Disney looks for a Cinderella director and tries to fit the glass slipper on Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek, the auteur behind indie projects like NEVER LET ME GO and ONE HOUR PHOTO, does not, at first glance, seem to be the perfect match to bring Disney’s live-action CINDERELLA reboot to life, but the studio is actively working to bring the director on-board.

Last year, Disney hired DEVIL WEARS PRADA screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna to work on a script for a ALICE IN WONDERLAND style reimagining of the classic fairy tale and now the studio is hot to trot. It’s unclear how much interest Romanek has at this point as the report indicates that it’s Disney that is circling Romanek but has not yet been offered nor is he formally attached to the film.

Whether CINDERELLA will reimagine the princess as a warrior remains to be seen but that seems to be par for the course for these new-fangled fairy tales (see both ALICE and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN).

I think Romanek could bring a lot to this movie but then again, he could bring a lot to ANY movie. Unfortunately, the last “reboot” that Romanek was attached to, Universal’s THE WOLFMAN, didn’t end well for the director who left the project about a month before shooting was scheduled to begin. He instead mobilized NEVER LET ME GO quickly and wound up with a far better critical reception than WOLFMAN.