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Saturday, July 19, 2014

Mark Romanek to direct prequel to The Shining

Warner Bros. has hired Mark Romanek to direct Overlook Hotel. It will serve as a prequel to the horror classic, The Shining.

The prequel has been drafted by former Walking Dead showrunner Glenn Mazzarra and apparently his script is adapted from the original prologue written by Stephen King.King's prologue was cut from his novel just before it was published. It focuses on Bob T. Watson, a robber who was the hotel's first owner.
Romanek is no stranger to this sort of genre. His films include Never Let Me Go and One Hour Photo. However, he has mostly directed music videos and shorts. He's worked with artists such as Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Madonna, Iggy Pop, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Fiona Apple, Linkin Park, and Coldplay. His music videos have always been considered visionary and very detailed. That includes setting a Guinness World Record alongside Michael Jackson for the most expensive music video ever made with "Scream." The video carried a $7 million price tag and was less than 5min long.
The first and most notable adaptation of King's novel was directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1980 and starred Jack Nicholson. It followed a struggling writer who brought his family to the Overlook Hotel during the off-season. An evil presence in the hotel takes hold of him and he attacks his wife and his psychic son. One of the most celebrated aspects of The Shining is the mystery and the fact that the audience never quite has anything laid out for them. You are left guessing which makes everything very unsettling.

I think Romanek will do just fine, but he has a history of just walking away from projects. He was hired to direct The Wolfman and he suddenly left right before filming and he also departed from Disney's new adaptation of Cinderella due to creative differences. He is also no longer attached to Boston Strangler starring Casey Affleck. It's all good if he manages to stick around.


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