Mark Romanek – who nearly helmed The Wolfman and also got bend the camera for Nine Inch Nails’ incredible “Closer” music video – is in negotiations to direct Warner Bros.’ Overlook Hotel, a prequel to the Stanley Kubrick classic The Shining, reports Variety.
Former “Walking Dead” showrunner Glenn Mazzara recently turned in his draft for the original story, with Mythology’s James Vanderbilt, Brad Fischer and Laeta Kalogridis producing.
Based on Stephen King’s original prologue to The Shining, which was cut from the book prior to publication in 1977, “the film will tell the origin story of the Overlook Hotel through the eyes of its first owner, Bob T. Watson. A robber baron at the turn of the 20th century, Watson scaled the remote peaks of the Colorado Rockies to build the grandest resort in America, and a place he and his family would also call home“
Based on the Stephen King novel, “The Shining” revolved around a writer who takes his family to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil presence influences him to commit violent acts, while his psychic son sees horrific visions of the past and future.
Though ABC had King’s blessing to make a 1997 mini-series remake starring Steven Webber, studios have been cautious about doing justice to a film that has come to be seen as one of the top horror films of all time.
In 2013, King published a “Shining” sequel “Dr. Sleep,” which Warners is also trying to get off the ground.
Romanek is also attached to direct Boston Strangler for the studio starring Casey Affleck.
