9 Movies That Were Cancelled At The Last Minute
8. The Alien
The Alien is one of the best (or worse, technically) examples of how shady the movie business can be, with behind the scenes scandal killing The Alien just before shooting commenced.
Indian legend Satyajit Ray had written the script and was set to direct. In front of the camera, Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando were attached to star as well. It was shaping up to be a great movie, but unfortunately it never came to fruition.
Ray’s Hollywood agent Mike Wilson had been hugely important in getting funding to make the movie in the US, helping to secure Sellers and Brando too.
However, he massively overstepped himself when he copyrighted Ray’s script with himself as co-writer, despite having never written a word of it. Around the same time, Brando dropped out and Ray returned to his native India disillusioned with the American industry.
Considering the script concerned an alien crash landing on Earth and befriending a young boy, the similarities to ET are pretty startling. Given the behind the scenes drama of The Alien, some film conspiracy theorists think Ray’s script might have been retooled without him for Spielberg’s famous family flick.