Throughout the Nineties and early Noughties, Terry Pratchett, is a comic fantasy novel concerning the end of the world — featuring the odd-couple pairing of the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley on their quest to prevent Armageddon. Released in 1990, the novel has since gained a cult following, with proposed (and subsequently canceled) adaptations setting internet forums ablaze for many years. While a TV adaptation finally saw the light of day in 2019, Terry Gilliam had previously tried to adapt Good Omens as a movie before funding issues brought the project to a halt.
Gilliam, a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe who directed their many animated segments, has gone on to have a successful feature film career — cultivating a surreal and, often, darkly comic directorial style on such projects as 12 Monkeys. Upon completing Good Omens, Gaiman and Pratchett sent Gilliam a copy — noting that the novels’ comedic sensibilities owed a debt to Monty Python — and a meeting was arranged at London’s famous Groucho Club to discuss the prospect of a film adaptation [via TW].
Development on the screenplay began and, by the late '90s, Gilliam was said to be co-writing the film with his Good Omens as “the most expensive thing” he had ever done, gives a pretty good idea of why the project was relegated to the scrap pile.
Gilliam moved on — wrestling with his infamously delayed adaptation of Don Quixote (which was finally released in 2018 as Good Omens fans would have to wait until 2019 to see a miniseries adaptation, but most would argue that it was worth holding out for — with Gaiman personally showrunning the project as one of Terry Pratchett’s final requests before ing from Alzheimer’s disease in 2015.
The 2019 miniseries, starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant as Aziraphale and Crowley, debuted to critical acclaim and an amusing “cancellation petition” — with religious organizations in the USA demanding that Netflix remove the show due to its comedic handling of religious themes, seemingly unaware that Good Omens dream was, like many a film project, over before it had truly begun.
