on Nov 20th, 2006Wonderful Life II George Bailey at Odds with His Son
Hollywood studios sure know how to turn Christmas into a year-round affair. They have perfected the art of giving the same gift — sequels — to themselves in an attempt to cash in on the same warm and fuzzy feeling an audience had the first time around. Nothing is sacred, not even It’s a Wonderful Life. Now that’s it’s on the table, it’s only a matter of time before some lunkhead studio exec will seize on the idea and turn it into reality. The only thing sacred in Hollywood is money.
Incredible as it may seem, famed director Frank Capra wanted to make a sequel to his perennial holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” - and planned to use the original cast, including Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, to show how George Bailey, his wife and the citizens of Bedford Falls were faring 20 years after the original 1946 movie. “My father and Jimmy were talking about it,” Capra’s son, Frank Capra Jr., told Page Six. “George Bailey would now be retired, and the story would involve a big conflict between him and his older son. They really wanted to make the sequel to show how the characters were doing, but it never happened.”
Wonderful Life II Almost
By Richard Johnson
New York Post, November 20, 2006