Todd Field's unrealized projects
During his long career, American film director and actor Todd Field has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage.
"As it turned out, Andre had been burned by another AFI student who had made a short film of "Killings", which is the story that In the Bedroom was ultimately based upon," Field said.
Only the second feature script that he wrote, Field intended to send it to Stacey Snider, president of TriStar Pictures at the time, but was cautioned by his literary agent not to.
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times in 2007, Field revealed the story spanned five decades and five major cities, recreated in meticulous detail, requiring a massive budget.
[8] Despite production rumored to start in early 2004,[7] after executive Michael De Luca left DreamWorks, new leadership refused to finance the expensive period epic, with Steven Spielberg delivering the news to Field that they halted further development on the film.
Based on a true story of a man who was diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder, the script by Todd Graff had first been developed for director James Cameron, and then later David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh and Danny DeVito, prior to Field boarding the project.
[10] Also in 2004, Field was reportedly developing Rose as a directing vehicle through his DreamWorks Pictures-based Standard Film Company with Leon Vitali.
[1] In addition to Rose, Field was determined to direct Backroads, an adaptation of the novel by Tawni O'Dell due to be produced by Frank Darabont, with Ethan Gross and Paul Todisco on board as screenwriters.
[10] Another Field project in development at his Standard Film Company that year was a script called Eastside Westside by What Maisie Knew screenwriters Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright.
[10] At DreamWorks, Field also planned to resurrect the WWII project The Ninth Man, based upon the 1976 novel, which Steven Spielberg had almost directed an adaptation of 30 years prior.
[13] He was scheduled to start prep on the film the day after his youngest son was born, in March 2008, but he ultimately decided not to make it in order to stay closer to home.
Numerous directors had tried and failed to helm separate adaptations while Field's version remained stuck in development at Paramount Vantage, before the company's eventual collapse in 2014.
Based on an article by Hillel Levin and James Keene about a couple who are forced to cope with the fallout on their relationship after they commit a crime, the screenplay by Brad Ingelsby was reported to contain elements of dark comedy.
[22] The project was later reported the following year to be a true-crime gangster revenge film based on a 2007 Playboy article titled "Boosting the Big Tuna" about the infamous murders of the men who burglarized Chicago mafia boss Tony Accardo's house in the late 1970s.
[13] Jennifer Fox was set to produce, and Field had met with Cate Blanchett for the lead role,[26] however, no studio offered a worthwhile budget because the protagonist was a woman.
On August 15, 2012, Field was announced to be producing a Bonnie and Clyde-esque crime drama written by Brad Ingelsby called Nancy and Danny, after being originally attached to direct.
[31] Field, who had played for the Portland Mavericks when he was young, was in negotiations to write and direct the adaptation, with Kurt Russell in talks to participate creatively.
"[32] On June 16, 2014, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the rights to make a feature film from the Rolling Stone article "America's Last Prisoner of War",[33] about U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, with Field attached to write and direct.
However, the day prior, filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow had announced she was interested in directing a biopic about Bergdahl with Mark Boal writing the screenplay for Annapurna Pictures.
"It was one of the richest and most interesting six weeks of my life, sitting in a room with Todd Field, Jonathan Franzen and Daniel Craig bashing out the story.
"[41] In January 2022, it was revealed that Field would direct the first two episodes of Hulu's miniseries adaptation of The Devil in the White City starring Keanu Reeves, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese signed on to executive produce.
"[45][46] In March 2023, Field was revealed to be in progress on an original script for a planned film that he wanted to set in his home state of Maine, but remained skeptical as to if he would be allowed by financiers to shoot there.
In October 2023, Scorsese reported that they planned to turn Robinson's Jack into a screenplay and that, additionally, Field was eyeing to adapt Gilead as his next film.
