[1] On January 31, 2005, Greengrass was hired to direct and write the feature film adaptation of David Maraniss’ non-fiction book They Marched into Sunlight, with Playtone producing and Universal Pictures set to distribute.
[4] On May 19, 2010, Greengrass was hired to direct an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island with Lionel Wigram producing for Warner Bros., but the project never materialized.
[6][7] On January 12, 2011, Greengrass was set to direct and write Memphis, about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., with Scott Rudin producing and Focus Features distributing.
[11] On August 25, 2011, Greengrass was set to direct a film adaptation of Robert Harris’ novel The Fear Index with Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark and Jenno Topping producing, and 20th Century Fox distributing.
[22] The film was eventually released on December 13, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures, with Clint Eastwood directing and Paul Walter Hauser starring as Jewell.
[26] In April 2017, it was reported that Graham and Greengrass were rewriting the screenplay in the wake of the 2016 United States presidential election and presidency of Donald Trump.
[28] On March 27, 2017, Greengrass was set to direct Ness, a film adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s graphic novel Torso, and adapted by Brian Helgeland about Eliot Ness' investigation into the Cleveland Torso Murderer; Greengrass would also produce the film alongside Bendis, Andreyko, John Davis, Greg Goodman, John Fox, and David Engel, with Paramount Pictures was set to distribute.
[35] In 2010, Greengrass was in talks to direct a Marvel Comics crossover film for 20th Century Fox with Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller writing a screenplay loosely based on the comic book Civil War that would feature X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Deadpool, but Stentz revealed that the project was put on hold indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts and the success of X-Men: First Class.
[41] On June 2, 2011, it was reported that Greengrass had been offered to direct Rush, a biographical sports film written by Peter Morgan about the Hunt-Lauda rivalry during the 1976 Formula One season, and an untitled thriller about the Maersk Alabama hijacking for Sony Pictures, later titled Captain Phillips.