David Goyer Talks About His NICK FURY: AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Film Project

Before Samuel L. Jackson was cast in the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character was played by Knight Rider and Baywatch star David Hasselhoff in Marvel Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television's 1998 made-for-TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

That series was supposed to launch a Hasselhoff-led television series and Nick Fury was billed as "the last superhero."

That TV movie was originally planned as a feature film that would’ve gotten a theatrical release, and the script for that film was written by David S. Goyer. The budget was $15 million and it was one of his earliest film projects, and he recently explained what happened with this project and why his version of the film wasn’t produced. He told the Happy Sad Confused podcast:

"Sometimes people will give [Nick Fury] as a credit or cite that as an example of my not being a good screenwriter. I wrote a script, [but] that whole thing went away. Years later, They said, 'We're going to do it as a TV movie at Fox, for like three million dollars with David Hasselhoff — taking nothing away from David Hasselhoff."

When asked if he would work on the now made-for-TV movie, Goyer recalled: "I was like, 'No. I don't want any involvement with it, no. Goodbye.' It was rewritten by God-knows-whom, or how many people, and then there it is."

So, Goyer really had nothing to do with how Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. turned out. It’s something he didn’t want to have anything to do with. I’ve only ever watched that movie once, and it’s one of those movies that I never need to watch again.