Studios have full control over their titles and can recycle the material any way they want without the filmmakers' consent. The filmmakers can make a lot of noise about a proposed project that they essentially kill any interest the project may have had with an audience.
"Say Anything" director Cameron Crowe made his voice heard when the announcement came down about NBC and 20th Century Fox TV developing a comedy series based on his 1989 film. The network closed a deal for a script commitment plus penalty for a TV show adaptation of the '80s classic that starred John Cusack and Ione Skye, according to Deadline.
"Regarding the announcement of a 'Say Anything' tv show... @JohnCusack, @IoneSkye1 and I have no involvement... except in trying to stop it," Crowe tweeted on Oct. 6.
20th TV reached out to writer Justin Adler and producer Aaron Kaplan to develop a comedy series based on the film produced by sibling studio 20th Century Fox. Adler and Kaplan devised a story that jumps ahead a decade after the end of "Say Anything."
The teenage love story between Lloyd Dobler (Cusack) and Diane Court (Skye) ended happy as they flew off to England together. The good times between the less-than-stellar student and the class valedictorian have ended in those 10 years though.
Lloyd is once again single and he's not happy with the way his life has turned out. The surprise return of Diane may give him a second change with women he once tried to impress with a boom box and a Peter Gabriel song. "Lloyd is inspired to 'dare to be great' once again, get Diane back and reboot his life," according to Deadline.
Cusack also expressed his frustration with the project via Twitter. "No end to the exploitation of other people's sincere efforts in shameless slime," he wrote. His tweet responded to a fan that tweeted at Crowe, "No imagination for new ideas."
Skye has yet to make a public statement on the project.
20th TV reportedly attempted to reach out to Crowe earlier about the project but a miscommunication with his executives may have led to the director's opposition, according to Deadline. Despite the studio's legal ability to go forward with the project, it's unlikely the show will continue without Crowe's support.
