20 Failed Movie Plans That'll Ruin Your Day

There's a large category of novels that should not be adaptable for the screen, chief amongst them Kurt Vonnegut's searing anti-war classic, Slaughterhouse-Five. But, hey, if anyone could adapt such a twisty, time-bending tale of identity crises and violence, then surely it would be Charlie Kaufman. 

That was the plan, at least, when Guillermo del Toro enlisted Kaufman's help in writing a script based on the book. Kaufman, a master of surrealism and emotionally charged symbolism, as seen in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York, was reportedly up the task. 

Ultimately, the project never really gained traction, as del Toro - a director always working, plotting projects that would never come to be - moved onto bigger studio pictures like Pacific Rim, and Kaufman turned his attention to more relationship-driven mind-f*cks like I'm Thinking of Ending Things and Anomalisa. 

Given the talent involved and the moral complexities of Vonnegut's novel, this is one adaptation that should have been, but never will be, and that really doesn't feel right at all.