Overlook Hotel producer says The Shining prequel is completely its own film

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Last year Warner Bros. hired NEVER LET ME GO and ONE HOUR PHOTO director Mark Romanek to helm its THE SHINING prequel THE OVERLOOK HOTEL, which has given me hope for the project, but I'm still not completely sold on the film. During a conversation with Collider, producer James Vanderbilt (who also wrote and directed the upcoming political drama TRUTH) said Romanek's movie will stand on its own, and won't just be about younger versions of the characters from the original Stephen King novel and Stanley Kubrick's adaptation.

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.

THE OVERLOOK HOTEL story details have been scarce, however it will be based on the prologue and epilogue that were cut from King's book, and will "tell the origin story of the hotel during the era of its first owner, Bob T. Watson."

It's likely going to be a while before production starts though, since the project is still in the development stage. Romanek has also dropped out of a couple of movies due to creative differences (CINDERELLA, THE WOLFMAN), so I'm not totally convinced that it will happen with him behind the camera, but I am still very eager to learn more about his plans for the prequel.