Mark Romanek To Direct 'Locke & Key'

As you know by now, Fox has handed in a series commitment to the Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci-produced small screen adaptation of the graphic novel, Locke & Key by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill. Steven Spielberg is involved (via: DreamWorks Television), and Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, War of the Worlds) is penning the teleplay and will be the showrunner on the series. But who will direct the first episode? How about the highly acclaimed filmmaker Mark Romanek?

Deadline reports that Romanek is in talks to make his television directing debut with the pilot episode.

A lot of you probably might not recognize Mark Romanek's name, but you've almost certainly seen his work. He was probably one of the best music video directors to come out of the 1990's. His videos have included Nine Inch Nails' "Closer", "Scream" – Michael Jackson's grammy award winning collaboration with sister Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson's "Got 'Til It's Gone", Johnny Cash's gut-wrenching cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", En Vogue's "Free Your Mind", Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way", Beck's "Devil's Haircut", Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and Fiona Apple's "Criminal".

His 2002 feature film One Hour Photo is probably best known for Robin Williams' dramatic turn. While the film is beloved by cinephiles, it pretty much went under the radar of mainstream audiences. It did however gain Romanek a lot of the respect in the movie industry. His follow-up, a big screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go, premiered at the 37th Telluride Film Festival. The book was named one of TIME's 100 Best Novels (from 1923 to the Present), featured on many top ten books of 2005 lists, and a finalist in the National Book Critic Circle Award, and the film adaptation was also highly acclaimed. Read our interview with the director here (Part 1, Part 2).

Here is the official synopsis from the publisher:

Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them.... and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all...! Acclaimed suspense novelist and New York Times best-selling author Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box) creates an all-new story of dark fantasy and wonder, with astounding artwork from Gabriel Rodriguez. Hill has received the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story, and the Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award-2007, among his growing collection of critical accolades.

At the 2009 Eisner Awards, Locke & Key was nominated for Best Limited Series and Joe Hill was nominated for Best Writer. You can watch a trailer for the comic book that was created by IDW Publishing:

The first book in the series, titled "Welcome to Lovecraft", is available on Amazon for around $15 (or $16.50 in hardcover).