Mark Romanek Getting Into the Dan Brown Business

Mark Romanek spent two decades directing some of the best, most distinctive music videos the genre has ever know. Occasionally, he makes movies, the next of which would be something of a departure, to say the least.

Romanek is said to be the frontrunner to helm "The Lost Symbol," the third book in the Dan Brown trilogy about symbologist Robert Langdon, reported Deadline. He'd be taking over the franchise from Little Opie Cunningham, who directed the first two, "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons."

Here's a chunk of the synopsis from Brown's website:

A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
   
    When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him.

Romanek hinted at this development a couple of weeks ago, by posting a photo of producers Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard.

Romanek has only directed three other films, "Static" in 1985, "One Hour Photo" in 2002 and last year's under-appreciated "Never Let Me Go"--it would be fair to say he leans toward art-house fare. When he last tried to go big budget, it was on "The Wolfman," but he bailed just weeks before going into production over a dispute with Universal regarding--what else?--money and creative vision.

For an overview of just how great his career as a video director has been (Fiona Apple's "Criminal" remains one of the dirtiest things we've ever seen on MTV), check out this list or watch this montage:

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