Editing Sergio Leone (section)

== Death and unrealized projects ==
[[File:Grabstätte Sergio Leone I.jpg|thumb|Medallion on the grave of Sergio Leone]]

Leone died on 30 April 1989 at his home in Rome of a heart attack at the age of 60.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Ginger |date=1 May 1989 |title=Sergio Leone of 'Spaghetti Western' Fame Dies |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-01-mn-2218-story.html |access-date=26 February 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Flint |first=Peter B. |date=1 May 1989 |title=Sergio Leone, 67, Italian Director Who Revitalized Westerns, Dies |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/obituaries/sergio-leone-67-italian-director-who-revitalized-westerns-dies.html |access-date=26 February 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He was buried in the cemetery of [[Pratica di Mare]].

=== ''A Place Only Mary Knows'' ===
A treatment for an "Americanized" Western was written by Leone, Luca Morsella, and Fabio Toncelli. It is speculated to have been Leone's last Western and was to have starred [[Mickey Rourke]] and [[Richard Gere]] as the two main leads. Set during the height of the [[American Civil War]], the story focused on a Union drafter, Mike Kutcher from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], whose job is to enroll men into the [[Union Army]]. The other is Richard Burns, a [[Southern United States|Southern]] shady businessman transplanted to the [[Northern United States|North]] after a successful heist with his ex-lover and partner, Mary. They try searching for the buried treasure left behind in an unmarked grave outside [[Atlanta]] in "A Place Only Mary Knows". Joined by a [[Free Negro|freed slave]] and an [[Italian Americans|Italian immigrant]], Francesco, who arrives via the [[Port of Boston]], they try desperately to avoid the battles of the ongoing war between the states.

The film was to have been a homage to classic writers from literature such as [[Edgar Lee Masters]] (''[[Spoon River Anthology]]''), [[Ambrose Bierce]] (''[[An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge]]''), [[Mark Twain]] (''[[The Private History of a Campaign That Failed|The Private History of a Campaign that Failed]]''), [[Stephen Crane]] (''[[The Red Badge of Courage]]''), and [[Margaret Mitchell]] (''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]''), whose novel he had wanted to film a remake of. Although the written treatment never got turned into a full screenplay, Leone's son Andrea had it published in a June 2004 issue of the Italian cinema magazine ''[[Ciak (Italian magazine)|Ciak]]''. It is not certain if the treatment's publication will ever lead to a full production in America or Italy.

=== ''Leningrad: The 900 Days'' ===
While finishing work on ''Once Upon a Time in America'' in 1982, Leone was impressed with [[Harrison Salisbury]]'s non-fiction book ''The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad'', and he planned on adapting the book as a war epic. Although no formal script had been completed or leaked, Leone came up with the opening scene and basic plot. According to the documentary ''Once Upon a Time, Sergio Leone'', the film opened ''[[in medias res]]'' as the camera goes from focusing on a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] hiding from the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]]' artillery fire to panning hundreds of feet away to show the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]] [[Panzer division (Wehrmacht)|Panzer divisions]] approaching the walls of the city. The plot was to focus on an American photographer on assignment (whom Leone wanted to be played by [[Robert De Niro]]) becoming trapped in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] as the [[Luftwaffe|German Luftwaffe]] begin to bombard the city. Throughout the course of the film, he becomes romantically involved with a Soviet woman, whom he later impregnates, as they attempt to survive the [[Siege of Leningrad|prolonged siege]] and the [[NKVD|secret police]], because relationships with foreigners are forbidden. According to Leone, "In the end, the cameraman dies on the day of the liberation of the city, when he is currently filming the surrender of the Germans. And the girl is aware of his death by chance seeing a movie news: the camera sees it explode under a shell".<ref>{{cite web |title=Les 900 Jours de Leningrad | work=Histoires De Tournages |url=http://www.devildead.com/histoiresdetournages/index.php?idart=30 |access-date=10 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004142832/http://www.devildead.com/histoiresdetournages/index.php?idart=30 |archive-date=4 October 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1989, Leone set the film's budget at $100&nbsp;million, and had secured half of that amount in financing from independent backers from the Soviet Union. He had convinced Ennio Morricone to compose the film score, and [[Tonino Delli Colli]] was tapped to be the [[cinematographer]]. Shooting was scheduled to begin sometime in 1990. The project was canceled when Leone died two days before he was to officially sign on for the film. [[Alex Cox]] offered to replace Leone as director, but was unable to secure the remaining $50&nbsp;million required to produce the film.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cox, Alex|author-link=Alex Cox|title=10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western|publisher=Oldcastle Books|page=388 |date=2009|isbn=978-1842433041}}</ref>

=== ''Don Quixote'' ===
According to Frayling's biography of Leone, ''Something to Do with Death'', he envisioned a contemporary adaptation of [[Miguel de Cervantes|Cervantes]]' 17th-century novel ''[[Don Quixote]]'' with Clint Eastwood in the title role and [[Eli Wallach]] as [[Sancho Panza]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/articles/prof.html |title=More Than A Fistful of Interview: Christopher Frayling on Sergio Leone |publisher=Fistful-of-Leone |date=26 April 2007 |access-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210060328/http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/articles/prof.html |archive-date=10 February 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> He had discussed doing the project throughout the 1960s–1970s, and he started seriously considering it toward the end of his life.<ref>Ironically Wallach had already starred as Sancho Panza in a 1959 Dupont show "I, Don Quixote"</ref>

=== ''Colt'' ===
In 1987, Sergio Leone contacted his old collaborators Sergio Donati and Fulvio Morsella, pitching an idea for a TV [[miniseries]] about a [[Colt Peacemaker|Colt revolver]] that passed from owner to owner throughout the Old West, similar to [[Anthony Mann]]'s film ''[[Winchester '73]]'' (1950). Donati indicated that Leone was interested in a more revisionist take on the genre than his earlier works, wanting to show the Old West "like it really was". Leone abandoned this project in favor of ''A Place Only Mary Knows'', though Donati wrote a treatment and the project remained in gestation for years after Leone's death.<ref>Frayling, ''Something to Do With Death'', pp. 482–483, 489</ref>
An adaptation based on Leone's subject is currently in production.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leone Film Group |url=https://www.leonefilmgroup.com/films/colt/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216165421/https://www.leonefilmgroup.com/films/colt/ |archive-date=2019-12-16 |access-date=2024-04-04}}</ref> Appointed director is Italian film-maker [[Stefano Sollima]].

=== Other ===
Leone was also an avid fan of [[Margaret Mitchell]]'s novel ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'' and the [[Gone with the Wind (film)|1939 film adaptation]]. His relatives and close friends stated that he talked about filming a [[remake]] that was closer to the original novel, but it never advanced beyond discussions to any serious form of production.

In 1969, Leone was contracted to direct ''[[99 and 44/100% Dead]]'' with [[Marcello Mastroianni]] and [[Charles Bronson]] starring. He was replaced as director by [[John Frankenheimer]], while Mastroianni was recast with [[Richard Harris]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=99 and 44/100% Dead|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67618-99-AND44100DEAD?sid=65a61b17-b3ad-4bc7-8678-84690cc84469&sr=15.89478&cp=1&pos=0|access-date=21 February 2022|website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> 

Leone was a fan of [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]]'s novel ''[[Journey to the End of the Night]]'' and was considering a film adaptation in the late 1960s; he incorporated elements of the story into ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' and ''Duck, You Sucker!'' but his idea of adapting the novel itself never got past the planning stages.

Leone was an early choice to direct ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'' (1980). Leone was a fan of the original [[Alex Raymond]] comic strip, but turned down the film because the script did not resemble Raymond's work.<ref>Frayling, ''Something to Do With Death'', pp. 6, 377</ref>