If you’re like me and you tend to be fascinated by stories of egos clashing and bone-headed decisions being made behind closed doors in Hollywood, then here’s a book you might want to check out. Tales from Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made? is written by Empire Magazine contributor David Hughes, the same guy who wrote The Greatest Sci-fi Movies Never Made, and it brings us a whole new set of tales of blockbusters gone awry. The book was actually published back in 2004, but a new edition hits stores next week with some updated chapters and a new foreword (not to mention, much more aesthetically pleasing cover art).

Although The Greatest Sci-fi Movies Never Made sometimes stretched the limits of what could be considered “sci-fi”, there are no such restrictions here, as it covers everything from Total Recall and Batman: Year One to The Lord of the Rings and The Aviator. As you can probably tell, the book is also not focused specifically on projects that never got made; in some cases, it simply traces the chronology of a movie that spent many years in development hell and went through multiple iterations, such as Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

For the most part, the book is a quick and easy read, and it is largely made up of interviews with the various screenwriters and producers involved. Did you know that Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City) was the guy indirectly responsible for kickstarting a Planet of the Apes remake? I didn’t. In situations where bigger names were not available for comment, Hughes has done a lot of painstaking research to find relevant quotes in other publications. However, if you’ve seen the documentary Tales from the Script, you know that screenwriters generally love to be able to tell their side of the story and they have some passionate opinions about what happened to their creations. This is probably the book’s biggest draw.

If there is one complaint I might have about the book, it is the fact that Hughes sometimes gets a little too caught up in sharing the details of an alternate draft of a story. He will often recap entire scripts from beginning to end, without adding any context or commentary. While hardcore fans might love to hear the specifics of how their favourite movie might have turned out differently, I was a lot more interested in the overall story of what happened behind the scenes. The Indiana Jones 4 chapter was a little disappointing, if only because it seemed to consist primarily of summarizing internet gossip.

That being said, this is still must-read material for movie fans. Hughes even injects a little bit of his own personal experience as a screenwriter in the final chapter, including his time spent doing an unnecessary rewrite on Exorcist: The Beginning. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry… you’ll roll your eyes at the insanity of Hollywood. Tales from Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made? hits stores on Tuesday.

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