Mary Queen of Scots (unmade film)

Mary Queen of Scots is an unmade feature film from Alexander Mackendrick. It was almost made in the late 1960s but filming did not proceed. The script has been much acclaimed and has been the subject of academic appraisal as well as being adapted for radio.[1][2]

It has been called Mackendrick's "lost masterwork".[3]

Background

Alexander Mackendrick developed the project for many years. He wrote a version of the script in 1961.[4][5] Jay Presson Allen also worked on the script.

In May 1968 Universal announced they would finance.[6]

The film focused on the last fifteen months of Mary's life in Scotland. "I see her as the career girl of her time - a girl of real political intelligence and shrewdness," said Mackendrick. He said the film would be made in the style of a Western, saying Scotland of Mary's time was similarly lawless.[7]

In 1969 Universal announced that Mia Farrow would play Mary Queen of Scots with filming to start in spring.[8] Sandy Lieberson was the executive.[3]

However the film was cancelled in April 1969. Universal instead financed a Hal B. Wallis produced version of the story, Mary Queen of Scots. The experience prompted Mackendrick to retire from filmmaking.[3]

The project developed a cult reputation and is one of the best known unfilmed scripts in British cinema. The script was adapted as a radio drama by the BBC in 2018.[9][10]

References
  1. Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away (Dermot McQuarrie, 1986) Scottish television.
  2. Hoyle, Brian (25 November 2019). "Alexander Mackendrick's Mary Stuart and Alan Sharp's Burns Two Unfilmed Scottish Biopics". A Companion to the Biopic.
  3. Mackendrick, Helen (4 June 2004). "The Lost Queen".
  4. Copy of script at Warwick University Library
  5. Mackendrick, Alexander. (1968). Mary Stuart. University of Dundee Archives, uncatalogued.
  6. "Movie call sheet". The Los Angeles Times Part 4. 9 May 1968. p. 16.
  7. Macewan, Ian (16 November 1968). "New screen version of Mary, Queen of Scots, ready to roll". The Montreal Star. p. 45.
  8. "Mia Farrow signs fo 'important' Mary Queen of Scots role". Calgary Herald. 15 May 1969. p. 27.
  9. "Alexander MacKendrick's Mary Queen of Scots". BBC. 8 December 2018.
  10. Kuhn, Annette. "Mackendrick, Alexander (1912-1993)". BFI Screenonline.
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