A compulsively readable journey into the area of movie-making where all writers, directors and stars fear to tread: Development Hell, the place where scripts are written, actors hired and sets designed... but the movies rarely actually get made! Whatever happened to Darren Aronofsky's Batman movie starring Clint Eastwood? Why were there so many scripts written over the years for Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's fourth Indiana Jones movie? Why was Lara Croft's journey to the big screen so tortuous, and what prevented Paul Verhoeven from filming what he calls "one of the greatest scripts ever written"? Why did Ridley Scott's Crisis in the Hot Zone collapse days away from filming, and were the Beatles really set to star in Lord of the Rings? What does Neil Gaiman think of the attempts to adapt his comic book series The Sandman? All these lost projects, and more, are covered in this major book, which features many exclusive interviews with the writers and directors involved.

本書は、ハリウッドの華やかな表舞台の裏側に沈んだ「未完の傑作」たちへの鎮魂歌です。著者のデヴィッド・ヒューズは、冷徹な分析と映画への情熱を携え、創作の迷宮である開発地獄の深淵に切り込みます。そこにあるのは単なる失敗談ではなく、作家たちが魂を削り、それでも挫折せざるを得なかった野心的なビジョンの輝きです。 商業主義と芸術性が激突する瞬間に宿るドラマこそが、本書の真髄といえるでしょう。完成しなかったからこそ、その可能性は無限であり、読者の脳裏には存在しないはずの映像が鮮烈に浮かび上がります。創作の残酷さと美しさを同時に突きつける、全表現者必読のドキュメンタリーです。