ideas that were briefly discussed like Cheech and Chong versus Jason.
We really wanted the films covered in the book to be accessible for everyone. Whether you’re a die-hard film enthusiast…or brand new to the world of film. There’s something in the book for everyone.
The artwork provides a great companion to the text. Did the artists have free rein to interpret the films?
The artwork is what really brings these movies to life…and we were incredibly lucky to have these 50 artists involved. Each person brought their own unique style and perspective to the films, so we didn’t want to hold those visions back. Once they chose the film they wanted to “produce”, they dove in and made magic. It was an absolute joy to open my email daily and see work-in-progress shots. It was a wonderful, collaborative experience from the very beginning…
If you could choose to see one film that you chronicle in the book actually produced, what would it be and why?
That’s such a hard question. I’ve spent over two years with each one of these projects…so truthfully, I’d love to see them all made! However, the one that I believe could…and SHOULD BE made is Peter Jackson’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 6.
His take on the franchise would still be relevant today and it could be the perfect way to reboot the franchise. There’s the opportunity for Robert Englund to return as Freddy…and pass the Nightmare baton to another actor. Not to mention, the idea of kids purposely falling asleep and going into the Dream World is ripe for a play on TikTok challenges and everything else kids do these days (laughing).
Somebody call Hollywood and make it happen!
You’ve also a writer/director; what are your five favorite films?
In no order…and zero surprise to anyone that knows me or follows me online:
- John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN
- Steven Spielberg’s JAWS
- Irvin Kershner’s THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
- Guillermo del Toro’s PAN’S LABYRINTH
- Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK
But I have so many more favorites…and I feel like they are all glaring at me now…
Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made By Josh Hull
and PosterSpy with a Foreword by Fred Dekker is available now!
