When Russell Crowe asked his friend Nick Cave to pen a sequel to Gladiator, the brooding polymath came up with a genius workaround to the problem of Maximus’ death at the end of first film.

In the script for Gladiator 2, they resurrect Maximus and command him to assassinate Christ – who turns out to be the gladiator’s own son.

Cave’s script sees the Roman gods lamenting the rising popularity of a young heretic named Jesus of Nazareth. They resurrect Maximus and command him to assassinate Christ – who turns out to be the gladiator’s own son. Enraged and bereft, Maximus becomes an immortal mercenary, turning up at the Vietnam War by the end of the film. Crowe wasn’t impressed.

Cave has since said of the project, “I enjoyed writing it because I knew on every level that it was never going to get made.”

The Tourist

Claire Noto’s 1982 erotic sci-fi screenplay tells the story of a homesick alien, exiled on planet Earth, who passes for human by taking on the form of a glamorous business executive. When she’s not closing deals in her plush office, she frequents underground alien sex bars full of horny intergalactic creatures. Physical contact is fatal for her, but she has tremulous mind orgasms by whispering into people’s ears.

H.R. Giger – the artist responsible for Ridley Scott’s iconic Alien – produced some racy designs for the film involving lots of slime, tentacles and contorted flesh. But the project ground to a halt as various producers tried – and failed – to sanitise the highly unique script. Noto herself believes that the film can no longer be made, stating that her original ideas have been plundered by mainstream franchises such as Species and Men In Black.