So how awesome did the feature adaptation of “Heavy Metal” sound?  With directors David Fincher, Gore Verbinski and Zack Snyder on board to direct segments, it’s hard to imagine that the film would not be, at the very least, visually stunning. 

Unfortunately Paramount passed on the project back in July and “Heavy Metal” has remained studio-less ever since – though Snyder recently told Steve that he is still in whenever the project gets going again.  And just to remind you of why you should care about “Heavy Metal” getting scrapped, today we came across an old web posting that hinted that the film could have been so much more than a bunch of Frazetta babes in steel bikinis.

Apparently, the “Heavy Metal” pitch included a fifteen minute 3D segment for “Aeon Flux”!  According to Peter Chung, the artist responsible for the original “Aeon” animated shorts that knocked us all out on MTV back in the day, he was commissioned by David Fincher to create a brand new “Aeon Flux” piece for use in “Heavy Metal”.  Here’s Peter’s post from last summer:

I wrote a 12-16 minute script and did designs for a version of AF that would play as a 3D CG R-rated theatrical short. David was very enthusiastic about my story, and I was excited about the prospect of finally doing Aeon unconstrained by both TV budget and content standards. As long as the movie was to be made at Paramount, I was pretty much guaranteed that Aeon would be included in the lineup. Other directors, writers and artists prepared proposals, all of which was compiled and presented to the Paramount execs. It was (and is) an amazing collection of pitch art, the likes of which has rarely been seen.

Paramount passed on the whole package.  Heavy Metal 3D may still get made at another studio, but of course, without Aeon.

See, Paramount owns the rights to the Aeon Flux character, so – even assuming “Heavy Metal” pulls itself out of development hell - it will be without the substantial charms of Aeon.  Looks like Charlize Theron’s legacy is safe for now…