6. Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Spielberg

Unlike the other items on this list, this instance actually happened, but not fully. It’s a conflicting tale of competing creative forces, and it doesn’t exactly end up the way you would think. For a bit of background, Spielberg is the director of ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Indiana Jones Movies, and so much more. They are all beloved movies, and everyone agrees that they have heart and warmth.

Stanley Kubrick…. is another director entirely. his films are cold, dark, serious, and sometimes uncomfortable to watch.  He’s made 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining, two of the most controversial films of all time. They are creepy. They are odd. Don’t know him? Sure you do. He made this.

But either way, both were critically acclaimed directors with enormous talent, even though they were total opposites of one another. They even looked totally opposite. So what happened when these 2 made a movie together? Pretty much what you’d expect, but there’s a rather cool story behind it anyway.

Kubrick was trying to adapt a short story about robots, but abandoned it later on. The film was to be called AI: Artificial Intelligence. Throughout the making of the film, Kubrick was attempting to create a fairy tale, with innocence and family, and seemed to be striving to be more like Spielberg with the film.

And then Kubrick died. With a large amount of work left behind, the film had to be finished. So who better to finish it then Spielberg himself? He went by Kubrick’s wishes, and tried his best to create the film that Stanley wanted to make. When the film was released, it was….. not very good. The plot was too sappy, the acting visuals were strange, and it was clear that Kubrick’s original idea would have been better! It would have been dark! Weird! The sappiness was Spielberg’s fault! But that’s were people got it wrong.  The sappy, saccharine, and insipid parts were Kubrick’s idea. The ending, which is possibly the most ridiculous and sappy part of the film, was Kubrick’s concept. The writers begged and pleaded with him to change it, but under his friend Stanley’s wishes, Spielberg kept the ending.

So although the film seems boring and confused, it’s really a product of two good friends.

5. The Beatles and Stanley Kubrick make Lord of The Rings. 

Sadly, the world was not ready for such a mind-blowing thing such as this beautiful force of nature. JRR Tolkien did not approve of this adaptation, and the project never happened.

If an alternate universe exists where this film is a real thing, please take me there. It is a perfect world. A world in which John Lennon is Gollum, yes, but a perfect world nonetheless. The more I think about this alternate reality, he more I begin to realize that real life is not perfect.

4. Elvis Presley and David Bowie

Sometime in the 70’s, Elvis heard Bowie’s single “Golden Years”, a song that Bowie actually wanted Presley to record. Elvis liked the song, and wanted Bowie to produce his next album. But then, in 1977, Elvis died on the toilet. Oops.

But considering that now Bowie is dead too, perhaps there jamming in heaven. Forget about angel harps, that’s the real heavenly music that people hear when they die.

3. Terminator: starring OJ Simpson

Before the famous role went to Arnold Schwarzenegger, director James Cameron was considering casting OJ Simpson as the deadly robot. This was before Simpson was famous for being a criminal, and OJ was denied the role because Cameron found him “too nice” for the role. Yes, the guy who is now most notable for killing his girlfriend was too nice for The Terminator.  The role of course went to the famous Austrian instead, and made good ol’ Arnie the most celebrated action star of the 80’s.

2. Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson

Perhaps the 3 most popular musicians of the 80’s, these 3 never thought to work together as a trio of 80’s musicians but they all worked with each other at some point, and every single time nothing fruitful was created.

Prince and Michael Jackson had a distinct rivalry in the 80s, although they rarely interacted with one of other despite this.  The duo faced off in, of all things, a ping pong match, which Prince won with blinding color. Sadly, no recordings of this spectacular event exist, to the disdain of music fans and ping pong enthusiasts.

On a separate occasion, Madonna and Micheal Jackson dated, and were planning on recording some songs. However, Jackson was not comfortable with the more adult content that was rampant in Madonna’s lyrics, and the two broke up shortly after. Then Madonna set her eyes on Prince, and according to Prince, he declined because the world wasn’t ready for that kind of music yet. I’m with ya, Prince.

1. Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Paul McCartney

Jimi Hendrix was the best guitarist of the  60’s and perhaps the best of our time. Miles Davis was a very experimental jazz trumpeter, and the most influential jazz musician of the 60’s and 70’s. The two were seriously considering collaborating on an album in the late 60’s with jazz drummer Tony Williams. So they just needed a bassist. So why not Paul McCartney, the bassist OF THE FREAKING BEATLES HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT. For whatever reason, Paul ignored the letter, as he was on vacation.

Hendrix died after, ruining any chance of the collaboration happening again.