This is a brief overview of some films that Jonathan Demme hasn't made yet.
March 1994: In an interview with Rolling Stone, Demme discusses his plans for a Martin Luther King biopic:
So, after Philadelphia, what's ahead?
Well, the great thing about documentaries is that if you're interested in social issues,
you don't need a $20-million budget to put them onscreen. We made One Foot on a Banana
Peel for less than $30,000. It's wonderful. It sheds light on the experience of having
AIDS in a very different way than Philadelphia does.
That's taken away my fervor to do big-budget versions of social
issues - unless they offer the possibility of making some wild megillah of an entertainment,
like the project we're working on based on Taylor Branch's biography of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Parting the Waters.
What do you have in mind for that?
I'm picturing a cross between Nashville and Battle of Algiers!
August 2003: In searching the net, I discover the little-known fact that, in 1997, Jonathan Demme and Harrison Ford were planning to collaborate on a re-make of the Norwegian film Insomnia. Obviously their version never came to fruition. The re-make was ultimately directed by Christopher Nolan, and it starred Al Pacino. It was released in May 2002.
November 1998: In an interview with Premiere, Demme says that he is working with writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson on a forthcoming project:
Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson, when asked a year ago which directors have
influenced him, responded "Jonathan Demme, Jonathan Demme, and Jonathan Demme." Do you enjoy
having a connection with young talent?
Listen, I was so knocked out by Boogie Nights - I'm influenced by Anderson. I love
hearing that, and we're working with Paul now. He's going to be writing a script set in the
world of magic, against a carnival backdrop, and [magician-actor] Ricky Jay is working on it
as well.
It's not clear what Demme's role in this production might have been but, in an interview with cigarettes & coffee, Anderson says that this project is off:
"That was left over stuff from a thing we were talking about a long, long time ago and has no basis in reality...for now or with Jonathan...Jonathan is working on his Charade re-make and I just talk to him/consult about it once in while - I'm not officially doing my thing with him yet - when we officially decide to do something it has to be pretty special in my mind."
Beth Henley Project
November 1998: In an interview with Premiere, Demme mentions a script he worked on with playwright, Beth Henley:
"Before doing Beloved, I spent a year and a half working on a script with [Crimes of the Heart playwright] Beth Henley, and then, when we got a magnificent script and started scouting locations in Canada, Florida, Arizona, and San Diego, we couldn't get together a cast that justified the budget in the computer. It was a heartbreaking discovery, but you know, you can't always get what you want. And I think the script's too good for it not to be made eventually. But having had to accept not making it after getting so close - I don't know if I can get there again. The irony is that when something falls through, it creates an opening for some other wonderful thing. In this instance, if we had made that movie, then I wouldn't have made Beloved. And confronted with that reality, it would be ludicrous for me to complain."
November 1998: In an interview with Premiere, Demme discusses a still unrealized collaboration with Richard Price and Neil LaBute:
"There are a couple of things that Clinica's doing that I'm really excited about, and that I hope come to fruition: Neil LaBute is now doing a rewrite on a script that I worked on with Richard Price about three years ago. It's called Bleeder, and we're hoping it'll be Neil's next movie."
Jodie Foster/Richard Price Project
August 2002: Dark Horizons reports that Jonathan Demme is set to work with Jodie Foster and Richard Price, on his next project.
Fall 2002: In an interview with MovieMaker, Demme comments on this project:
"Richard Price has a fantastic idea for a movie, which is an opportunity to team up with Jodie [Foster] again. It's an urban thriller with supernatural overtones."
August 2003: According to a story at comingsoon.net, Richard Price is currently working on the script for this film, with plans for production to begin in 2004. Scott Rudin, the producer of Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate, will again produce.
Asylum
August 2002: Stephen King's official site reports that Jonathan Demme is attached to direct Asylum. This screen adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel has been scripted by King (it's the first time he's adapted someone else's work, for the screen). McGrath is also the author of Spider, which was recently made into a film by David Cronenberg.
July 2003: Jonathan Demme is no longer attached to direct the film version of Patrick McGrath's novel, Asylum. As a result, the production has scaled back and Paramount Classics is now producing, instead of Paramount Pictures. The new director is David Mackenzie.
The Eye in the Door
June 2003: Here's what The Hollywood Stock Exchange has to say about another possible novel adaptation, by Jonathan Demme:
"Acclaimed director Jonathan Demme is slated to direct the feature film adaptation of Pat Barker's 1995 novel The Eye in the Door. Demme will also develop the film through his production company, Clinica Estetico. The Eye in the Door is a psychological thriller set in London during World War I. The story revolves around a British soldier in the army's internal espionage division who finds himself under investigation. The novel is the second in a trilogy. The first book, Regeneration, was made into a film in the U.K. in 1997 titled Behind the Lines. Demme directed 1998's Beloved and won an Oscar for his direction of 1991's The Silence of the Lambs."
