Quentin Tarantino's unrealized projects
The following is a list of unproduced Quentin Tarantino projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Quentin Tarantino has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects are officially cancelled and scrapped or fell in development hell. 1980s Love Birds in Bondage Tarantino co-wrote Love Birds in Bondage with Scott Magill or McGill. Tarantino would go on to co-produce and co-direct the film. Magill committed suicide in 1987, but not before destroying all footage that had been shot. The film concerned a young woman who suffered a traumatic brain injury after an accident leading her to act erratically. She is institutionalized in a mental hospital and her boyfriend figures out a way to get himself admitted. Tarantino also played the boyfriend. My Best Friend's Birthday Long before his first released feature Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino met with Craig Hamann and was introduced to his 30-40 page script, My Best Friend's Birthday. Tarantino helped expand the script up to 80 pages and agreed to direct the film. On a $5,000 budget and a 16 mm camera, the film was shot in the span of four years. It was often alleged that the completed run time came out to 70 minutes but due to a lab fire during editing, the film was nearly destroyed, and only 36 minutes remained. However, in the 2019 book My Best Friend's Birthday: The Making of a Quentin Tarantino Film, written by Andrew J. Rausch, it was revealed the fire story was fabricated, with Tarantino choosing not to dismiss it as he thought it sounded interesting. In actuality, some rolls of film were simply discarded by mistake, and Tarantino, unsatisfied with the final product, edited together the scenes he liked, leaving the project unfinished. The 36 minute version was roughly edited together, and screened at several film festivals. The Open Road Tarantino co-worker and collaborator Roger Avary wrote a 40–80 page script while working with Tarantino at Video Archives. Avary likened it to Martin Scorsese's After Hours. The story revolved around a button up business man who decides to leave his world for the open road. He ends up picking up a wild hitchhiker and they get into various adventures. However, Avary struggled to finish the story and some point Tarantino started to work on it and make changes. According to Tarantino the title of the screenplay was Pandemonium Reigns. According to Avary, Pandemonium Reigns was a separate script about a boxer who does not throw a fight, and the origins of Butch Coolidge. At some point the script was named The Open Road and Tarantino ended up turning it into a 500 page screenplay with Avary. A significant change came when Tarantino changed the business man and hitchhiker into a comic book store worker and a call girl named Clarence and Alabama. Clarence begins to write a movie script while the two of them are on the road about a