Even though Ron Howard produced and directed the cinematic adaptations of Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, it looks like he won’t be returning to the director’s chair for the final entry. According to Deadline, Howard just wants to produce the film version of The Lost Symbol, the third and final book in the Robert Langdon trilogy. Sony is currently looking for someone else to take over as director and the film is still set to have Tom Hanks return as Langdon.
An insider told Deadline that Howard didn’t want to keep doing the same film over and over again, he wanted to work on something new. One project that did come up was A Captain’s Duty, based on the novel by Captain Richard Phillips, which tells the story of the 2009 Somali pirates incident. Hanks is on deck to star in the lead role but the director spot has already been given to The Bourne Supremacy’s Paul Greengrass.
It’s been somewhat of a rough month for Howard. Just last week, the long anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower was dumped by Universal. I can understand him not wanting to do another Robert Langdon story, but at the same time, I can’t. It’s the last one in the franchise, and since he started it, I think he should finish it.
That being said, Howard is still finding work elsewhere. He was just given the greenlight to direct an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven and a live-action version of Mad Magazine’s Spy vs. Spy. Personally, I’d rather see his adaptation of The Lost Symbol over a Spy vs. Spy film any day. And I didn’t even like the first two movies.
Do you think Howard should step back into the director chair? Who would you like to see take over as director? Share your thoughts in the comments.