and American versions criticised the casting of Red Dwarf USA, particularly the part of Lister, who is portrayed in the British version as a likeable slob, but in the U.S. version as somewhat clean-cut. In the 2004 documentary Dwarfing USA, Danny John-Jules said the only actor who could have successfully portrayed an American Lister was John Belushi. In a 2009 interview on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Bierko said that casting him as Lister was a "huge mistake," and also said a "John Belushi-type" would have been better suited to the role. The American pilot has been heavily bootlegged, but it has never been broadcast on TV in any country. Excerpts from the first pilot are included in Dwarfing USA, a featurette on the making of the pilots included on the DVD release of Red Dwarf fifth series. Because of rights-clearance issues, no footage from the second pilot is included in the featurette. Red Dwarf: The Movie Since the beginning of the seventh series in 1997, Doug Naylor had been attempting to make a feature-length version of the show. A final draft of the script was written, by Naylor, and flyers began circulating around certain websites. The flyer was genuine and had been distributed by Winchester Films to market the film overseas. Plot details were included as part of the teaser. It was set in the distant future where Homo sapienoids—a race of cyborgs—had taken over the solar system and were wiping out the human race. Spaceships that tried to escape Earth were hunted down "until only one remained... Red Dwarf". Naylor had scouted Australia to get an idea of locations and finance costs, with pre-production beginning in 2004 and filming planned for 2005. Costumes were made, including Kryten's, and A-list celebrity cameos, including Madonna, were rumoured. However, finding sufficient funding had been difficult. Naylor explained at a Red Dwarf Dimension Jump convention that the film had been rejected by the BBC and the British Film Council. In 2012, material from early drafts of the film was incorporated into the series X finale "The Beginning". In 2018, Naylor suggested production of the movie was still under consideration, "The order will probably be another TV series, a stage show and possibly a movie, and I think the guys agree on that. The film is a long shot at this point just because it can take so long to get funding." Role-playing game