10 Insane Movies That Were Almost Made

by Danny Meegan

1. Ronnie Rocket

David Lynch The Art Life
Criterion

The Movie: From renowned WTF filmmaker David Lynch, Ronnie Rocket would have followed a detective (who, according to the script, wielded the powerful ability to... stand on one leg) looking for a mysterious second dimension.

Lynch once described the movie as being about "a three-foot tall guy with red hair and physical problems, and about 60-cycle alternating current electricity." A group known as "The Donut Men", who could use electricity as a weapon, would've been involved. Ronnie also needed to be plugged in at regular intervals, to give him a supply of energy. To say that this movie would've been mad is quite the understatement.

Why It Wasn't Made: Ronnie Rocket was intended to be Lynch's next project after the successful Eraserhead, but it was simply a case of him being unable to find funding. The wacky nature of the premise turned a lot of prospective financiers off, and other backers (like Evil Dead II producer De Laurentiis Entertainment Group) went bankrupt before work on the film could begin.

Lynch kept returning to Ronnie Rocket every couple of years, but it wasn't meant to be. And considering that, in the 1980s, he wasn't half the respected name he is today, it's not surprising that he struggled to get this bizarre movie off the ground.

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Which of these failed movies would you like to have seen the most? Let us know in the comments section!

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!