It’s been a long four years since we’ve seen anything work out for Never Let Me Go director Mark Romanek. He’s been in talks to make several movies, only for those to go nowhere; he shot a pilot for a TV series based on Joe Hill’s Locke & Key comics that sadly didn’t get picked up, and has had several projects sit in development. Now he’s in negotiations for an unexpected project: **The Overlook Hotel{
Also known as a prequel to The Shining, the film has been in development for a couple of years at Warner Bros., with former Walking Dead show runner Glen Mazzara taking on the job of writing the script explaining what happens in the hotel long before Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and his family arrived for their ill-fated stay. After a long period of no information about what exactly what that would involve (would it focus on the 1930s of the photographs Torrance looks at? Earlier? Would it go all the way back to the Indian burial ground?), The Hollywood Reporter brings word that it’ll be set at the turn of the 20th century and see through the eyes of the hotel’s first owner, robber baron Bob. T. Watson.
Though the rights issues have been somewhat cloudy – the screenplay is based on the prologue, Before The Play, which was cut from Stephen King’s novel before publication – it would seem any wrinkles have been ironed out because Warners, after a brief flirtation with Alfonso Cuaron post-**Gravity, is in talks with Romanek to call the shots.
With his powerful grasp of visuals and his ability to make colder stories work, Romanek seems like a great choice for this job, even if no one is 100% sure we need a Shining prequel. Still, here’s hoping the deal works out…