Over the course of his career, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino has amassed a number of projects he worked on that never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell or were cancelled, while others were abandoned during pre-production.
1990s American Psycho After the 1991 publication of Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho in Italy, Guadagnino himself wrote a script adaptation of the novel. "I was obsessed with the book," he later said. "I was very sad when they made the movie because I wanted to make the movie." In October 2024, Guadagnino was entering final negotiations to direct a "new interpretation" of American Psycho, with Scott Z. Burns adapting for Lionsgate. It was rumored that Jacob Elordi would star in the lead role as Patrick Bateman, however that December, Variety confirmed that Austin Butler would be playing Bateman. At CinemaCon 2025, Guadagnino updated that "the script is coming out very handsomely" and that he was "in conversation with very exciting performers to play the leads." The following month, Chloë Sevigny, who had co-starred in the 2000 adaptation, was revealed to have pitched Guadagnino the idea of returning to play the same character. In June, Patrick Schwarzenegger was also named to possibly take on the lead role. When asked in September if Sevigny would appear in the film, Guadagnino replied, "I don't talk about American Psycho. [...] The answer is if the movie happens, for sure." In February 2026, Ellis divulged on his podcast that several high-profile actors had turned down the leading role, which he attributing to their reluctancy about living up to Christian Bale's portrayal of the character. The author went on to say that the initial script may not have been up to par, which is why it had been rewritten, with a new draft then circulating. As for how faithful the Guadagnino film would be to his source material and Mary Harron's version, he said to expect something "completely different." On August 7, journalist Jeff Sneider reported that Guadagnino was continuing to refine the script with Burns, whilst struggling to land on a lead actor. There was speculation that Lionsgate was losing patience and considering moving forward without him; with several possible replacements already identified by that point. In a GQ interview on August 13, Drew Starkey was asked about the rumor that he might be reteaming with Guadagnino on American Psycho. "No comment," Starkey said, before adding, "The script is amazing, though." In a Vulture profile promoting his newest film Artificial, Guadagnino suggested American Psycho was no longer happening but that "maybe one day I would do [it]".
The Penny Arcade Peep Show In the early 1990s, Guadagnino wrote a script for a short film he wanted to do "on [the subject of] the male body", based on the "Penny Arcade Peep Show" excerpt from The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead by William S. Burroughs. By late 1993, he sent British actress Tilda Swinton a letter via her agent, hoping to solicit her collaboration on the basis of her performances in Caravaggio and Orlando. After receiving no response back, a few months later, Guadagnino read that she would be in Rome for a panel about the late film director Derek Jarman. He accosted her outside the theater following the event, asking her to appear in the short film. "He said, 'I never made the film, because you never replied'," Swinton later recalled. She agreed, and stayed at Guadagnino's student house in Rome for a couple of days over the summer. "She was incredibly cool. The coolest," said Guadagnino. "After three days, she said, 'We are going to be partners in crime and the crime is cinema.'" While voice recordings of Swinton exist, and some footage allegedly shot, the film was abandoned and never completed after they ran out of money. The two would later instead go on to collaborate on his feature debut, the pseudo-documentary The Protagonists.
2000s Too Young In 2001, Screen Daily reported that Fabrizio Mosca's Rome production outfit Titti Film would produce an erotic thriller in the English language to be directed by Guadagnino, entitled Too Young. No such film was made.
Auntie Mame In 2009, following their collaboration on I Am Love, Guadagnino and star Tilda Swinton had "high hopes" to reunite for a Hollywood remake of 1958's Auntie Mame. Guadagnino stated to Variety that they both envisioned their version being set in the present-day and done as a "rock-n-roll, super funny, super mainstream movie", adding that only Swinton could "do justice" to the story. The project has been described as one of his "dearest desires" as a director. Plans for the remake with Guadagnino attached were in place as of December 2011. However, by 2016, Swinton was presumably moving forward without his involvement, enlisting the duties of Annie Mumolo to write the adaptation.
2010s Corsica '72 In late 2010, Guadagnino signed on to direct the mafia thriller Corsica '72 for Ruby Films. The screenplay by writing duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade was featured on The Black List in 2009 and is based on the true story of a stand-off between two former best friends, one a local man and the other, head of the Mafia. The director's position was preceded by Oliver Hirschbiegel and was succeeded by Park Chan-wook, though the film was never made.
Untitled English-language thriller film In 2011, it was reported that Guadagnino was to make his English-language film debut for Scott Free Productions and StudioCanal, based on his original screenplay. Set on the island of Pantelleria, Guadagnino described the film as "a rock 'n' roll anthem of sex, love, murder and emotional rescue: A dive into the politics of desire between man and woman where one plus one makes four on the raw island of Pantelleria, lost in the Mediterranean." StudioCanal, who was providing financing, confirmed that the budget was under $30 million. It was set to feature both a U.S. and European cast. Though untitled, the project was referred to as a thriller in subsequent reports. Principal photography was reportedly set for 2012, but no further announcements followed. Guadagnino would later utilize the setting of Pantelleria for his remake of La Piscine, A Bigger Splash.
The Big Nowhere In 2012, Guadagnino was reportedly in discussions with financiers to direct an adaptation of the James Ellroy novel The Big Nowhere, to be produced by Heyday Films' David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford, along with Maurizio Grimaldi.
Body Art In January 2013, it was reported by Variety that Guadagnino would direct Body Art, his screenplay adaptation of Don DeLillo's The Body Artist with Isabelle Huppert, Denis Lavant and David Cronenberg lined up to star. Sigourney Weaver joined the cast the following month. Shooting was scheduled for summer that year. Benoît Jacquot signed on to direct a new adaptation in 2015 and the film, titled Never Ever, was released the next year but without the involvement of Guadagnino or his cast.
A Reliable Wife In 2014, Sony Pictures hired Guadagnino to replace Sam Taylor-Johnson as director on a film adaptation of Robert Goolrick's romantic period thriller novel A Reliable Wife, written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was planned to be shot in winter that year.
Rio In May 2017, it was announced Guadagnino was attached to direct Rio from a screenplay by Steven Knight, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal to star. In November 2017, Michelle Williams joined the project. However, in a profile for The New Yorker, Guadagnino said that the timing did not work out and he subsequently left the project.
Swan Lake In July 2017, Guadagnino signed up to direct a pitch from Kristina Lauren Anderson inspired by the classic ballet story Swan Lake, with Felicity Jones in the lead role. Several studios including Universal, Paramount and TriStar bid for the film rights to the project, which was described as a "tentpole adaptation" of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet, that would follow the material closely.
Find Me Guadagnino first alluded to making a sequel to Call Me by Your Name in November 2017, and confirmed in March 2018 he was working on the story with writer André Aciman. Timothee Chalamet would announce in October that same year he and Armie Hammer were intending to return for the sequel, and Guadagnino would approach Dakota Johnson for a role. In a March 2020 interview, Guadagnino reiterated that the film, entitled Find Me, was set to be made, with Michael Stuhlbarg and Esther Garrel also set for role reprisals. However plans were put on hold as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, Guadagnino would cast doubts on the film being made as a result of his and Chalamet's other commitments, in addition to several abuse allegations being levied against Hammer. In 2022 Guadagnino implied that he still liked the idea of following Elio's story. That same year he told Variety, "I would love to make a second and third and fourth chapter of all my movies, Why? Because I truly love the actors I work with, so I want to repeat the joy of doing what we did together." Adding, "there is no hypothesis, so there is no movie. It’s a wish and a desire, and I have not made up my mind about what would be the story."
Buddenbrooks In the autumn/winter 2017 issue of Fantastic Man, Guadagnino stated that his dream project was an adaptation of Thomas Mann's 1901 novel Buddenbrooks, and that making it "would in a way encompass all my themes in one story." In 2024, Guadagnino announced officially that he was developing Buddenbrooks (alongside writer Francesca Manieri), which he saw as a companion piece to his film Queer.
Salah Abdeslam biopic In the same Fantastic Man interview, Guadagnino also spoke of wanting to make a film about Islamic terrorist Salah Abdeslam; "There's something interesting about him. [...] I think it'd be a great film, but I need the right person to write it with me."
Burial Rites In December 2017, it was reported that Guadagnino would direct Jennifer Lawrence in a film of Burial Rites, based on the true story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir who was accused of murder in a small Icelandic village in 1830.
Suspiria Part Two Guadagnino's 2018 film Suspiria, a remake of Dario Argento's 1977 film of the same name was initially set up to be part one of a series, with the title initially set to include Part One as a subtitle. However Guadagnino would ultimately rule out a sequel in November 2020 as a result of the first film's poor box office performance.
Blood on the Tracks Guadagnino told The New Yorker in October 2018 that he was planning to turn Bob Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks into a feature film, with Richard LaGravenese writing the screenplay. That December, Guadagnino revealed that Chloë Grace Moretz had been cast in an "important" role. According to New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan, Guadagnino couldn't get the budget he wanted for it from the studio. He was still hoping to one day make a film of LaGravenese's script as of 2022.
Wartime Lies It was additionally announced by The New Yorker in October 2018 that Guadagnino "desperately wanted" to direct Stanley Kubrick's abandoned project based on Louis Begley's Holocaust novel Wartime Lies. He asked David Kajganich to write the screenplay based on Kubrick's research materials. In September 2020, Guadagnino reaffirmed his intentions to make a film of Wartime Lies, stating that he had examined Kubrick's papers in the director's archive at University of the Arts London. Guadagnino's continued interest in the film has been acknowledged as of 2024, though other projects may have put it on temporary hold.
Lord of the Flies