During their long careers, American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under their direction.
[6] In July 1997, the Coens agreed to adapt Elmore Leonard's next novel Cuba Libre, for Universal Pictures, however the two made no official commitment to direct at the time.
[15][16][17] In March 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Coen brothers had written an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1983 novel LaBrava, also for Universal.
[18] In an April 1998 interview with Alex Simon for Venice magazine, the Coens discussed a project called The Contemplations, which was to have been an anthology of short films based on stories in a leather bound book from a "dusty old library".
[22] In 2008, it was announced that the Coen brothers were to write and direct a film adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union for Columbia Pictures.
[35] In August 2015, it was announced that Warner Bros. had optioned the film rights to Ross Macdonald's novel Black Money for the Coen brothers to potentially write and direct.
[36][37][38][39] The Coens have written an as-yet-unproduced screenplay based on the Ross Macdonald mystery novel The Zebra-Striped Hearse, for producer Joel Silver.
[40] It was reported in October 2016 that the Coens would work on the screenplay for Fox titled Dark Web, based on Joshuah Bearman's two-part Wired article about Ross Ulbricht and his illicit Silk Road online marketplace.
[45] In January 2024, he confirmed that they had both finished writing the script in the summer, revealing it to be "a pure horror film," noting that "if you like Blood Simple, I think you'll enjoy it."