The Shining Prequel is "Completely Its Own Film"

When you're stepping into the shoes of one of the greatest directors of all time, and making a prequel to one of the greatest films of all time, it's probably handy to have a bit of self-belief.

But that's apparently something not lacking from director Mark Romanek, according to the producer of the forthcoming prequel of The Shining, currently titled The Overlook Hotel.

James Vanderbilt spoke to Collider to discuss the current state of the project, which is in development at Warner Brothers, and described the attitude that Romanek is going into the film with.

“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.”

Related: Take our Ultimate Shining Quiz

It appears that the new film will be an 'off-shoot' of the 1980 original, rather than trying to reference it at every juncture - Vanderbilt continued, “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.’”

The film is due to be based on a deleted prologue written by Stephen King, entitled Before The Play, which is about, “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.”

There's no start or release date attached to the project yet, but it certainly seems like there is a finished story and a vision in place already, which is good news for those excited about another episode of terror from the hotel you really don't want to stay at.

[via Collider]

(Image: AllStar)