On July 30, 1999, it was reported that McQuarrie was attached to direct ''Alexander'', a [[biographical film]] about [[Alexander the Great]], for [[Warner Bros. Pictures]].<ref>{{Citecite webmagazine|last=Shaw|first=Jessica|url=https://ew.com/article/1999/07/30/re-best-unproduced-screenplays/|title=Re: Best Unproduced Screenplays|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=July 30, 1999|access-date=August 6, 2024}}</ref> The project, described as McQuarrie's "dream project", was developed over the course of several years. By 2000, he revealed that he was retooling the project ever since directing his first feature; "My vision of ''Alexander'' has been completely blown apart. I am starting all over from scratch. Knowledge is death in my experience. The more I know about film, the harder it is to create freely."<ref>{{cite web|last=Pulver|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/nov/17/culture.features4|title='It's an intimate love story between two men. Try selling that to Warner Bros.'|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=November 17, 2000|access-date=August 5, 2024}}</ref>
