Todd Field's unrealized projects

After graduating from the AFI Conservatory in 1995, Field wrote a coming-of-age story "that is fairly autobiographical about when I was about sixteen" set in the 1980s. Only his second feature script that he wrote, Field intended to send it to Stacey Snider, president of TriStar Pictures at the time, but was encouraged by his then-agent not to. "I kind of decided then that I'd probably wait until I was about fifty to make it. Because then 1980 will really feel like a period."[2]

In 2002, Field sought to direct an adaptation of the Richard Yates novel Revolutionary Road as his follow up to In the Bedroom. At the time, the rights to the novel were held by the Patrick O'Neale estate. O'Neale's widow agreed to give Field permission under the condition that he shoot from her husband's script. Field, who wanted to write it himself, respectfully declined.[3] A film of the novel was later made in 2008, and directed by Sam Mendes, using a separate script by Justin Haythe. "That was the film I really wanted to make," said Field in 2023. "It's the ultimate [story of] dashed American dreams or the lie of the middle class in the suburbs. It's the seminal novel. It really is."[4]

In 2003, DreamWorks Pictures optioned the rights to Gene Smith's non-fiction book American Gothic for Field to direct, with Scott Smith tapped to write the script.[5] Set during the Civil War period, the film was to have been a biopic of the famed stage actor Edwin Booth, brother of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth:

"I kind of fell in love with this man [Edwin Booth]. He changed the way we think of drama, theater and acting. He also happened to have an incredibly tragic life. His father was a great actor who was quite a character and also very disturbed. After two years of marriage he lost the great love of his life and had to raise their child alone. He was the most famous man in America but he was also a very introverted and shy individual. And then he had this brother who was a real showboat, by all accounts not much of an actor, who ended up killing the president."[3]

Field himself spent more than a year doing research for Time Between Trains, frequenting the Theater Collection at Harvard's Pusey Library. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times in 2007, Field revealed the story spanned five decades and five major cities, recreated in meticulous detail, requiring a massive budget.[6] Despite production rumored to start in early 2004,[5] after executive Michael De Luca left DreamWorks, new leadership refused to finance the expensive period epic, with Steven Spielberg delivering the news to Field that they halted further development on the film. "How can you get someone to put $50 million-$80 million on a movie that has no explosions?" Field told The Hollywood Reporter. "I can't argue with that. It was partly my own naivete saying, I can make whatever I want to make."[7]

In 2004, Field committed to direct The Crowded Room for New Regency and Fox Searchlight, and co-produce the film with Alexandra Milchan. Based on a true story of a man who was diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder, the script by Todd Graff had first been developed for director James Cameron, and then later David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh and Danny DeVito, prior to Field boarding the project.[8]

Rose was reported to be one of several directing vehicles Field had set up at his DreamWorks-based Standard Film Company with Leon Vitali. Written by H. G. Bissenger, the project is believed to have been adapted from Bissenger's 2001 Vanity Fair article "A Darker Shade of Rose".[8]

Backroads was another project Field was going to direct through his Standard Film Company production shingle. An adaptation of the novel by Tawni O'Dell, the film was due to be produced by Frank Darabont, with Ethan Gross and Paul Todisco on board as screenwriters.[8]

Field himself was slated to produce a film titled Eastside Westside alongside William Teitler and Charles Weinstock, from a script written by Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright.[8]

At DreamWorks, Field planned to resurrect the WWII project The Ninth Man, based upon the 1976 novel, which Steven Spielberg had almost directed an adaptation of 30 years prior. Blake Masters and Ross Parker both worked on the script each at various times.[8]

Field had originally envisioned his film Little Children as an eight-hour miniseries adaptation for HBO, that would allow him to dig further into each character's backstory. At the time Field gave the pitch, the idea of a miniseries or a limited series was unheard of as something that would be profitable to studios; "They said, 'Nobody makes miniseries anymore. No one would ever do that. There's no such form'." Producer Scott Rudin later came in and purchased the rights to the novel, wanting to set it up as a feature film for Field to direct at New Line Cinema.[4]

During the awards season for 2006's Little Children, Field told Variety magazine that his next movie would be "an original script, but I really don't know what it's about yet because I haven't finished writing it."[9] The following year, it was reported that Media Rights Capital was repping "the next, currently untitled film" to be written and directed by Field.[10]

As early as 2008, Field was attached to adapt and direct Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian for producer Scott Rudin.[11] A passion project for Field, he worked on the adaptation for over two years before moving on to other projects. Numerous directors had tried and failed to helm separate adaptations while Field's version remained stuck in development at Paramount Vantage, before the company's eventual collapse in 2014.[12]

Later that year, Field was signed on by Paramount Vantage to direct and co-produce (with Alexandra Milchan) the film Buried. Based on an article by Hillel Levin and James Keene about a couple who are forced to cope with the fallout on their relationship after they commit a crime, the screenplay by Brad Ingelsby was reported to contain elements of dark comedy.[13] In August 2012, the project was again reported, under a new title Nancy and Danny with Field stepping down as director due to his commitment to The Creed of Violence, and instead serving as producer.[14] In October 2012, the title was again changed to Hold on to Me. Carey Mulligan and Robert Pattinson were to star in the film, which was going to be directed by James Marsh.[15]

In 2009, Field was reported to be adapting the then unreleased Boston Teran novel The Creed of Violence, a Western epic set in 1910.[16] In 2011, Daily Variety reported that Field was committed to directing the project as well, and that Leonardo DiCaprio was offered one of the lead roles.[17] The following year, it was officially confirmed that Christian Bale would star in the film, with principal photography set to commence sometime in early 2013.[18] The film was due to be produced and financed by Cross Creek Pictures, with Universal set to distribute at that time. In 2019, the project was again reported, this time with Daniel Craig attached to star. Production was slated to start in the spring of 2020 after Craig completed No Time to Die,[19] though the film was likely shelved indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2010, Deadline Hollywood reported that Bobby Moresco was writing a script titled Hubris for Field to direct at Universal.[20] The project was later reported the following year to be a true-crime gangster revenge film based on a 2007 Playboy article titled "Boosting the Big Tuna" about the infamous murders of the men who burglarized Chicago mafia boss Tony Accardo's house in the late 1970s.[21]

It was reported that, in June 2012, Field had worked on an adaptation of Aravind Adiga's novel The White Tiger, but couldn't get it off the ground due to a legal battle with the film's India-based financier over whether or not he could make the film he wanted or if one of the backers had the right to reject the script.[22] The project eventually wound up as a 2021 Netflix feature, albeit without Field's involvement.

In August 2012, Field was reported to be co-writing a script called As It Happens with Joan Didion, described as being a "political thriller".[23] Jennifer Fox was set to produce, and Field had met with Cate Blanchett for the lead role.[24] The film was not made, however, Field and Blanchett would later reunite for 2022's Tár.

In April 2013, Field's Standard Film Company, Cross Creek Pictures and Smuggler Films were announced to be teaming up to finance a film adaptation of Jess Walter's novel Beautiful Ruins, for Field to direct.[25] Walter was confirmed to be co-writing the adaptation with Field. In November of that year, it was announced Imogen Poots was attached to star, with filming scheduled to begin in Italy in May 2014.[26]

Field participated in the documentary The Battered Bastards of Baseball which premiered on Netflix in January 2014. There was talk of turning the story into a narrative film with Field and Kurt Russell both involved, who had both played for the Portland Mavericks when they were young. In the same month, filmmaker Justin Lin acquired the rights to produce the adaptation after a bidding war with Fox Searchlight, Columbia Pictures, and DreamWorks.[27] "It would be a great movie if you could get it right," Field said. "If I were to make it, I wouldn't want to sanitize it, you know? It's not a Disney movie. There's a huge amount of heart and a lot of love that was within that team obviously, but it wasn't a polite situation."[28]

On June 16, 2014, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the rights to make a feature film from the Rolling Stone article "America's Last Prisoner of War",[29] about U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, with Field attached to write and direct. However, the day prior, filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow had announced she was interested in directing a biopic about Bergdahl with Mark Boal writing the screenplay for Annapurna Pictures.[30][31] On January 17, 2015, Bigelow's version supposedly won the duel over Field's, but she ultimately opted to make Detroit instead.[32]

In 2016, Field worked on a planned television adaptation of the 2015 Jonathan Franzen novel Purity, which was to be a 20-hour limited series for Showtime.[33] The series was to be co-written by Field, Franzen and playwright David Hare. It would have starred Daniel Craig as the lead and been executive produced by Field, Franzen, Craig, Hare and Scott Rudin.[34] In 2016 Franzen said on The Diane Rehm Show that he was learning the art of adaptation from Field, whom he considered a "master" of the form.[35] But in a February 2018 interview with The Times, Hare said that, given the budget for the adaptation ($170 million), he doubted it would ever be made. "It was one of the richest and most interesting six weeks of my life, sitting in a room with Todd Field, Jonathan Franzen and Daniel Craig bashing out the story. They're extremely interesting people", Hare added.[36] "We wrote 2,000 pages for that series," Field told The New York Times in 2022. "What we were proposing to them was, 'Use this as a way to go through the door that is inevitable for you, into a streaming service. You need to do something that's big and has some sweep to it.' But yes, it was large and ambitious, and they didn't ultimately have the belly for it."[37]

In January 2022, it was revealed that Field would direct the first two episodes of Hulu's miniseries adaptation of The Devil in the White City starring Keanu Reeves, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese signed on to executive produce.[38] Production and filming were expected to begin March 2023 in Chicago and Toronto, with the series set to launch on the streaming platform sometime in 2024.[39] However, following Reeves departure in October of that year, Field left shortly thereafter.[40]

In 2023, Field teased a project that he and Adam Sandler had discussed collaborating on; "We've been talking about some things. It's too early [to say]."[41][42]

According to Martin Scorsese, Field had assisted him in writing an adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's novel Home, for Scorsese to direct.[43]

According to Cameron Crowe, Field was considered for the role of Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything that ultimately went to John Cusack.[44]

According to Field, he auditioned for the role of Mr. Orange in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. "It was down to the wire between Tim Roth and me," Field said, though Roth ultimately got the part.[6]

Field also auditioned for a role in the unmade Miloš Forman film Hell Camp, set in Japan. The studio wanted someone more well known to play the role he auditioned for, suggesting John Cusack. However, since Forman preferred Field, the film was not made.[6]