History Creator / RogerAvary

He can be found on Website/{{Letterboxd}} [[https://letterboxd.com/avary/ here]], and on Vimeo [[https://vimeo.com/avary here]].

* ''ComicBook/SilverSurfer'' -- Written on spec in the late 80s. Based on ComicBook/FantasticFour numbers 48-50, but with all references to the super hero team removed. In Avary's words: "Instead of Johnny Storm traveling to the Negative Zone, it's the Surfer. Instead of ComicBook/ThePunisher guarding the Ultimate Nullifier in the Negative Zone I had a gold-skinned surfer-like guardian. Alecia Masters has no relationship with Ben Grimm, but is still a blind sculptress — through her I have the Surfer rediscovering the humanity he lost when he transformed from Norrin Radd to the herald of ComicBook/{{Galactus}}. Lastly, my first draft supposed that Galactus wasn't necessarily a sentient entity, but a massive and complex planet eating robot-ship that's operated by millions of creatures — [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Borg]]-like (before there were Borg)." Over a decade later, Fox went with a different script for their Silver Surfer movie.

* ''2NDS'' -- Remake of John Frankenheimer's film ''Film/{{Seconds}}'', of which Avary confesses to "adore." An assignment job, it was written for Jonathan Mostow to direct. Though Avary didn't feel it needed to be remade, he reportedly had fun writing it. The project went into turnaround and was cancelled.

* ''Phantasm's End'' -- A proposed fifth film in the ''Film/{{Phantasm}}'' series. Avary, a long-time admirer of Don Coscarelli as well as a fan of the series, collaborated with him in the mid-nineties about the project. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Creator/BruceCampbell was slated to star. The budget needed was too large, so Coscarelli made ''Film/PhantasmIVOblivion'' as a sort of prelude to this project, even including moments that were intended as set ups to this film. After the failure of ''Phantasm IV'', the chances of funding ''Phantasm's End'' became even slimmer. Coscarelli reportedly still wanted to make the film, but after a decade of silence he instead went with a different script for what would become the fifth film, ''Film/PhantasmVRavager''.

* ''Medal of Honor'' -- Miniseries based on the lives of servicemen who have been awarded the medal of honor. Was written in collaboration with [[Film/RedDawn1984 John Milius]], who was also going to produce. Pitched to {{Creator/HBO}} and {{Showtime}}, who both passed due to the high budget and perceived "limited appeal." As of 2012, Milius is still hoping to get the project developed.

* ''99 Days'' -- A Paris-set thriller about a man who gets bitten by a vampire and has 99 days until he's completely turned. Roger Avary has this to say about it: "at one point it was set for Russell Mulcahy to direct. Eventually, rights reverted to me and I tried for a while to make it with myself directing, but other vampire movies continuously got in the way, and the genre soon changed altogether into the ''Film/{{Blade}}''[=/=]''Film/{{Underworld}}''[=/=]''Film/{{Twilight}}'' latex/abs productions we have now. At one point, Creator/GuillermoDelToro, who is a good friend, begged me to give it to him. When I didn't he went off and made ''Film/BladeII'', later telling me that he shamelessly stole all the good bits from my script...which is fine, and doesn't upset me in the slightest. The movie is much more classic and gothic, at least in my eyes, but the last time I dusted it off I was told by Samuel Hadida that it felt old now and picked clean by everything that's come since I first wrote it. Such is the way in Hollywood."

* ''Mr. Stitch'' -- The very first [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] [[Film/SyfyChannelOriginalMovie original movie]], starring Creator/WilWheaton, Rutger Hauer, and Creator/RonPerlman. A reworking of the ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' story, with modern technological twists. Has yet to get a [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes region 1 dvd release]].

* ''Film/{{Domino}}'' -- Creator/TonyScott, who enjoyed working with Roger on True Romance, asked him to contribute a draft of his long-in-development Domino. Eventually, Scott went with a script from writer/director Richard Kelly. Scott viewed Domino Harvey as a living movie character, and said he didn't use Avary's script because it read more like a traditional biopic than the movie Domino was meant to star in. After reading Kelly's script for ''Film/SouthlandTales'', Scott was impressed enough to ask him to write a draft. Avary holds no grudge, and remained friends with Tony to his untimely death.

* VideoGame/{{Driver}} -- Based on the video gamer series, he was hired to write and direct. "In the VideoGame/Driv3r game, Timmy Vermicelli was a joke character based on Tommy Vercetti, the character from GTA3. So I made Timmy the villain, who kills Tanner, who would be played by Michael Madsen who voiced the character in the game. Tanner's son, Driver, hunts the killer around the world for revenge, eventually ending up in Iraq, where the mob has been hired by the U.S. government as a subcontractor of drugs and prostitution in the green zone. The basic idea is that Vermicelli drives around shooting people in Iraq, much like GTA, but it always gets blamed on insurgents -- so he does it with impunity. Think of the movie as ''GTA'' set in Bagdad." After submitting extensive storyboards to the producers, a higher-up from the studio came down and insisted the movie be made for $40 million. The project was dead less than a week later. Avary has commented that seeing {{Film/Drive}} "nullified my need to make the film."

He can be found on Letterboxd [[https://letterboxd.com/avary/ here]], and on Vimeo [[https://vimeo.com/avary here]].