10 Guillermo Del Toro Movies That Are Never Going To Happen
4. Slaughterhouse-Five
What is it? A new version of Kurt Vonnegut's postmodern anti-war satirical novel about the fire-bombing of Dresden, post-traumatic stress disorder, fatalistic aliens and time travel, following the critically acclaimed but financially unsuccessful 1972 version from Butch Cassidy director George Roy Hill. Back in 2013, Del Toro announced that he had plans to make a version of the novel that focused on "what it means to be human" and that Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind writer Charlie Kaufman was attached to write the screenplay. Why won't it happen? Once again, this is a project that emerged from the director's 2009 multi-film deal with Universal, who made the original 1970s film and still hold the rights to the novel. As with Frankenstein or Drood, then, Del Toro will have to get the studio to agree to back him on an ambitious project that covers multiple time periods and controversial material (the book has been at the heart of a number of censorship debates over the years). More significantly, perhaps, the highly anticipated collaboration with Kaufman would require both men to have time in their schedules to get together and hash out a new version of the movie. Since becoming a director himself, and currently enjoying praise for the innovative animation Anomalisa, Kaufman doesn't seem to have much time on his hands. Back in 2013, Del Toro compared getting the movie into production to another classic twentieth century anti-war satire. "Its just a catch-22. The studio will make it when its my next movie, but how can I commit to it being my next movie until theres a screenplay? Charlie Kaufman is a very expensive writer!" So, that's probably where this project is going to stall.
