Well, this is unfortunate: Deadline reports that Spike Jonze‘s project over at Netflix, his first foray into scripted television, has been scrapped by the streamer. It’s unclear what made Netflix scuttle the limited series after a couple of years of development, but sources indicate it’s due to Jonze deciding to exit, although there’s a slim chance he may come back.
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Still, the news comes as a bit of shock as Netflix has a strong reputation of catering to auteurs with singular visions like Jonze. To have a project in the works for two-plus years fall apart is a shock, especially one that had a writers room, Sister as a producer, and was eying a casting director and a potential 2025 shooting date as recently as this summer. But then again, no one besides Jonze was ever really part of the project to begin with; at least not officially. Rumors about Joaquin Phoenix or Brad Pitt starring in the limited series made the round, as well as “Babygirl” director Halina Reijn being involved, but nothing was ever certain. And now it looks like the project won’t happen at all, or at last not in the short term.
Jonze hasn’t made anything since his 2020 documentary “Beastie Boys Story” for Apple, so him teaming up with Netflix was a big deal. And the acclaimed filmmaker has never worked in long-form narrative TV either. One may only imagine now what the creative voice behind “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” would’ve cooked up with a project the length of a limited series. Other Jonze movies include 2009’s “Where The Wild Things Are” and 2013’s “Her,” which nabbed the director a career-high 5 Oscar nods, including a win for Best Original Screenplay. Jonze has some TV experience, too: he co-created and was executive producer on MTV‘s “Jackass” and was once upon a time a creative director at Vice Media.
But now it’s unclear what Jonze will pivot to next. It sounds like there’s an outside shot he returns to his Netflix series, but the safe bet is he moves onto something else in time.
