The Lost Girls Final Analysis And the Band Played On On October 1, 1991, the
Los Angeles Times reported that Schumacher would no longer be directing the TV
docudrama And the Band Played On, which was adapted from
Randy Shilts's 1987
novel.
Roger Spottiswoode took his place and the film aired in 1993.
''The Devil's Advocate'' The Crowded Room On November 5, 1995, Schumacher was hired to direct the movie adaptation of
Daniel Keyes's novel
The Minds of Billy Milligan entitled
The Crowded Room. Eventually Schumacher left the project due to his commitment to
Batman & Robin. On October 13, 2004, Schumacher was again attached as director of the project but soon left.
An anthology television series of the novel aired on
Apple TV+ in 2023, written by
Akiva Goldsman who had written both
Batman Forever and
Batman & Robin for Schumacher.
Batman Unchained The Runaway Jury In 1996, Schumacher was set to direct the film adaptation of
John Grisham's novel
The Runaway Jury, which was expected to enter production in October the following year with a cast of
Sean Connery,
Gwyneth Paltrow and
Edward Norton. However, by July 1997, Schumacher dropped out of the project. According to
Variety, the film stalled due to the fact that it "hinged on a landmark tobacco lawsuit that wasn't timely after tobacco lawsuit losses" and was being reworked to focus on gun manufacturing instead.
Philip Kaufman and
Alfonso Cuarón both signed on in his place at different times.
Gary Fleder instead stepped in and the film was released as
Runaway Jury in 2003.
Gossip On January 9, 1997, it was revealed that Schumacher was stepping down as director of the psychological thriller film
Gossip for
Warner Bros., opting instead to executive produce.
Popcorn In place of
Gossip, Schumacher signed on to direct an adaptation of
Ben Elton's novel
Popcorn for Warner Bros., with Elton writing the script. The film was expected go forward later in September that year, following Schumacher's promotional obligations for
Batman & Robin. By August 1999,
Brendan Fraser and
Kate Winslet were lined up to star, but their asking price would have brought the budget of the film from $30 million to $50 million and over. Lakeshore and Schumacher hoped to cast
Freddie Prinze Jr. in place of Fraser and to keep Winslet at a more modest fee, but these plans did not come to pass. Instead, Schumacher left the project, which became
Wicker Park, directed by
Paul McGuigan.
Church of the Dead Girls On April 14, 1999, it was reported that Schumacher had been attached to direct an adaptation of
Stephen Dobyns'
Church of the Dead Girls for
Good Machine and
Universal Pictures, with
Doug Wright writing the script. The horror novel is set in a small town in which a seemingly random disappearance of three local teenagers takes place. ==2000s==