‘The Shining’ Gets a Prequel

October 6, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — In a recent interview with Collider, producer James Vanderbilt spoke about the upcoming prequel to “The Shining,” he will be producing.

The film, which is currently titled “Overlook Hotel,” will be directed by Mark Romanek and written by ‘Walking Dead’ alumni Glen Mazzara.

The film is based on Stephen King’s original prologue to “The Shining,” which was cut from the book prior to publication in 1977.

In a quote to Collider, Vanderbilt said, “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.”

Vanderbilt also told Collider, “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.’”

He continues, stating, “I don’t want to give too much away about the story but the way Glen 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.”

With pre-production underway, the film is expected to be in theaters next year, although no release date has been set yet.

Stanley Kubrick’s version of “The Shining” was released in 1980. The film was based on Stephen King’s novel. It is widely known King disliked the adaptation.

In a recent Rolling Stone article King stated , “The book is hot, and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire, and the movie in ice. In the book, there’s an actual arc where you see this guy, Jack Torrance, trying to be good, and little by little he moves over to this place where he’s crazy.

And as far as I was concerned, when I saw the movie, Jack was crazy from the first scene. I had to keep my mouth shut at the time. It was a screening, and Nicholson was there. But I’m thinking to myself the minute he’s on the screen, ‘Oh, I know this guy.

I’ve seen him in five motorcycle movies, where Jack Nicholson played the same part.’ And it’s so misogynistic. I mean, Wendy Torrance is just presented as this sort of screaming dishrag. But that’s just me, that’s the way I am.”