Rob Reiner almost made Larry David's Prognosis Negative

In the world of Seinfeld, the title "Prognosis Negative" refers to a fictional movie that Jerry and George are obsessed with. However, in the real life of Larry David, it provided the breakthrough his career desperately needed after his stint at Fridays. An excerpt from the upcoming biography "Emperor Of Nothing: The Making Of Larry David" reveals that this unreleased screenplay, which was leaked online last year, caught the attention of Rob Reiner and Richard Dreyfuss.

The script imagined a dark comedy centered around a commitment-phobic character like Larry David, who sought to date a terminally ill woman to experience love without the constraints of a relationship. Friends of David, including Richard Lewis, were impressed by the script and facilitated its distribution. Marilyn Black, David's friend and then-manager, played a crucial role in selling the script to Rob Reiner, who initially thought it could be a fitting follow-up to the then-upcoming "This Is Spinal Tap."

Reiner was enthusiastic about the project but deliberated on whether to direct it himself, instead opting to recommend Christopher Guest. The story took an unexpected turn when other parties, including Richard Dreyfuss, became interested in the screenplay. Dreyfuss envisioned it as a coming-of-age drama akin to "Risky Business."

Fearing that his work might be tampered with, David began imposing stringent conditions on potential buyers, insisting on sole authorship and barring any alterations—even for a hefty sum of $200,000. The offer ultimately fell through as David's demands seemed too one-sided for any investor, with even Mortimer Lipman, David Susskind's lawyer, dismissing the deal as absurdly biased, comparing it unfavorably to deals offered to established stars like Robert Redford.