Martin Scorsese has made plenty of classic movies throughout his career, but his unrealized projects show a glimpse of what could have been.Scorsese’s Sinatra biopic and his movie about Jesus' lifehave reportedly stalled. Previously, he had been planning on shooting them back-to-back, but this plan seems to have hit a stumbling block. While this news comes as a disappointment, Scorsese’s fans will know that he has had many such difficulties throughout his career.
With a list of credits that includesTaxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Streetand many more iconic movies, Scorsese should have no regrets about his career. However, some of the projects that didn’t quite pan out over the years are excruciating, simply because they sound like they could potentially have been instant classics. Scorsese has tried and failed to make biopics, historical epics, and adaptations of popular novels.
Cape Fear TV Series Remake: Cast, Scorsese, Spielberg, & Everything We Know
Cape Fear is once again getting a remake, but this time it is going to be a TV show with Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg on board.
10Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Scorsese Was Interested In Philip K. Dick’s Novel Before Ridley Scott
A year after Philip K. Dick published his critically-acclaimed sci-fi novelDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,Martin Scorsese approached the author about the prospect of making a movie adaptation. The script was set to be written by one of Scorsese’s frequent collaborators, Jay Cocks, who would later writeGangs of New YorkandThe Last Temptation of Christ,among others.
The novel was eventually adapted by Ridley Scott intoBlade Runner.
Scorsese and Cocks never optioned the rights to Dick’s novel in the end.While Scorsese’s take on it would have been interesting to see, it was eventually adapted by Ridley Scott intoBlade Runner, so it may have all worked out for the best anyway.Blade Runnerremains one ofRidley Scott’s best movies, and it has had a huge impact on the entire sci-fi genre.
9Mike Tyson Biopic
Jamie Foxx Looked Set To Star As The Heavyweight Champion
Martin Scorsese’sRaging Bullis one of thegreatest boxing moviesof all time, and its story is based on real life. Scorsese looked set for another blockbuster boxing biopic at one point, but his Mike Tyson movie never materialized.Jamie Foxx announced in 2015 that he was set to star in the project with Scorsese.This project was eventually changed, and years later it was announced that it had become a TV series directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Mike Tyson’s life story could make a fascinating biopic.
News of the project has dried up since 2021, so it now seems as though the TV series might also be canceled. This is a shame, because Mike Tyson’s life story could make a fascinating biopic. One of the most famous boxers to ever live, Tyson’s career was colored by his scandalous life outside the ring. He’s a larger-than-life character with a checkered past, and Scorsese could have been just the man to peel back his many layers.
8Notes From Underground
Scorsese Was Inspired By Dostoevsky
Martin Scorsese became interested in adapting several of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels during the 1970s, and the one that he seemed particularly keen on wasNotes from Underground.The deeply philosophical novella is presented from a first-person perspective, as the narrator mixes stories from his daily life with his thoughts on society, theology and the human condition.
Martin Scorsese became interested in adapting several of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels during the 1970s.
Notes from Undergrounddoesn’t immediately seem like a novel which lends itself to the big screen, and there have been no movie or TV adaptations so far. It would have been an incredibly ambitious project for Scorsese to tackle. Eventually, he abandoned the idea once he started working onTaxi Driver,as he thought that the psychological thriller shared some of Dostoevsky’s themes.
7Amedeo Modigliani Biopic
Al Pacino And Martin Scorsese Wanted To Team Up Decades Before The Irishman
In the late 1970s, Al Pacino became interested in making a movie about the tragic life of 20th century Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani. He soon got Martin Scorsese on board, but the duo couldn’t find a studio that was willing to back them. Unfortunately, it took decades forAl Pacino and Martin Scorseseto finally work together on a movie, in 2019’s crime dramaThe Irishman.
Pacino soon got Martin Scorsese on board, but the duo couldn’t find a studio that was willing to back them.
Modigliani’s paintings and sculptures hold an important place in art history, and his personal life was just as interesting. Modigliani was the absolute archetype of the starving artist, and the only solo exhibition of his lifetime was shut down by the police within hours of opening. He only developed his positive reputation after his premature death.Although Pacino never got the chance to play Modigliani himself, he recently appeared in a biopic directed by Johnny Depp.Modi, Three Days on the Wings of Madnesspremiered in September 2024.
6Theodora & Justinian
Scorsese Wanted To Make A Historical Epic After Goodfellas
After the critical and financial success ofGoodfellas,Martin Scorsese decided that his next project would be a movie about the founding of the Byzantine Empire, focusing on Emperor Justinian’s relationship with his wife, Theodora. Scorsese has made a few historical movies in his career, such asKillers of the Flower MoonandSilence,but hisJustinianstory promised a much grander scale. He hired novelist Gore Vidal to write the script, but the project was repeatedly delayed.
A movie about the couple could have shown Justinian’s many military conquests and the intense spectacle of the chariot races in Constantinople.
Justinian met Theodora while he was next in line for the throne, and she was just a lowly actor. While he sought to expand his empire, she became one of his closest advisors, and she wasn’t afraid to wield power for her own goals either. A movie about the couple could have shown Justinian’s many military conquests and the intense spectacle of the chariot races in Constantinople. Vidal stated in 1994 that he and Scorsese were waiting for technology to advance to meet their ambitions, so that they could"show battle scenes without Ben-Hur prices."
5Dean Martin Biopic
Before His Sinatra Movie, Scorsese Set His Sights On A Different Singer
Frank Sinatra isn’t the only American crooner who Martin Scorsese has been interested in. Back in 1992, Scorsese bought the rights to Nick Tosches' biography about Martin, titledDino, with the intention of turning it into a movie. He recruitedGoodfellaswriter Nick Pileggi, and he had his eyes on Tom Hanks to star as Martin, but the movie stalled. Scorsese announced that the project was dead in 2004.
Scorsese recruitedGoodfellaswriter Nick Pileggi, and he had his eyes on Tom Hanks to star as Martin, but the movie stalled.
Dean Martin first shot to fame as part of his on-screen double act with Jerry Lewis, before becoming a member of the Rat Pack alongside Sinatra and others. Martin’s acrimonious split from Lewis would provide plenty of material for a biopic, as would his infamous misadventures with the Rat Pack or his tumultuous personal life. It’s no surprise to see that Scorsese is drawn to this era of American entertainers.
4Taxi Driver Sequel
Scorsese Doesn’t Usually Do Sequels
Taxi Driveris one ofMartin Scorsese’s best movies, and he nearly followed it up with a sequel decades later.Scorsese has only ever directed one sequel in his career, but 1986’sThe Color of Moneybarely feels like a sequel to 1961’sThe Hustler.HisTaxi Driversequel would have been a big surprise, so he must have found an idea for it that excited him. Robert De Niro was just as interested.
Scorsese first mentioned the sequel in 2005, almost 30 years after the original.
Scorsese first mentioned the sequel in 2005, almost 30 years after the original. De Niro announced eight years later thatTaxi Driverscreenwriter Paul Schrader had delivered a draft of the script, but that both he and Scorsese felt that it needed some more work. Unfortunately, this was the last update that came out about the project, so it seems unlikely that Scorsese’s fans will ever know what his plan was forTaxi Driver 2.
3Furious Love
Richard Burton And Elizabeth Taylor’s Relationship Could Inspire A Movie Some Day
Reports emerged in 2011 that Paramount Pictures was negotiating with Martin Scorsese to direct an adaptation ofFurious Love,a book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger about the tumultuous relationship between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Presumably, the deal fell through, because reports soon dried up.Burton and Taylor’s story seems destined to become a movie or TV series one day, but it seems as though this project has passed Scorsese by.
The fiery relationship that Burton and Taylor portrayed inWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?has often been compared to their real-life dynamic.
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were one of Hollywood’s most illustrious power couples during the 1960s and 1970s, but they were just as famous for their highly publicized relationship troubles. Burton and Taylor divorced in 1974 before remarrying a year later. Their second and final divorce came in 1976. The fiery relationship that the two actors portrayed inWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?has often been compared to their real-life dynamic, although this could just be a convenient allegory.
2The Devil In The White City
Leonardo DiCaprio Wanted To Make A Movie About America’s First Serial Killer
Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the rights to Erik Larson’sThe Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed Americain 2010. Larson’s book is partially written in the style of a novel, but it’s a non-fiction book about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and the infamous"Murder Castle"of H. H. Holmes.By 2015, Martin Scorsese had agreed to direct the movie adaptation, with DiCaprio set to star as Holmes.
Scorsese and DiCaprio’s movie eventually morphed into a TV series starring Keanu Reeves, but this also hit several roadblocks.
H. H. Holmes is often called"America’s first serial killer.“To capitalize on the increased tourism in Chicago due to the World’s Fair, he constructed his elaborate Murder Castle, a three-story building made with secret passageways, trap doors and other modifications that made it the ideal hunting ground for a killer who knew the layout. Scorsese and DiCaprio’s movie eventually morphed into a TV series starring Keanu Reeves, but this also hit several roadblocks. Despite the setbacks, there’s still a chance thatThe Devil in the White Citycould happenin one way or another.
New York, New Yorkis Martin Scorsese’s only musical, but he has always been a fan of the genre. WhileNew York, New Yorkis a drama with some musical elements, Scorsese almost got the chance to direct a full-blown musical. A year afterLittle Shop of Horrorsbecame an Off-Broadway hit, Scorsese was approached to direct a movie adaptation, with Steven Spielberg potentially acting as producer.
Scorsese’sLittle Shop of Horrorswould have been a spectacular 3-D musical.
Scorsese’sLittle Shop of Horrorswould have been a spectacular 3-D musical, but the project ran into legal trouble when the writer of the original 1960 movie filed a lawsuit. A few short years later, director Frank Oz got the chance to make his own version without any legal impediments. Just like the stage musical, the movie adaptation ofLittle Shop of Horrorsbecame an instant cult sensation, even if it wasn’t shot in 3-D.
