James Gunn and Charlie Kaufman can't make a cannibal Gilligan's Island reboot, for some reason

James Gunn and Charlie Kaufman are both respected filmmakers in their own rights… albeit one for their beloved, subversive, splatterfest genre fare, while the other for their beloved, subversive arthouse darlings. Nary the two have met, but apparently that isn’t their fault. In fact, there’s a project both have intermittently attempted to get off the ground for decades, and quite frankly, we can’t figure out why it’s been so difficult for the two of them.

Responding to a rather innocuous meme recently making the rounds involving unlikely film combinations, Gunn revealed one of Hollywood’s lesser-known what-ifs (no, not that one): a dark, gritty, gruesome Gilligan’s Island reboot written by Charlie Kaufman. In the proposed reboot, instead of engaging in wholesome tropical shenanigans, everybody plots to kill and eat one another out of desperation.

“A true story: In the late ‘90s screenwriting GOAT Charlie Kaufman pitched a movie version of Gilligan’s Island where the islanders, starving & desperate, started killing & eating each other,” Gunn tweeted yesterday, adding that, “Warner Bros wanted to do it – but Sherwood Schwartz, the creator, said no way.”

Gunn went on to explain that, following his massive success with Guardians Of The Galaxy, he tried his damndest to bring the idea to life once again. Apparently, both Warners Bros. and Kaufman were both on board (so to speak), but Schwartz’s estate still wanted nothing to do with it. “Anyway, if the Schwartz estate changes their mind, I’m here,” Gunn signed off.

Listen up, Hollywood. We know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now, but one thing is damn certain: The world needs—nay, deserves—a disgusting Gilligan’s Island-meets-Ravenous project, preferably starring Sean Gunn as Gilligan, Michael Rooker as The Skipper, and/or Nathan Fillion as The Professor.

And while we’d usually say such projects are impossible, pie-in-the-sky fantasies… well, stranger things have happened.

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