LOS ANGELES -- Say anything but that.
It looks like Cameron Crowe has put the kibosh on a Say Anything TV series that was in early development at 20th Century Fox TV and NBC, Deadline first reported Monday.
The plan was to catch up with characters Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) and Diane Court (Ione Skye) from Crowe’s 1989 directorial debut 10 years after their high-school graduation. Problem was, no one told Crowe, Cusack or Skye.
The project had only gotten as far as a script commitment with a penalty (an extra payment in the event it didn’t go forward), but Crowe wasn’t having it.
Regarding the announcement of a "Say Anything" tv show... @JohnCusack, @IoneSkye1 and I have no involvement... except in trying to stop it.— Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe) October 7, 2014
Neither was Cusack:
Hell no !! “@readdreamwrite: .@johncusack Are you or @CameronCrowe involved with this series? http://t.co/CAIfVIR9L3”— John Cusack (@johncusack) October 7, 2014
Fox and NBC don’t necessarily need Crowe’s blessing to go forward with this, but in Hollywood, it’s bad business to anger directors with less clout than that of the Almost Famous director. According to Deadline, the studios tried to reach out to Crowe, but there was some miscommunication (he’s not that hard to find on Twitter, but Hollywood isn’t immune to the game of telephone).
20th Century Fox TV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The networks already have a writer and a producer attached to the project, and are now in the awkward position of either telling them to stand down (and paying them anyway), or quietly forging ahead in hopes they can patch up things with Crowe and get the show going.
That’s a tall order now -- people hate surprises in this town, and even if the material is spectacular, they’ll have a hard time convincing Crowe et al. to give it their blessing.
But hey, longer-shot overtures have paid off in Hollywood before. At least on screen.
