THE SHINING PREQUEL is moving forward

If you're like me -- and no one is -- then you sighed a bit when you first heard the news that Stephen King's The Shining was being looked at for a prequel.  Really?  Do we need to have a prequel?  Really?  King already gave us a pretty well written sequel.  I  liked it a lot.  But a prequel?

Then something happened to change my mind; I'll tell you what in a moment.

This past week the hollywoodreporter.com confirmed that music video director Mark Romanek is in negotiations to direct the prequel, titled, Overlook.

The article notes:

The film will tell the origin story of the haunted hotel through the eyes of its first owner, Bob T. Watson, a robber baron at the turn of the 20th century.

Former Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara wrote the script. James Vanderbilt, Brad Fischer and Laeta Kalogridis are producing.

Did you catch that Mazzara "wrote" the script.  Of course, as Richard Matheson and Stephen King both attest, a lot of scripts get written that  never happen.  But actually having something on paper makes it all feel a little more real.

But what's their source material?  How about Stephen King.  No, not the Stephen King who gave us Mr. Mercedes, IT and The Stand.  How about a Stephen King who had only published two books, Carrie and Salems' Lot.  For good or for bad, that was a different Stephen King.  The young man was more likely to go for the punch, to try and creep you out, scare you and if all else failed, just be as gross as possible.  The older Stephen King is more focused on the art of storytelling.  (I like both.)

So what's exciting about Overlook is that the source is Stephen King's own prologue to The Shining, which was cut from the book prior to publication in 1977.  What's more, I've read that prologue, and it's great.  That's why I'm excited.  I mean, it's creepy and gross and all out scary!

By the way, I like the miniseries quite a lot.  It's almost pointless to compare it to the Kubrick film because they really are two different stories.  The miniseries is slow; just like the book.  It aptly brings the novel to life.

Perhaps you remember when ABC ran The Shining miniseries, TV guide ran the prequel.  But here's the thing -- it's an abridged prequel.  King actually gave much, much more.  A friend, I'm not saying who, but they do happen to run a very popular Stephen King blog that I think is great -- shared the full manuscript with me a while back.  It blew me away.  And the thought of those dusty pages being turned into a film makes me very excited.

King ON Shining Prequel, I Would Be Just As Happy If It Didn't Happen

With recent news  that the Overlook, a prequel to The Shining, might actually become a reality -- many of us are interested in Stephen King's reaction.

Uncle Creepy at Dread Central posted the following from King (via EW),

"I’m not saying I would put a stop to the project because I’m sort of a nice guy," King tells Entertainment Weekly. "When I was a kid, my mother said, ‘Stephen if you were a girl, you’d always be pregnant.’ I have a tendency to let people develop things. I’m always curious to see what will happen. But you know what? I would be just as happy if it didn’t happen."

www.dreadcentral.com

Thoughts On A Shining Prequel

With talk of a prequel to The Shining, I was interested in Christopher Campbell's piece at movies.com that discussed what direction a sequel to The Shining should go.

The article is full of wonderful quotes and insights.  My favorite is Campbell's own thoughts:

It's a bit confusing, or will be, that there will be two very different continuities going on with the tale of the Torrance family and the Overlook, although in a way these are somewhat separate stories, kind of like how Prometheus is a prequel to Alien but can itself spawn a whole other parallel-moving series. Maybe Warner Bros. will similarly want to go with further movies specific to the hotel. Personally, I can't wait for the one where the Overlook is launched into space and turned into a prison.

See, that's wonderful! And it is a problem, isn't it?  I mean, we have the Shining, then the movie,  then the mini-series, and the prequel and the sequel -- none of  them following quite the same streams of narration.

That said, I also appreciated this quote from Ethan Anderton:

Though I'd be interested in seeing what takes place at the Overlook Hotel, I'm a little skeptical without any source material from Stephen King. However, if Rise of the Planet of the Apes can craft a solid prequel to a classic film, then I suppose anything is possible. But Kubrick's shoes aren't going to be easy to fill. 

That's the spirit, mate! Of course,  I can think of a few prequel's that did not turn out as nicely as Rise of the Planet of the Apes; namely . . .  oh, I won't name names!  STAR WARS!  oops, it slipped out.

May I also point out that no matter how good a prequel is, it can't live up the Kubrick version of The Shining because there is not likely to be conspiracy groups who believe it was actually evidence of a fake moon landing.  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you are so blessed!)

Campbell's article  is here: