Remember The Shining? Of course you do. Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 1980 film is iconic enough to spawn a remake (1997’s miniseries), a documentary (Room 237), and even a sequel (Stephen King’s surprisingly good Doctor Sleep, published last year). And now it’s inspiring a prequel, The Overlook Hotel.
The film is based on an unpublished prologue to The Shining, entitled “Before the Play,” which you can read here. It centers on the tragic life of Bob T. Watson, the original owner of the Overlook, and describes the early horrors that befell the hotel and laid the groundwork for Jack Torrance’s descent into madness.
Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go) is in talks to direct The Overlook Hotel, which is written by former Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara. I think Romanek is a pretty exciting choice; he has a keen eye for horrifying visuals (one can only imagine how balls-out crazy his version of The Wolfman would have been). Also, he directed the video for Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” which was very controversial at the time, but now looks like an ad for 5 Gum. That has nothing to do with this story, it’s just a solid joke.
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