Released in 1980 to critical praise, ‘The Shining’ has become one of Stanley Kubrick’s most timeless works even though Stephen King hates this adaptation. James Vanderbilt (‘The Amazing Spider-Man‘,’Zodiac’) is currently producing the prequel to ‘The Shining’ titled ‘Overlook Hotel‘ and is letting us know that we should expect something completely different.
With Mark Romanek (‘Never Let Me Go’,’One Hour Photo’) directing the prequel film we know it will, at the very least, have a uniquely dark vision and should be an interesting lead in to the hotel’s past.
In a recent interview about his directorial debut ‘Truth’, Vanderbilt opened up a little on what we can expect in his take for penning the film.
“You want a real filmmaker like Mark doing it… Honestly I think people will really be excited about it, because it’s not like ’20 Years Before The Shining!’. I don’t want to give too much away about the story but the way [screenwriter] Glen [Mazzara] cracked it and the way Mark has sort of cracked it, it’s completely it’s own film, which I think is super smart. It’s not like, ‘When Scatman Crothers was young, he…’ it’s not that.”
While some fans may want to know what Crothers was like when he was young, this probably is the way to go when placing the building blocks for such an iconic novel and film. I’m wondering if they plan on tackling the story as more of a prequel to the novel or the film but either way I am excited that we’ll most likely be getting an amazing haunted house tale.
You can tell that he is very excited about working with Mark and has nothing but praise for him when he says that:
“One of the things that’s amazing about [Mark] is that he’s a strong filmmaker with his own convictions, and Mark is gonna make the movie Mark is gonna make… I think there’s something wonderful about a director who says, ‘No, this is the film.’ Fincher was the same way. It’s like, ‘This is the movie I wanna make. If you don’t wanna make that movie, that’s totally cool, then we won’t make the movie.’ And now as someone who’s directed a film, that’s kinda what you want. You want the captain of the ship to be like, ‘I know what the film is, I know how to make it, let’s go do it.”
I’ve been a fan of what Romanek has done in the past an want to see him return to darker films. The idea of him doing a haunted house tale has me intrigued though with Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Crimson Peak‘ James Vanderbilt ‘ soon to be released, he is going to have some tough competition on a truly original haunting to content with.
I suspect audiences will be holding ‘Crimson Peak’ close to their hearts for years to come.
If you prefer, you can watch the interview here:
Are you willing to give ‘Overlook Hotel’ a chance? Is this a prequel that will be worth checking out? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Collider
