During his long career, British film director Ken Russell had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these productions fell into development hell or were cancelled, while others were taken over and completed by other filmmakers.

1950s

Untitled Saint Christopher biopic In 1956, well before he made a feature, Russell wanted to film a satire on the life of Saint Christopher, set in the Victorian era. However, he didn't have the financial backing from the BBC needed to make the film and settled on Knights on Bikes that year instead.

1960s

The Wheels of Chance In 1960, Russell had proposed and written a treatment for an adaptation of H. G. Wells' short novel The Wheels of Chance. It was envisioned as both film and TV programs for the BBC, but Russell's treatment was rejected by the Head of Scripts, Donald Wilson.

Summer Holiday

Before he made his first theatrical release, Russell was given the offer of directing the musical Summer Holiday, with Cliff Richard. Russell later admitted that he regretted turning it down: "I nearly did Summer Holiday, I wish I had, my career would have changed," he said. "I would have made a good musical there's no doubt of that, and who knows what would have happened, because I don't think [Peter Yates] was a very good director." Russell would however later direct Richard in two music videos; "She's So Beautiful" and "All I Ask of You", in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

Vlad the Impaler During the heyday of Hammer Films and the popularity of productions made on classic horror characters such as Victor Frankenstein or Count Dracula, Russell was slated to direct a film for the company on the life of Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for the Dracula character.

A Clockwork Orange Soon after the publication of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, in 1964, Russell was set to direct the adaptation, which was originally projected as a vehicle for the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger in the role of Alex. However, Burgess claimed that at the time the British Board of Censors would not approve it. Stanley Kubrick directed the film instead, with Malcolm MacDowell portraying Alex.

Untitled Vincent van Gogh biopic In 1965, while he was making docudramas for the BBC on famous figures, Russell discussed the possibilities with Spike Milligan on making a film of the artist Vincent van Gogh with Milligan playing the role. However, Russell wanted to wait until he had the opportunity to film it in color rather than black and white."Brian Hoyle audio commentary for Always on Sunday" (2016). [available on The Ken Russell Collection: The Great Passions Region B Blu-ray]. BFI Video.

Untitled Hector Berlioz biopic Also in 1965, Russell professed a desire to make a film about the life of the composer Hector Berlioz, writing that the BBC's budgetary constraints would not "stretch to a film with a cast of thousands."

The Quest for Corvo Around 1966–67, Russell worked on a proposed adaptation of A. J. A. Symons' experimental, postmodern 1934 biography of the eccentric English writer Frederick Rolfe (alias Baron Corvo) entitled The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography, to have been made in a similar style as Dante's Inferno. He intended to return to the BBC to make the film after completed post-production obligations on Billion Dollar Brain, but no meetings were held with Symons' brother Julian, who owned the rights to the story.

Nijinski Before choosing to direct Billion Dollar Brain, Russell had a contract with producer Harry Saltzman to film the life of the Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky with Rudolph Nureyev in the lead. Nureyev however, refused to play the role of a dancer who he felt was inferior, and the project was called off as result.

The Great Twentieth Century Music Revue In 1967, after shooting was completed on Nijinsky, Russell planned to return to the BBC to make a documentary film entitled The Great Twentieth Century Music Revue, for the arts showcase Omnibus, about the changing fashion of 20th-century music. He later returned to the subject and recycled ideas for 1988's ABC of British Music, made for ITV.

The Wishing Tree In February 1968, it was announced that Russell was developing an adaptation of William Faulkner's children's story The Wishing Tree which he intended to star a seventeen-year-old Twiggy. "Paul McCartney was going to write the music and I met him to chat it over," Russell said, "but it felt like a non-starter." Though the film was not made, Russell would later work with Twiggy on his film The Boy Friend.

Stratchey During production on Women in Love in 1968, Russell declared his interest in making an adaptation of the life of the writer and Bloomsbury Group member Lytton Strachey, based on Michael Holroyd's biography, for the BBC's Omnibus.

Voss After being impressed by Russell's film Song of Summer, author Patrick White gave him a copy of his novel Voss, telling him he wanted to make a film of it. Russell passed the book to his collaborator John McGrath, who completed a first draft of the script by December 1970. While in production on The Boy Friend, Russell promised White that he would fly to Australia early in the new year to scout locations for Voss and then return for filming in late July 1972. Ultimately, all three parties lost interest in the project and the film was never made.

1970s

Under the Volcano

In the early 1970s, at the same time he was engaged to direct The Boy Friend, Russell was attached to film Under the Volcano starring Albert Finney, which was later made by John Huston.

A Handful of Dust In a fall 1970 issue of Film Comment, Russell said he was interested in adapting Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust, explaining that he would "not attempt to update it to the present as did the recent film of his 1928 novel Decline and Fall. Waugh's novels are relevant to the present, and they do not have to have the setting updated to prove it."

A Burnt-Out Case In the same interview, Russell also said he would like to film A Burnt-Out Case, one of the few Graham Greene novels that had yet to be filmed.

Little Sparrow In 1971, Russell wanted to direct a film about the life of French singer Édith Piaf, entitled Little Sparrow. This was originally to be a Warner Bros. production with the title role played by Liza Minnelli. In the end, Warner decided it was too risky financially and left the project to a French director, Guy Casaril.

Untitled King Ludwig II biopic Also in 1971, Russell had pursued a biopic on Ludwig II, "the Mad King of Bavaria", before deciding to make Savage Messiah instead, using his own money. At the same time, Luchino Visconti went into production on a four-hour film of Ludwig, released in 1973.

Taverner stage adaptation In 1972, shortly after working on The Devils, Russell planned to collaborate with Derek Jarman on a stage production for Covent Garden of Peter Maxwell Davies's opera Taverner, about the composer John Taverner's run-ins with England's church canon. Jarman described their vision as a "modern opera in a style which belongs to the 1970s." Designs included a cyclorama as a backdrop depicting travelers in the Gobi Desert, the roof of the opera house itself littered with dead oxen, a "William Castle-style gimmick" with seats wired to detect and amplify audience whispers, and a lowered doorway that would have forced audiences to enter the theater crawling. Covent Garden did not approve of these ideas and the production was cancelled as a result of creative differences.

The Angels While filming commenced on Savage Messiah, Russell worked with Derek Jarman on a script called The Angels, loosely adapted from Juliette by French playwright and poet Georges Neveux, about a pop star named Poppy Day who, after suddenly disappearing in a plane crash, is resurrected by her fans into "a giant sized statue... with cripples praying for a cure as they line up to touch her golden calf." When Poppy returns after being stranded in a jungle, the fans, believing the event to be a hoax, turn into a disillusioned mob and stone her to death. MGM showed interest in the project but eventually pulled away from it, and Russell later ended up using aspects of the story for Tommy.

The Legend of Sarah In July 1971, Barbra Streisand contacted Russell about directing her in a proposed musical biopic of Sarah Bernhardt, to have been titled The Legend of Sarah. Russell liked the idea and began to work on a screenplay while still in England, corresponded with Streisand about the project, who would have co-produced the film through her First Artists company. After the completion of the script, over time, both Streisand and Russell moved onto other projects.

Pantagruel: The Man with the Biggest Prick in the World In spring 1973, Russell tried to film an updating of 1532's Pantagruel by François Rabelais, funded by Produzioni Europee Associati. Russell scouted the Umbrian plain for locations with an Italian crew, and enlisted Derek Jarman to be the production designer, who later listed the tasks in his memoir: "The Russell designs included an altar with Coke bottle candelabra. There is a detail of the king's porn palace, a window made with pink marble legs and those rushed theatre curtains like a cancan dress. The notes also have precise descriptions of style, e.g., Pompadour Gimcrack. There's an avenue of monumental hammers-and-sickles, a swimming pool with a Warhol soup can lilo, a gold raft with a sail in the shape of a silver fish. The Abbey of Thelema is a ziggurat with a double spiral staircase built like Hadrian's tomb—with woods, and surmounted by a two hundred foot ornamental urn sprouting a tropical garden ... On and on, page after page. My favourites were some carriages in the form of sailing boats—sails painted with hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades." Warner Bros. also agreed to help back the film with the help of producer Antonio Grimaldi, but the funding soon went away, and Russell later preserved some of his initial vision and ideas in the films Mahler, Tommy and Lisztomania.

Untitled Sergei Diaghilev biopic Russell and writer Melvyn Bragg planned a film about the Russian ballet maestro Sergei Diaghilev, to be directed by Russell. Bragg's script and copious paperwork for the project were later archived in the Brotherton Library in Leeds University in 2010.

The Gershwin Dream Before choosing Lisztomania, Russell had considered directing the biographical film The Gershwin Dream as his next project. Producer David Puttnam had commissioned music films on Gustav Mahler, Franz Liszt, Ralph Vaughan Williams and George Gershwin; the latter of which was the only one Russell did not make. He returned to the project after the release of Lisztomania, but it was abandoned soon after.

Superman

In 1975, Russell was considered to direct Superman when the film was still in its early stages of development.

The Space Gospel In 1976, Russell again collaborated with Derek Jarman on a script, intended for Jarman to direct, titled The Space Gospel. It featured "astronauts as angels, visitors from outer space artificially inseminating Mary, and the Angel Gabriel as a projected hologram." Though it was unmade as a film, Russell later turned the concept into a science fiction novel, Mike and Gaby's Space Gospel, published in 1999.

Elgar, Land of Hope and Glory Also in 1976, Russell wrote a film script on the life of the composer Sir Edward Elgar titled Elgar, Land of Hope and Glory, that was envisioned as a "sequel of sorts" to the film he made for Monitor. He would later make a different film on the composer in 2002 with Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle.

The Rose

At the same time he was given the offer to direct Valentino, Russell was sent the script for The Rose, based on the life of singer-songwriter Janis Joplin. He called choosing Valentino over The Rose "the biggest mistake of my career."

Hair