While sitting and thinking about the upcoming remake/sequel to ALICE IN WONDERLAND (trust me, it’s not something I do all that often), I couldn’t help but stumble upon one, key element about the film. It’s Tim Burton. It features Crispin Glover. One has never directed the other before, and this is a surprising notion to come across. Granted, Glover provided a voice in 9 last year, and Tim Burton was a producer on that film. Before that, though, there has never been a collaboration between these two giants of weird.
This got me thinking. What other obvious collaborations are there that, for whatever reasons the cinema Gods felt necessary, never came to fruition. What directors have such an identifiable style that coalesces with the style of an actor or actress that have just never merged together on any, one project?
Here are a few I’ve found:
Martin Scorsese and James Caan
Granted, there are hundreds of thousands of actors who have NOT worked with Martin Scorsese, some of them fairly obvious. I’m sure it would surprise you all to learn he has never directed Tony Soprano himself, James Gandolfini, either. This one, though, shocks me, as James Caan, the quintessential guy’s guy and badass Corleone son, Sonny, has never been directed by Scorsese. Caan has played heroes in his career more than he has villains and mobsters. Nonetheless, this seems like a marriage that should have happened long ago.
John Hughes and Bill Murray
Okay, this one might not be all that head scratching. Hughes mostly directed teen comedies and Murray was mostly in adult-oriented comedies like CADDYSHACK and STRIPES. However, these two were comedy powerhouses throughout the ’80s and most of the ’90s. How their stars never crossed paths, I’ll never know. And I don’t count that tiny cameo Murray had as himself at the end of SHE’S HAVING A BABY. I’ll give you that, Hughes was behind the camera and Murray was in front of it, but the fact that these two never did a full-fledged comedy together is quite surprising.
Ivan Reitman and Steve Martin
This non-collaboration is even more of a head-scratcher than Hughes and Murray. Ivan Reitman had a hand in many an SNL and SCTV alumni’s career, but he and Steve Martin never crossed paths. The closest they come to working together is appearing as themselves in the documentary, STEVE MARTIN: A COMIC LIFE. The fact that Reitman, for all the ’80s, comedy clout he had, never roped Martin in for a role in one of his films is almost sad to consider. There is still time, though, as both of their careers are chugging along quite finely.
William Wyler and John Wayne
Maybe this one isn’t so obvious. William Wyler isn’t exactly known as a director immersed in the Western genre, but the guy did make a movie called THE WESTERNER, and the Duke wasn’t in it. Wyler was also known to make a war movie here or there, and, though most of them dealt with human side of war, none of these featured John Wayne, either. It’s certainly not as surprising as the next one in line, but it’s still somewhat of a surprise to know these two powerhouses in the ’40s and ’50s never crossed paths.
John Ford and Gary Cooper
This one shocked the hell out of me when I uncovered it. On one side, you have John Ford, the man whose name became synonymous with the sense of Americana in the ’30s and ’40s, the man who directed the great Westerns like STAGECOACH and THE SEARCHERS. On the other side, you have Gary Cooper, the quiet but firm, American, leading man who seemed the perfect fit for the protagonist of such films as HIGH NOON and Sergeant York. I guess, if you really want to get technical, John Ford did do uncredited work on 1938’s THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO starring Gary Cooper, but the fact that there was never a full-fledged collaboration between these two is absolutely staggering.
Robert Wise and Vincent Price
Notably, Robert Wise is not most known for the horror or science fiction films he did. The Val Lewton-produced THE BODY SNATCHER & THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL weren’t exactly Wise’s bread and butter. When you look back and really think about their careers, maybe it isn’t such a surprise that Wise and horror master Vincent Price never collaborated, but you can certainly imagine how astounding it would have been had it ever happened.
Garry Marshall or Nora Ephron and Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock was in some of the most memorable romantic comedies (heavy on both sides of that coin) of the ’90s and early 2000s. How none of these were directed by Garry Marshall nor Nora Ephron is beyond me. Granted, Marshall’s clout has somewhat petered off since he peaked with PRETTY WOMAN in 1990, and Ephron had a pretty rough period there in the late ’90s and early 2000s when Meg Ryan decided to call it quits. Nonetheless, there is still plenty of time for these behemoths of the romantic comedy genre to come together. Maybe not so much for Marshall, but the other two have all the time in the world.
Quentin Tarantino and Gary Oldman
You can’t count Drexl Spivey. TRUE ROMANCE was only written by Tarantino, and that Tony Scott film was so re-written and tossed about, it seemed more Roger Avary than Tarantino, anyway. Even so, you cannot imagine how incredible Oldman would be working from an unfiltered Tarantino screenplay with Tarantino himself guiding the performance. This is one that, if it never happens, I will go to my grave shocked at the world. This should happen. This better happen. It’s still white boy day, and Spivey could very easily have a twin brother out there, somewhere.
Steven Spielberg and Gene Hackman
Okay, maybe this one is just personal to me. Gene Hackman is my all-time favorite actor, and throughout the late ’70s and ’80s, he seemed like the kind of person who wasn’t afraid to take on some meaty roles in big budget fare. Call it sacrilege, but just about any Richard Dreyfuss role would have been better served with Hackman the one delivering the performance, and one cannot help but wonder, as good as SUPERMAN was, how much better it would have been with Spielberg at the helm instead of Richard Donner.
Those are just a few I have come up with anyway. Down the road a bit and with a whole lot more digging, I may come up with a part two of this list. What are some collaborations that you are surprised to find have never come to fruition? Let us know. Shoot us a comment with your favorite “would be but never were” Hollywood collaborations.
