Francis Ford Coppola's unrealized projects

In 1962, Coppola won first prize in UCLA's eighth annual Samuel Goldwyn Foundation Creative Writing contest for the original screenplay Pilma Pilma.[1] Despite gaining some notoriety in the industry, his screenplay was never produced into a film.

One of Coppola's early screenplays, titled The Fifth Coin, at one point was to star George Segal and be helmed by British director Ken Annakin in the mid-60s.[2][3]

According to Scenario magazine, Coppola had written an early script called My Last Duchess, loosely inspired by the Robert Browning poem of the same name.[3]

Coppola wrote an early draft of Reflections in a Golden Eye, at that time with Tony Richardson attached to direct, but his revision was ultimately never used after Richardson was replaced.[4][5][3]

In the early 1970s, Coppola wrote a screenplay adaptation of the period novel The Disenchanted, by Budd Schulberg. The novel was based in part on the relationship between Schulberg and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the ill-fated writing assignment they were tasked with in the 1920s. Several writers made previous attempts at adapting the novel to screen, including John Huston and Julius J. Epstein, "but Coppola's script is the best," claimed Schulberg. In 1990, there was talk of Gene Kirkwood trying to secure financing for Coppola's adaptation.[6]

In 1974, Coppola told The New York Times that he was writing a "small, personal film—about twins, one male and one female."[7]

In September 1975, Coppola acquired the screen rights to John Fante's novel The Brotherhood of the Grape. He was reported to direct the film from a screenplay by Robert Towne, but the film was ultimately never made due to Coppola's preoccupation on the lengthy production of Apocalypse Now.[8][9]

In April 1975, it was reported that Coppola would co-write, direct and produce the science fiction TV special First Contact for NBC‐TV during the 1976–77 season. Collaborating on the original story with astronomer Carl Sagan, Coppola said it would concern "the earth's response to its first contact with beings from another planet."[10] The television program was never produced, but in 1985, Sagan published their script as the novel Contact, albeit without Coppola's credit or permission, and sold the film rights to Warner Bros. before his death. This led to a lawsuit between him and Warner, with Coppola claiming that it was based on his story, seeking $250,000 in compensatory damages and an injunction against production or distribution of the film.[11][12][13]

In September 1978, the screen rights to Jack Kerouac's On the Road were bought by Coppola.[14] Initially interested in directing the film himself, it underwent several different adaptations throughout the 1980s, with Coppola enlisting a new co-writer each time, intent on getting a script that captured the spirit of the source novel.[15][14] Michael Herr[16][17] and Barry Gifford both worked on screenplays at separate stages,[15] as well as Coppola's son, Roman.[14] "I tried to write a script, but I never knew how to do it," Coppola said in 2007. "It's hard – it's a period piece. It's very important that it be period. Anything involving period costs a lot of money."[18] In 1995, Coppola toyed with the notion of filming On the Road on black and white 16 mm film, with Ethan Hawke and Brad Pitt playing the two leads.[18][19] According to John H. Williams, the film's producer at the time, Coppola "got backed up" in his infamous studio lawsuit with Warner Bros. and had to abandon the project.[19] After this version also faltered, Coppola stepped away as director, and in 2001 enlisted novelist Russell Banks to pen a new adaptation for Joel Schumacher to direct.[19] Schumacher wanted Billy Crudup and Colin Farrell, but this too failed.[18] In 2005, it was reported that an adaptation of On the Road would begin shooting the following year in Spring, with Walter Salles instead taking over as director, using a separate adaptation penned by José Rivera.[15][20] Coppola served as executive producer on this version, which would be delayed for another several years before eventually seeing release in 2012.[14]

In late 1970s, Al Pacino sought to star in a biopic about the painter Amedeo Modigliani, based on a play by Dennis McIntyre, and had wanted Coppola to direct. After reading Richard Price's screenplay draft in 1979, he turned down Pacino's proposition and would instead move on to other projects.[21]

In 1979, The Washington Post reported that author Thomas Thompson had struck a deal with Coppola to direct the adaptation of his novel Serpentine.[22]

Coppola planned to direct Spring Snow,[23] adapted from the first novel in the tetralogy of novels written by Yukio Mishima. The film was among the projects that were in development at American Zoetrope in 1981.[9]

In 1982, Coppola made a deal with Orion Pictures and HBO to direct The Pope of Greenwich Village, then under the title The Village, with Mickey Rourke and Al Pacino signed to play the leads. However, after the film moved back to United Artists, Coppola dropped out. For the final film, Rourke remained in the cast, but Pacino was replaced by Eric Roberts.[24][25]

According to David Webb Peoples, Coppola optioned an early draft of his script in 1984 when it had been developed under the titles The Cut-Whore Killings and The William Munny Killings. Despite his interest, Coppola failed to the raise the money to develop the project any further, and the film was later made by Clint Eastwood as Unforgiven, in 1992.[26][27]

After having previously partnered with author William Kennedy on the screenplay for The Cotton Club, Coppola developed an adaptation of his novel Legs in 1984 that was to star Mickey Rourke in the role of Jack "Legs" Diamond. After Coppola, the project briefly had Michael Cimino attached to helm, for Dino De Laurentiis. Neither version was made.[28][29]

In 1986, Coppola was one of several directors approached by Walter Mirisch and Elmore Leonard to direct the adaptation of Leonard's novel LaBrava for Cannon Films. Dustin Hoffman was attached to star, and Coppola wanted to do it, but only after he finished Peggy Sue Got Married and the then-in-the-works Legs. However, this postponement would have taken past the mandated start date for shooting, so Cannon and Coppola parted ways.[29]

As early as the late 1980s, Coppola had begun considering concepts for a live-action film based upon the 19th century novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio. In 1991, Coppola made a contingent deal with Warner Bros. to produce and direct the The Adventures of Pinocchio, as well as two others involving the life of J. Edgar Hoover and the children's novel The Secret Garden. Jim Henson Productions, Inc. had entered the project as co-producer and Frank Galati and Mauro Borrelli were contacted for screenwriting and artistic services, respectively. In May 1992, Coppola wrote a treatment for the film, which was registered with the Writers Guild. The following year, Galati submitted his first draft screenplay for Pinocchio, which was deemed "unacceptable" by Warner Bros., who decided not to move forward on the basis of his screenplay. At this time, approximately $350,000 had been spent on the project. Despite this, Coppola continued to develop the film and, in mid-1993, collaborated with Mauro Borrelli on yet another draft which differed significantly from the Galati screenplay.[30] He also wrote 12 original songs for potential use,[31] and had apparently considered casting Michael Jackson for the lead role.[32] In June 1994,[30] Coppola tried to set up the film at Columbia Pictures (with an estimated $50 million budget[31]), who said that his hoped-for January 1995 production start was unlikely and that the earliest filming could commence was spring.[32] Coppola told Daily Variety in 1994 that the film would not be a remake of the 1940 animated film; "I'd only attempt it because the Disney movie is different from the original story." For the design of the Pinocchio puppet, Coppola brought aboard Dean Tavoularis, Don Was, Karl Lagerfeld, Jim Dine and Brian Henson, claiming that it would be the product of "a whole range of the latest [filming] technology from puppet to live action to the computer technology started with Jurassic Park."[31] Coppola later mentioned that he intended for sections of the film to be shot in 3D.[33] Warner Bros., however, refused to relinquish the rights to the property to Columbia (despite the story being in the public domain), claiming they owned any and all of Coppola's work on any type or nature of Pinocchio film in perpetuity.[30] In 1995, Coppola sued Warner Bros. for "tortious interference", which began a long legal battle.[34] In 1998, a jury awarded Coppola $80 million against Warner Bros; $60 million in punitive damages and $20 million in compensation,[35] though these payments were later revoked by the appeals court in 2001 when he lost the suit. It was concluded that Warner Bros. had falsely claimed to have a deal, thus depriving Coppola of his chance to make the film with Columbia.[34]

While preparing the script for The Godfather Part III, Coppola and Mario Puzo briefly flirted with the idea of a potential fourth film in the series. The project was delayed several times, due to Coppola's prolonged series of lawsuits.[36] Puzo had reportedly written a treatment for Part IV, intending it to be both a sequel and prequel told in a similar narrative to The Godfather Part II, that would have focused on Vincent Corleone's reign as new head of the crime family as well as young Sonny Corleone's rise to power in the 1930s.[37][36] Leonardo DiCaprio was even cast to star as a young Sonny,[38] but plans were officially scrapped following Puzo's death in 1999. Elements of his story formed the basis of a 2012 novel The Family Corleone.[37]

Coppola initially considered making The Secret Garden as a directing/producing vehicle for Warner Bros. in 1991,[30] though he would later relinquish his role and instead serve as executive producer on the film.

In October 1991, it was reported that Coppola would direct Hoover, a biopic adapted from the non-fiction book J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets for Quincy Jones Entertainment.[39][40] He had first intended to direct and produce the film for Warner Bros., in addition to his Pinocchio project, though this deal was never finalized.[30]

In December 1991, it was reported that Coppola had purchased the screen rights to Norman Mailer's spy thriller novel Harlot's Ghost, and had tapped John Milius to pen the adaptation. "It's a perfect film for Francis," said Milius. "It deals with things he already knows–gangsters and war. It's like a cross between The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. It's about families and duplicity and danger, but this time provoked by the government." According to Zoetrope president Fred Fuchs, the company hoped to have a completed draft of the script by fall of 1992 for production to be able to begin in 1993.[41]

In 1994, Eric Roth wrote the original screenplay The Good Shepherd for Coppola to direct for Columbia Pictures. Coppola stepped down from the project, citing an inability to relate to the main characters due to their "lack of emotion", but remained on as an executive producer. The film languished in development hell for years, eventually being made over a decade later, in 2006.[42]

For a time in the late 1990s, Coppola was attached to direct a feature adaptation of the Japanese manga series, Mai, the Psychic Girl.[43]