One project that came close to being filmed was Before I Wake (This has no connection with the 2016 film of the same name directed by Mike Flanagan). This version was a haunted house movie Romero spent years developing, writing multiple drafts and getting as far as having shooting schedules written, locations picked out, and a budget lined up. So why didn't it happen?
A rolling Stone gathers no ghosts
Apparently, the studio's top choice for the lead was Sharon Stone. She was one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood then, up for an Oscar for Scorsese's Casino around this time, and landing her would have helped the movie's box office appeal. Hower, she reportedly wasn't interested in being in a ghost movie and declined a $12 million offer. That sent the studio into a panic, which eventually led to production being shut down.
What's more frustrating for Romero fans is Before I Wake cost him the chance to remake The Mummy. Universal was interested in moving forward with Romero's take on the Mummy, but he was stuck under contract to make Before I Wake, and the studio wouldn't let him out of it to make The Mummy (Before I Wake was at various times to be produced for New Line, MGM, and 20th Century Fox, and I'm not sure who had it at the time all this unfolded, hence why I keep saying the studio. The title page of the script I read says 20th Century Fox, but I don't know if that was when the Mummy conflict occurred.).
But was Before I Wake supposed to be about? For years, I scoured for information online, finding very few details. Usually, I'd find some variation of the same thing: Romero cited it in interviews in passing as an example of the development hell he got stuck in, saying something along the lines of, "It blew up."
Back from the dead
The opening of the George A. Romero Archival Collection changed all that. The collection not only features personal documents and other materials (donated by Romero's widow, daughter, and business partner), it contains a treasure trove: unproduced screenplays he wrote and developed, well over 100 of them across many different genres. I've so badly wanted to visit, but Pittsburgh is a bit of a drive, and life kept interfering.
Recently, I finally got my chance to go. I'm enrolled in Kent State University's Master of Library and Information Science program. For my Foundations of Recordkeeping class, I visited the Romero collection, spoke with its curator (Horror Studies Collection Coordinator Ben Rubin), and spent the day reading three Romero scripts, including Before I Wake.
The archive contains multiple drafts of Before I Wake. The version I read is dated Dec. 5, 1995. Romero is the credited screenwriter, basing this draft on an earlier one by Lucky Gold (who I think is Lloyd "Lucky" Gold, a prolific soap opera writer). My writeup of Before I Wake is based off this draft. If I had had more time, I would have liked to have read all the other drafts, to see how they compare and contrast, but for the screenplays I read, I prioritized reading the latest drafts on the assumption those were versions closest to going into production.
"Now...and forever"
Before I Wake begins with the wedding of Kelly and David Webster. David's 9-year-old daughter Janie is the flower girl. We also meet Kelly's very Irish uncle Eamon, who raised her. It's a rainy, gloomy day, but everyone seems happy, and Kelly, we learn, is something of an independent, free spirit with no qualms about taking charge and getting things done (thinking everyone is acting too dour at the church, she declares this is going to be a fun wedding and sprints down the aisle). At the reception, there is some rumbling about David' ex-wife, whom we soon meet in the next scene.
That ex is Laura, Janie's mother. She calls a meeting with her lawyer/lover to make a move for full custody. She approaches the judge in a luxury suite during a sports game, where her actions and words make it clear to the judge that Laura, despite her wealth and political connections, is unstable (the stage direction notes Laura would be quite attractive but there's something about her that makes her seem off). The judge tells her he plans to award full custody to David.
Laura does not take the news well. When David and Kelly are about to leave for their honeymoon, she confronts them at the airport and pulls out a gun. It looks like she's going to shoot them. In the chaos, Kelly is knocked to the ground. After hearing the shot, she sees Laura walk by and smile at her, but when Kelly gets up, she sees Laura has shot herself and is dead. No one else is hurt.
During a talk with a police detective, Kelly learns that just before she pulled the trigger, Laura said something to David, and it isn't long after that we what it was: "Now...and forever."
Laura was supposed to watch Janie while the newlyweds were on their honeymoon. That trip is obviously cancelled, and because their brownstone is under renovation and won't be ready for weeks (Kelly is a contractor with Uncle Eamon and her three cousins Billy, Patrick, and Luke), Kelly and David temporarily move into Laura's house to settle affairs, get through the funeral, and most importantly, be with a little girl who lost her mother.
Predictably, the situation is tense. Janie, who was happy for her daddy and liked Kelly earlier, now blames Kelly for taking her mommy away; a leg injury of David's (sustained during shower sex with Kelly at the brownstone) gets infected; and Mrs. MacKenzie, the stern housekeeper and nanny, knows more than she says. Kelly wants to support Janie and David, but things become increasingly tense and uncomfortable, not helped by Kelly's past trauma of having been in the car accident that killed her parents.
And Laura might not be gone. Kelly sees and experiences things that suggest the crazy ex might still present, refusing to give up David and Janie without a fight...
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"
Before I Wake, as I read it, bears the hallmarks of a story that has gone through multiple iterations. I suspect the original story by Lucky Gold was probably more subtle and ambiguous about the supernatural elements, suggesting Kelly might be imagining things as a result of past trauma, stress, and jealousy. That version, perhaps, might have been closer to The Haunting of Hill House.
Romero's draft feels a mix of elements from The Turn of the Screw, Rebecca, and Poltergeist. Laura is quite clearly involved as a ghost and manipulating both Janie and David while trying to drive away "the other woman," Kelly. Laura appears as a ghostly apparition and does other things that can't be explained away as projections of a troubled mind. The climax, in particular, would have required extensive special effects to pull off as an out-of-control confrontation between Kelly and Laura, with David and Janie caught in the middle, explodes.
There are moments of subtle creepiness, of things that go bump in the night, particularly when Kelly explores the opulent house at night and when Janie, alone, has a conversation with herself where it becomes evident Laura is talking through her. These quiet moments lead to loud, in-your-face sequences.
The Rebecca elements include Kelly - the "new" wife who replaces the "old wife" - Mrs. MacKenzie - who seems modeled after Mrs. Danvers - and the setting - a big, rich house where the new wife feels isolated and resented. The house is described as large, ornate, and top of the line, but also full of shadows and corridors that a seasoned horror director could take full advantage of. Outside, there is a garden house, where Janie spent most of her time with mother and still goes there after Laura's death, and a pond, leading to some eerie moments.
Mrs. MacKenzie, who is very Scottish, furthers increases our suspicions when she does some sort of Old-World magic spell with an onion and an egg. Uncle Eamon offers his own explanations for the ghostly occurrences and doesn't put much stock in there being any danger but becomes very nervous when he learns what Mrs. MacKenzie has been up to.
In addition to the Irish-Scottish thing between Uncle Eamon and Mrs. MacKenzie, there's also a rich-working class conflict going on, a favorite of Romero's. Laura was a vain, controlling, manipulative rich women who did not love her daughter and husband; she possessed them. Even in death, instead of moving on, she refuses to let anyone else have them.
Meanwhile, Kelly is a contractor, unafraid of getting her hands dirty, and clearly values love over possessions. She makes mistakes (after making a big deal that she would pick up Janie from school, a task always assigned to Mrs. MacKenzie, she loses track of time and forgets to), but she's a good person.
Conclusion
For a script I've spent literally years wanting to read and knowing so little about, Before I Wake is not a letdown, but it is easy to see why, of all the other aborted Romero projects of the decade, this came closest to being filmed, for good and disappointing reasons.
It feels like an attempt at a mainstream, A-list-level ghost story. Romero peppers in some personal touches and themes, but it reads like an effort to be a prestige blockbuster rather than a cult favorite. From a filmmaker like Romero, Before I Wake on paper doesn't break many taboos or feel subversive much. I don't know if I'd call the plot predictable, but it doesn't contain much in the way of surprises or unexpected twists. It goes where we expect to go and certain elements (Kelly's cousins, the revelation that David might not be Janie's biological father) go nowhere, feeling like their relevance got reduced from earlier drafts.
Yet, I kept reading. I wanted to see the story play out, and I was invested. I think the material was there for a strong horror movie, a supernatural, gothic noir, full of shadows, haunted characters, and buried secrets. Compared to the raw, splatter apocalypses of the living dead, Before I Wake has the makings of something more polished and sophisticated.
Stone could have been a good heroine as Kelly, but it does seem strange that one actress declining a role would scuttle the whole project. I can think of several other actresses from the period who also would have worked in the part.
I wonder if not getting Sharon Stone was less the reason and more of an excuse for the studio to shut down a movie they had lost confidence in. If she was going to cost $12 million, I imagine another actress of similar stature would have received a close or identical offer. That's one role. How much would the whole movie cost? Did the studio decide - after all they invested in pre-production - it wasn't going to get its investment back and cut its losses? Just asking.
It's a shame the movie never got made and Romero spent so much time unable to get movies off the ground. Reading Before I Wake was a fun ride, and I think it could have provided Romero an opportunity to stretch his directorial muscles and do something different. I'm thankful I got to read the script and get a taste of what might have been.
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