It is interesting Wiki mentions Ron Howard..............the Da Vinci code...........etc.........in its article about the 2008 version of the Changeling.........

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

Several years before writing Changeling, television screenwriter and former journalist J. Michael Straczynski was contacted by a source at Los Angeles City Hall. The source told him that officials were planning to burn numerous archive documents,^[6] among them "something [Straczynski] should see". The source had discovered a transcript of the city council welfare hearings concerning Collins and the aftermath of her son's disappearance.^[7] Straczynski became fascinated with the case;^[8] he carried out some research,^[9] and wrote a spec script titledThe Strange Case of Christine Collins. Several studios and independent producers optioned the script, but it never found a buyer.^[10] Straczynski felt he lacked the time to devote to making the story work and only returned to the project following the cancellation of his television show Jeremiah in 2004.^[9] After 20 years as a screenwriter and producer for television, Straczynski felt he needed a break from the medium,^[8] so he spent a year researching the Collins case through archived criminal, county courthouse, city hall and city morgue records.^[11] He said he collected around 6,000 pages of documentation on Collins and the Wineville murders,^[6] before learning enough to "figure out how to tell it".^[8] He wrote the first draft of the new script in 11 days.^[9] Straczynski's agent passed the script to producer Jim Whitaker. He forwarded it to Ron Howard,^[11] who optioned it immediately.^[8]

In June 2006, Universal Studios and Howard's Imagine Entertainment bought the script for Howard to direct. The film was on a shortlist of projects for Howard after coming off the commercial success of The Da Vinci Code.^[12] In March 2007, Universal fast-tracked the production. When Howard chose Frost/Nixon and Angels & Demons as his next two directing projects, it became clear he could not direct Changeling until 2009.^[13] After Howard stepped down, it looked as if the film would not be made, despite admiration for the script in the industry.^[14] Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer began looking for a new director to helm the project;^[15] they pitched the film to Eastwood in February 2007,^[6] and he agreed to direct immediately after reading the script.^[16] Eastwood said his memories of growing up during the Great Depression meant that whenever a project dealing with the era landed in his hands, he "redoubled his attention" upon it.^[17] Eastwood also cited the script's focus on Collins—rather than the "Freddy Krueger" story of Northcott's crimes—as a factor in deciding to make the film.^[6]