Sundance did not play a part in my barfing, but it did with Peter. I think the sheer surprise at one scene in Rambo (go see it) weakened me to the point where I had to hide under blankets for all of yesterday reading some [cough, sneeze] Hemingway.

@Cinemaniac

I agree that one indie film is not enough “street cred” to give a director a superstar pass on a $100 million classic horror project. However, Romanek is not your regular avid-douche flyover from MTV.

Personally, I want to see the guy who directed NIN’s “Closer” and “The Perfect Drug” - the latter vid almost had a Victorian-gone-mad sensibility that would ideally serve Wolf Man (with less voguish surreality) - direct Del Toro gone rabid with a lavish budget. Your choices are fine, but Romanek’s film would be utterly unpredictable and that’s what had my attention.

A lot of industry people outside of Nikki Finke feel Romanek has talent to spare and One Hour Photo is a strong debut comparable to Dominik’s Chopper and look how great his TAOJJBTCRF turned out. It’s unfortunate we’ve waited this long for a follow-up, but like I said, Romanek has spent a great deal of time prepping this horror film for the screen. It’s a great loss and a director, no matter who, being hired with less than a month before shooting begins won’t bring the same vision.

Here’s a link to “The Perfect Drug” on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=l0s5UOVsMDg

Compare this ’90s vid to the latest neo-Hype Williams Usher video. I find there is a difference, enough for Romanek to be free of the generic “video director” stigma.

I vote Gore Verbinski on this one. The Ring proves he can handle atmosphere and he’s no stranger to big budget movies. Either him or Frank Darabont. That would be killer.