Caffeinated Clint
Warner Bros seems ardent on having their “Gravity” underling stay on longer.
Flies on wall say the studio are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Alfonso Cuaron at the moment (Eastwood and Affleck are all locked up, you see), in the hope that one – or more – of the projects might convince him to camp out at the Water Tower on a more permanent basis.
Earlier this week the trades reported that The WB was trying to lure Cuaron into directing the first of their new “Harry Potter” spin-offs, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. Having helmed one of the “Potter” flicks, Warners were obviously confident that Cuaron could handle it, but more so, would likely spark to the idea.
Now comes word that the endowed filmmaker has also been offered a prequel to “The Shining”. Schmoes Know say “The Overlook Hotel” – which takes place before the events in the Stanley Kubrick directed original – has a lot going for it, especially when it comes to creative brass (“Walking Dead” alum Glen Mazzara is writing the script, with Laeta Kalogridis (“Avatar,” “Shutter Island”), Bradley Fischer (“Black Swan,” “Zodiac”) and James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) all producing), so there’s enough appealing elements here to entice Cauron into at least perusing the script notes.
But let’s also remember that Cuaron’s got where he is because he likes to tell original, daring stories – like the ones at the center of “Children of Men” and “Gravity”. So while both the “Potter” and “Shining” films sound interesting, I don’t think anyone will be surprised if Cuaron decides to pass on both, and instead make something unique and original, a film that isn’t a sequel, prequel or spinoff (even if he loses a couple of zeroes from a cheque by doing so).
