Some unfortunate news has come to light this week for fans of that mad genius screenwriter-turned-director Charlie Kaufman. Over the past couple of years we’ve been following development on his next directorial project, an intriguing film called Frank or Francis. It has been described as another one of his patented “meta” comedies about a movie director named Frank who butts heads with a blogger named Francis after seeing the negative comments that have been written about his work online. But that’s not all… it also happens to be a full-blown musical. I think we can all agree that the world needs to experience a Charlie Kaufman musical, but alas, it may not be in the cards. According to a few of the film’s stars, at this point it’s looking like Frank or Francis is all but dead.

In a recent interview with Moviefone, Elizabeth Banks revealed that Frank or Francis was “ready to go” but then “it fell apart at the last minute.” That sounds a little more definite than what she had told Ain’t It Cool News just a day earlier:

“I honestly don’t know where that film is at. We were supposed to make it sooner, but it’s been pushed. I think they’re waiting for everybody’s lives to come back together. You read the script–it’s bananas. I think they’ve got to find the right money and the right combination of people at all of that stuff. I don’t really know anything about it. All I know is I want to work with Charlie Kaufman.”

Steve Carell and Kevin Kline have also confirmed the status of the film is currently unknown. The movie was set to star Steve Carell and Jack Black in the lead roles with Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Kevin Kline, Paul Reubens, Jacki Weaver and Kate Winslet all attached as well. However, it sounds like there wasn’t a lot of funding in place and the scheduling issues surrounding all of these big names created even more problems. It’s hard not to be reminded of P.T. Anderson’s struggle to get The Master off the ground. Is it a sign of the times that these brilliant directors can’t find the money to get their movies made?

At this point it’s not clear if Frank or Francis will ever see the light of day, but I wonder if this is part of the reason why Charlie Kaufman is now pursuing an HBO series. A few years back he had hinted that he was getting frustrated with the movie business and that it was pushing him back toward TV. What do you think, is there actually more creative freedom on a network like HBO than in the movie industry? Are you disappointed that Frank or Francis might end up getting shelved permanently?