Movie what ifs

[dead-ced-dead]

I was thinking earlier today about Tom Baker's supporting role in Nicholas and Alexandra and then being nominated for two Golden Globes (best supporting actor and best newcomer).

Tom Baker, of course, has a brilliant career, but I do find myself thinking how he must have had meetings with Hollywood agents and managers etc after the Globe nominations.

I sometimes amuse myself thinking about weirdo Baker clashing with glitzy, gaudy Hollywood movies, showing up in naff films as British baddies.

Do you have any?

[Jerzy Bondov]

I like to think about if the Dark Universe was the most successful movie franchise of all time.

[BJBMK2]

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (1972, prod; Lennon, Mccartney, Harrison, Starr)

[Pete23]

Horrible what if - If Jodorowsky's Dune had got made we probably wouldn't have Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner etc.

Nice what if - If Jodorowsky's Dune had got made David Lynch would probably have made Ronnie Rocket (but then there might not be any Twin Peaks).

[Brundle-Fly]

If Sylvester Stallone hadn't lost the role of Axel Foley because he'd been a dick with the Beverly Hills Cop scripts we'd never have seen him star alongside Dolly Parton in Rhinestone in 1984.

[dead-ced-dead]

If Sylvester Stallone hadn't lost the role of Axel Foley because he'd been a dick with the Beverly Hills Cop scripts we'd never have seen him star alongside Dolly Parton in Rhinestone in 1984.

To deprive the world of Drunkenstein would be a sin.

[Glebe]

Just watched some of an episode of the original Magnum P.I. earlier that was completely just a blatant broad comedy pisstake of Indiana Jones, nodding to the fact that Tom Selleck was the original choice to play the adventuring archaeologist but couldn't get out of his contract for the show. Also, facially he's the comic-accurate Jim Gordon we never got.

[Brundle-Fly]

Just watched some of an episode of the original Magnum P.I. earlier that was completely just a blatant broad comedy pisstake of Indiana Jones, nodding to the fact that Tom Selleck was the original choice to play the adventuring archaeologist but couldn't get out of his contract for the show. Also, facially he's the comic-accurate Jim Gordon we never got.

This 1983 movie gave us a fair indication of what might have been.

[Brundle-Fly]

To deprive the world of Drunkenstein would be a sin.

Yes.

[Glebe]

This 1983 movie gave us a fair indication of what might have been.

Never saw that... interesting cast!

[Ignatius_S]

Just watched some of an episode of the original Magnum P.I. earlier that was completely just a blatant broad comedy pisstake of Indiana Jones, nodding to the fact that Tom Selleck was the original choice to play the adventuring archaeologist but couldn't get out of his contract for the show. Also, facially he's the comic-accurate Jim Gordon we never got.

Further to what Brundle-Fly posted, this was quite a while ago, but I read that Ford was a big factor why the films had a lot of humour - Lucas and Spielberg has envisioned them a more straight adventures, but after reading the script, Ford saw the potential of injecting humour. I suspect that that was an oversimplification (there were certainly jokes in the script that didn't make the cut/weren't filmed) but Ford certainly contributed ideas like the shooting of the swordsman (partly born out of desperation).

[phantom_power]

Horrible what if - If Jodorowsky's Dune had got made we probably wouldn't have Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner etc.

Also if Lucas had got the rights to Flash Gordon then we wouldn't have Star Wars or the awesomeness of the Flash Gordon we did get. It would have had unknown knock-on effects on Indiana Jones, Lucas's directing career and Howard the Duck as well

[Egyptian Feast]

Norman Wisdom's The Hobbit.

[George White]

This 1983 movie gave us a fair indication of what might have been.

Also has Brian Blessed cashing on the coattails of his rival/fellow former I Claudius star John Rhys-Davies, by playing the shouty Afghan warlord baddie.

A lot of people esp. post-Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, muse on what could have been Sharon Tate's career had she not been murdered. I have a slightly different perspective. Her last film was an Anglo-Italian comedy called 12 + 1 (1970), another spin on the Russian story the 12 Chairs (adapted by Mel Brooks the same year).  This one though stars Orson Welles, Vittorios De Sica and Gassman, Terry-Thomas and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and was written by Denis Norden. I have this headcanon that Tate befriends Denis, gets him work in Hollywood, and she becomes a ditzy comedy star, possibly stealing a few roles from Goldie Hawn, and eventually in my headcanon starring as Simone Legree in Revenge of the Pink Panther.

[George White]

I was thinking earlier today about Tom Baker's supporting role in Nicholas and Alexandra and then being nominated for two Golden Globes (best supporting actor and best newcomer).

Tom Baker, of course, has a brilliant career, but I do find myself thinking how he must have had meetings with Hollywood agents and managers etc after the Globe nominations.

I sometimes amuse myself thinking about weirdo Baker clashing with glitzy, gaudy Hollywood movies, showing up in naff films as British baddies.

Do you have any?

I'm not sure, considering he was working on a building site after Sinbad. I know he made after the Canterbury Tales, an obscure Italian drama by Enrico Mario Salerno (who I know best as the dad in Night Train Murders) called Cari Genitori opposite Florinda Bolkan, Catherine Spaak and a post-Last Tango Maria Schneider. But I wonder what if he'd moved to Italy instead of staying in England? I can definitely see him in a few fag-end westerns, like say Four of the Apocalypse or Keoma, being a menacing antagonist in say a few Eurocrime movies. For some reason, I can see him taking roles that were played by George Eastman.
Hell, I can even see him in 2019 - After the Fall of New York as the rapey gypsy ape-man. 

If he'd stayed in film circles, I can see him stealing a few parts from Alan Bates.

[holyzombiejesus]

I sometimes think about the alternative reality where Nicolas Cage got to play the lead in The Wrestler instead of Mickey Rourke. I also spend too much time wondering what Mickey's speech would have been like if he'd won the best actor Oscar for that film, especially considering his beloved dog, Loki, had died a couple of days before the ceremony.

[Rizla]

I wish Lewis Collins had got the Bond gig when he went for it, but it probably would have cost us the Daltons, as the grit factor would have been taken care of and they'd likely go back to another Moore type.

I also wish Chas Chandler had got his planned movie version of Garth off the ground in the early 70s, perhaps with a soundtrack by his new discoveries the N'Betweens. It would have been good.