Danny DeVito As Fred Flinstone? It Almost Happened! The Movie That Might Have Been...

[Brian Damage]

The Flintstones (1994)

The role: Fred Flintstone
Who got it: John Goodman

DeVito was considering taking part in another feature film adaptation of a beloved character, the 1960's Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones being a much more logical franchise to turn into a movie than a video game like Super Mario. DeVito's name was mentioned in connection with the role of Fred Flintstone in 1989, with John Goodman then set to play Barney Rubble, but the project languished in development hell for another half-a-decade with a whopping 32 writers laboring over it before production finally began. Danny DeVito said no, and John Candy briefly signed on before jumping ship and leaving the role wide open for John Goodman. DeVito is an interesting choice for Fred Flintstone. He certainly has the gruff, brutish voice down, but, as with most parts, DeVito is a little too short and his screen persona is too evil for the part. The Flintstones movie became a major hit with John Goodman, who wasn’t widely known at the time outside of his role on the sitcom Roseanne. Danny DeVito was a much bigger star than Goodman, and the movie could have been an even larger hit with him as Fred Flintstone.



http://splitsider.com/2011/09/the-lo...-danny-devito/

[hawkeye123]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

The Flintstones (1994)

The role: Fred Flintstone
Who got it: John Goodman

DeVito was considering taking part in another feature film adaptation of a beloved character, the 1960's Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones being a much more logical franchise to turn into a movie than a video game like Super Mario. DeVito's name was mentioned in connection with the role of Fred Flintstone in 1989, with John Goodman then set to play Barney Rubble, but the project languished in development hell for another half-a-decade with a whopping 32 writers laboring over it before production finally began. Danny DeVito said no, and John Candy briefly signed on before jumping ship and leaving the role wide open for John Goodman. DeVito is an interesting choice for Fred Flintstone. He certainly has the gruff, brutish voice down, but, as with most parts, DeVito is a little too short and his screen persona is too evil for the part. The Flintstones movie became a major hit with John Goodman, who wasn’t widely known at the time outside of his role on the sitcom Roseanne. Danny DeVito was a much bigger star than Goodman, and the movie could have been an even larger hit with him as Fred Flintstone.



http://splitsider.com/2011/09/the-lo...-danny-devito/

I thought John Goodman was great in the roll as Fred.Any of those 3 would of been though.But i think John Goodman was the best choice.

[Marvo301]

Physically, DeVito is the perfect size to play Barney Rubble rather than Fred. However his personality wouldn't suit the part of Barney. He probably would have made a great Mr. Slate! (Fred's boss)

[Frump]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Physically, DeVito is the perfect size to play Barney Rubble rather than Fred. However his personality wouldn't suit the part of Barney. He probably would have made a great Mr. Slate! (Fred's boss)

I think Goodman is perfect for Fred.

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by Frump

I think Goodman is perfect for Fred.

I agree1 John Goodman was great as Fred!

[Frump]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I agree1 John Goodman was great as Fred!

I know once someone was talking about how John Candy would have been good as Fred and Danny Devito as Barney, but honestly I can't see that either.

I really like Moranis as Barney, again he had the personality down and I think that's very important!

[MrCleveland]

DeVito wouldn't do well as Fred Flinstone, he would've done better as Mario in "Super Mario Brothers".

[TMC]

http://lebeauleblog.com/2016/01/21/g...awards-1994/3/

Worst Screenplay

• Color of Night, screenplay by Matthew Chapman and Billy Ray, story by Ray
  The Flintstones, written by Tom S. Parker, Babaloo Mandel, Mitch Markowitz, Dava Savel, Brian Levant, Michael G. Wilson, Al Aidekman, Cindy Begel, Lloyd Garver, David Silverman, Stephen Sustarsic, Nancy Steen, Neil Thompson, Daniel Goldin, Joshua Goldin, Peter Martin Wortmann, Robert Conte, Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn, Bruce Cohen, Jason Hoffs, Kate Barker, Gary Ross, Rob Dames, Leonard Ripps, Fred Fox, Jr., Lon Diamond, David Richardson, Roy Teicher, Richard Gurman, Michael J. Di Gaetano, and Ruth Bennett
  Milk Money, written by John Mattson
  North, screenplay by Alan Zweibel and Andrew Sheinman, from the novel by Zweibel
  On Deadly Ground, written by Ed Horowitz & Rubin Russin

Winner: The Flintstones

What probably jumps out at you here is the block of text following the nomination for The Flintstones. At the time the movie was released, it got a lot of press because of the number of writers who contributed to an adaptation of a cartoon. In the 80’s, Steven E. de Souza had written the original script for a Flintstones movie. At the time, Richard Donner was attached to direct. Donner rejected de Souza’s screenplay and a second one written by Mitch Markowitz.

Eventually, Donner moved on and Steven Spielberg bought the rights to The Flintstones. Spielberg tapped Brian Levant to direct the big screen cartoon supposedly because Levant possessed an extensive collection of Flintstones merchandise. In the seventies and eighties, Levant worked as a TV writer on shows like The Jefferson, Happy Days and Mork & Mindy. He had directed two previous feature films, Problem Child II and Beethoven.

Levant decided that since The Flintstones was a ripoff of The Honeymooners, the movie was essentially one big sitcom. So he recruited a team of TV writers and put them all together in a writer’s room. At one point, Rick Moranis commented that The Flintstones was “one of those scripts that had about 18 writers”. According to Universal’s press release for the movie, the actual number of writers was closer to three dozen. But even they weren’t sure.

Not surprisingly, The Flintstones turned out to be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. The final script could have been written by three dozen chimpanzees. Was it really the Worst Screenplay of the year? No. But it was the movie that got the most crap in the press for having too many writers.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Physically, DeVito is the perfect size to play Barney Rubble rather than Fred. However his personality wouldn't suit the part of Barney. He probably would have made a great Mr. Slate! (Fred's boss)

DeVito was probably too "gruff" or abrasive to play the otherwise easy-going Barney. I always thought that he would've been perfect as Mr. Spacey in a hypothetical live-action Jetsons movie.