Mark Romanek’s name suddenly seems to be in the frame for every blockbuster upcoming. In the past, he dropped out of shooting The Wolfman for Universal and was apparently in contention to make The Wolverine. But recently, Disney was considering him to shoot their Cinderella update, and now he’s the frontrunner to direct Dan Brown book-based thriller The Lost Symbol.
According to Deadline, Sony is having serious talks with Romanek about handling the third outing for professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), the inquisitive academic seen in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.
While Ron Howard has directed the last two films, he’s decided to stick to producing this one alongside Brian Grazer (he’s also busy on other projects, including James Hunt drama Rush).
The script, by Brown himself and Steven Knight, sees Langdon delving into the deep, dark, dangerous secrets of the Freemasons in Washington DC. Because that won’t get him into any trouble. At all…
Details are still coalescing on the film, with no solid directing deal in place yet, and no firm commitment from Hanks to return (though chances are he will). But it appears the studio wants the film shooting next year. Given how much money the first two made, can you blame the executives for wanting to get to work on the third?