As our friend over at FilmSchoolRejects says Mark Romanek won’t go Mickey Mouse with Cinderella, or to put it another way, it’s being reported that he’s off Walt Disney’s live-action Cinderella reimagining.
Romanek (Never Let Me Go) is actually going for a darker telling and a few Disney folks think it’s a little too dark to have a fairytale ending. After all, don’t forget that Romanek was ‘too dark’ for The Wolfman. Therefore, Mouse House will have to scramble to find a new director to take over.
The project had Cate Blanchett attached to play the evil stepmother with Saoirse Ronan, Gabrielle Wilde and Alicia Vikander reported as being of interest. But now that the project’s lost its director, it’s hard to say how the project will go forward.
No word on which directors might step in to replace Romanek, but there are people among us who will put some money on David Yates or maybe David O. Russell, both of whom were strongly considering directing Maleficent, which seems a bit darker, and maybe closer to what Romanek has in mind.
On the other hand, Romanek was replaced the last time by Joe Johnston (The Wolfman). Johnston’s available again?
Source: Deadline