MAN TO MAN (Craig R. Baxley, 1987-1988) (unproduced)

[Jox]

http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/dolph-in/man_to_man.html

I just found out that TANGO & CASH and NOWHERE TO RUN writer Randy Feldman penned the script.

Announced in late 1987, this was to follow Craig Baxley's collaboration with producers Joel Silver and Lorimar's Bernie Brillstein (GHOSTBUSTERS) after ACTION JACKSON and was way before they got to do DARK ANGEL / I COME IN PEACE (yet for a while I thought they were the same project which is not the case).

Dolph was to play an alien hitchhiking in the Nevada desert, got picked up by a repo man and they ended up in Las Vegas. Filming was about to start (spring 1988 - after RED SCORPION?) when it got shut down a few days before because Silver and Brillstein argued over who the co-star would be (plus the Writers Guild going on then also have had something to go with it).

EDIT:
Randy Feldman is the son of THE WILD BUNCH producer Phil Feldman and the brother of GOLDEN CHILD & SPECIES writer Dennis Feldman.

[Jox]

Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually supposed to star in this for a while, but suddenly demanded too much money after PREDATOR came out. Dolph was brought in as a replacement choice.

[Jox]

Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1987

(...)
Typecasting: Dolph Lundgren will play an alien in human form in ``Man to Man,`` a comedy adventure...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987 ... r-superior

[Jox]

Dolph (Masters of the Universe) Lundgren is supposed to be the alien, albeit one in human form, in Man to Man to be directed by Craig Baxley for Lorimar (a studio whose merger into Warner Bros, may affect this film's production). This time, Lundgren is on Earth to track a power source stolen from a spaceship.

Starlog, issue #134, September 1988
(by the time this news was out the production had already been cancelled months prior)
https://archive.org/stream/starlog_maga ... 4_djvu.txt

[Jox]

Entertainment shorts
Oct. 30, 1987
HOLLYWOOD -- Dolph Lungren, best remembered as the menacing Soviet boxer in 'Rocky IV,' will star as an alien in human form in 'Man to Man,' a new Lorimar feature film.

Directed by Craig Baxley and produced by Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver, 'Man to Man' is a comedy about the relationship between a human in the reposession business and a creature from outer space.

Production will begin on location in Las Vegas early next year. --- Academy times five

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/10/30/ ... 562568400/

The Des Moines Register
Is 'Peter Pan' movie ever going to fly?
Thursday, February 25, 1988
(...)
The opening-weekend success of its "Action Jackson" exploitation film already has Lorimar studios talking about "Action II" - and "III" and "IV" and more. That couldn't come as better news for Craig Baxley, who makes his feature directing debut with the Carl Weathers/Vanity "Action." Baxley expected to step directly from "Jackson" to preparation of "Man to Man," but shortly before the first picture opened over President's Day weekend (to a hefty $4,343-per-screen average) Lorimar put the latter big-screen project in turn-around.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/131968274/

[Gunner]

I was watching I Come In Peace few days ago, and it got me thinking about this project again, and what could have been. Just going from plot descriptions which i first discovered thanks to this great site, i'm sure it would have been a fun film to see. I mean, just look at everyone who were involved.

Baxley already showed that he knows how to direct a good action scenes in Action Jackson, Dolph showed that he can be both the good actor and action star in Red Scorpion, and Feldman was actually a pretty good writer. It's difficult to say just how much really was he involved in production of Tango & Cash and script changes, considering what was going on behind the scenes of that film, but i read his original script for it (titled Setup), which he wrote in late '87/early '88, and based on it, i can see that he had a talent for writing good action and humor.

I don't know would i necessary blame Silver to be the biggest reason for what happened to Man To Man, but i noticed that sometimes he would always be one of the reasons why some other projects were cancelled just because he had disagreements with other people, like how Stallone's Isobar was cancelled because he wanted Roland Emmerich to make the film based on the script from his writer.

[Jox]

Especially in those days Silver was quite moody to say the least...
Dolph told me he didn't really try to find out why it got canned but according to Feldman when I spoke to him, he was almost certain that once Arnold was gone the project was never really meant to be made (despite the millions already spent), almost like a scam or something...

[Gunner]

Yeah i remember, it was $5 million that were spent. I always found it funny how studios and producers spend tons of money on films that never get made, sometimes even because of their faults. One of my favorite examples is how Carolco spent over $7 million (or more) on the scripts and all the deals for Stallone and Renny Harlin film Gale Force, which they ultimately cancelled due to budget concerns, only to make Cliffhanger with them which had even bigger budget. But then again, it was Carolco, and they always made such dumb decisions which in the end ruined their entire studio.

[mendezmar]

I had no idea, thanks for the information

[Jox]

Craig R. Baxley just released his biography, DRIVEN: A MEMOIR, in which he notably goes over the making of DARK ANGEL / I COME IN PEACE, and even the aborted MAN TO MAN

Available on hardcover and ebook:
https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Driven1
https://www.amazon.com/Driven-Craig-Bax ... 1098349679

[Jox]

@punisher_book Do you remember the aborted project « Man to Man » starring Dolph Lundgren and produced by Joel Silver and Bernie Briellstein ?

Bronson Pinchot @bronsonpinchot
@punisher_book Oh heck yes I do.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmA_ZEHLgzg/

[Jox]

"Japan Times", November 5, 1987

[Gunner]

I shared this before on some other sites (which have since been deleted), but i figured, might as well share it here too. It seems that copy of Feldman's draft of the script is in some archive/library somewhere. Unfortunately, i don't know where;

(This info used to be here, don't know if it still is)

https://www.worldcat.org/title/man-to-m ... /871431863

Reproduced from typescript.

"Second revision, March 16, 1987."

Description: 117 leaves ; 29 cm

Responsibility: by Randy Feldman.

I remember lot of people were interested in this script back during days of Script Drive, but nobody could ever find it. Personally, it's on my holy grail script list along with another unproduced one by Feldman, his 2002 buddy cop action spec script FULLY AUTOMATIC, which funny enough was yet another project which Joel Silver was going to produce, and kept trying to develop until 2012.

[Jox]

Yeah, I've seen that before and inquired but you can only have access to it on site, which according to this is at Northwestern University in Illinois.

I interviewed Randy Feldman about the project some years ago and was very open and candid about its behind the scenes; and he said he would send me a draft but since then he's remained silent despite my follow-up emails...

It's certainly high on my list of most-wanted scripts too!

[Jox]

"Impact" (France), #12, December 1987 - January 1988

impact12-03 copy.jpg (47.94 KiB) Viewed 19562 times

"More and more Master of the Univers, Dolph Lundgren will be the star of Man to Man, an adventure comedy directed by Craig Baxley. He will be an alien of human form astray on our planet in search for his spaceship. E.T.s definitely have the head in the stars.