# Could-have-beens movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [November 30, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992 "2024-11-30T21:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/61 "2024-12-03T00:16:23Z")
We had Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, then Dan Aykroyd as the voice of Yogi Bear - but we missed the chance for Harold Ramis as the voice of Quick Draw McGraw. ---
**Author:** ![Loggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Loggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loggins)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/62 "2024-12-03T09:55:06Z")
Helen Mirren as a heel? How about Mirren as a serial murder? Could it work? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/63 "2024-12-03T17:48:25Z")
It’s a shame ‘The Last Unicorn’ (book by Peter S. Beagle) was never made into a live action movie. It was in development many years ago to star Mia Farrow, but it never happened. They could make something great with the CGI today…I would cast Adrien Brody or Adam Driver as the magician. Need some ethereal, unworldly young woman as the human form of the unicorn - Amanda Seyfried? The Red King could be John Rhys-Davies. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/64 "2024-12-03T17:57:04Z")
I was watching a documentary on Laura Nyro and thought “that could be a biopic with Anna Kendrick.” So I Googled it and learned that Anna Kendrick herself had thought so too, a couple of years ago when rock star biopics were the thing. But this one never got traction. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/65 "2024-12-03T18:21:22Z")
Some movies never made I’d like to have seen: **Rendezvous with Rama** – I heard that Morgan Freeman had bought the rights to Arthur C. Clarke’s novel, but that things kept getting in the way. Now that we have good CGI, you could make a great film out of this. **King Kong vs. Prometheus** – maybe someone will do it as a retro project. Willis O’Brien – who animated the original 1933 _King Kong_ – came up with the idea of an oversized artificial human being, a “Promethus” or a “Frankenstein”, squaring off against the giant ape. It would all be done in stop-motion. He did numerous production sketches, but couldn’t interest anyone in the project. After his death movie executive took the idea to Japan, where it first metamorphosed into _King Kong vs. Godzilla_. Several years later it inspired _Frankenstein vs. Baragon_. Neither of these had any animation in them, which is what would’ve made it worth watching. **The Stars my Destination** – several attempts to start making s film of this have been started, but nowhere near close to actually filming any of it. Some think it “unfilmable”, but it’s got a killer opening that I would love to commit to film. I’ve long wondered if the folks who made _Event Hrorizen_ (which I hated) started out wanting to make this, and that explains the scenes with the “Burning Man” on board the ship. I’sd still like to see them film Harlan Ellison’s script for Asimov’s _I, Robot._ Or a faithfaul version of Robert Heinlein’s _The Puppet Masters_. Or _Starship Troopers_, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/66 "2024-12-03T18:32:39Z")
A **Gravity’s Rainbow** miniseries would be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/67 "2024-12-03T19:34:55Z")
I heard that Orson Wells version of _Faust_ went overbudget and took too long so they canceled it. It’s a real shame I would love to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/68 "2024-12-03T19:57:34Z")
I don’t know where you heard that, but it appears to be wrong. Welles played the title role of _Doctor Faustus_ on stage and radio. I don’t think he ever planned - let alone began production on - a movie adaptation of it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/69 "2024-12-04T14:45:07Z")
I always wanted to see the Miles Vorkosigan saga put to movies, with Aron Eisenberg (Nog of Deep Space 9) as Miles. He had both the proper physiology, and frantic energy, of the character. Alas, there was never any hint of such a thing, and his untimely death ended the possibility. But start the series around the middle of the run of DS9, and then film them in sequence over the next 20 years or so, so the actor ages along with the character, and it would have been simply awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/70 "2024-12-04T15:42:25Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > and his untimely death What? (looks it up.) I did not know that. 50. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/71 "2024-12-04T21:30:34Z")
Remember [this couple](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XZbT_s-jajo) from It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World? What if we’d stuck with that family instead, for another 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/72 "2024-12-04T22:11:59Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Agree. But since nobody is absolutely sure what happened, do you just leave it as a cliff hanger? > > I guess a “This is what we know. This is how they died. But we really don’t know why” I recently read a theory (backed up by science) about it that made sense. TLDR version, the snow shelf they pitched camp on was too shallow to create an avalanche but it did break free and start sliding down the slope as a unit. _Thinking_ they were in an avalanche, they cut their way out and fled before the shelf came to a rest. Their tent not being in it’s original location, and it being night, is why they were unable to find their way back to it. That’s why the tent was found (essentially) intact. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/73 "2024-12-04T22:17:59Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Harold Ramis as the voice of Quick Draw McGraw. “I’ll do the thin’in’ around here and don’t you forget it!” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992/74 "2024-12-05T00:07:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I think Groucho could have pulled a Robin Williams and turned into a respected dramatic actor, while still doing the occasional comedy. He had in him. I agree! > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I recently read a theory (backed up by science) about it that made sense. TLDR version, the snow shelf they pitched camp on was too shallow to create an avalanche but it did break free and start sliding down the slope as a unit. _Thinking_ they were in an avalanche, they cut their way out and fled before the shelf came to a rest. Their tent not being in it’s original location, and it being night, is why they were unable to find their way back to it. That’s why the tent was found (essentially) intact. That’s the theory I’ve heard, too, and it’s the only one that makes perfect sense to me. I’ve seen animations of the physics of how the “avalanche” worked. It’s completely plausible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-have-beens-movies/1010992.md?page=3)