8 HUGE Movies That Were Cancelled Just Before Shooting

Sadly, the world of Hollywood isn't always glitz and glamour, which one little film that came about form the mind of prolific Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray proves. The Alien was a concept that sounds eerily familiar now, but was brand new back in 1967, detailing an alien that accidentally crash lands on Earth and bonds with a young boy. Speilberg's E.T., anyone?

The film was put together with powerhouse names in the form of Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers, but before filming could be locked down, Ray discovered that his script had been stolen from under his nose. Even worse, it was by his very own agent in Hollywood, Michael Wilson, who had copyrighted the movie under his own name - even though he'd had nothing to do with its creation - and appropriated the fee.

Left hanging when Brando dropped out, Ray decided to leave the project and return to Calcutta since the whole thing had essentially been taken out of his hands anyway, and of course Wilson didn't continue with the script.

Ray pointed out the similarities with his concept to Spielberg's work when they were produced, but the latter abruptly denied 'borrowing' any ideas for his work, despite having an eerily similar character design to Ray's descriptions of his extraterrestrial. Fishy, all this.