The Stephen King Movie Adaptation Thread

[Dr Huh?]

More or less, although I've only read some of it. I think the Morgan Freeman character (Red) isn't black, but is Irish. He's called Red on account of his hair. They sort of make a joke out of this in the movie when Andy asks Red about the nickname. The story is written from Red's perspective.

 

[FLMountainMan]

Didn't think I'd be updating this thread daily. But....

http://www.slashfilm.com/paramount-d...-pet-sematary/

Paramount Developing Remake of "˜Pet Sematary'
Posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 by Russ Fischer

Stephen King is big movie business again. Chalk that up to the massive film and TV adaptation of his Dark Tower series that has industry players Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman and Brian Grazer pushing it forward. Then there is the new version of The Stand, which Warner Bros. is developing, and possible new versions of Firestarter and Maximum Overdrive.

The latest new King project is a possible remake of the 1989 film Pet Sematary, which starred Fred Gwynne and his awful Maine accent in a film about dead pets and children coming back to life.

The original film, despite the aforementioned accent and some truly wooden acting (in particular from Star Trek: TNG"˜s Denise Crosby) has some very effective chills. At the time the zombie genre hadn't been mined as thoroughly as it has now, and the horrific ramifications of a ************ being brought back to life made for some potent sights. That would probably still work ugly magic on audiences. As remake possibilities go, this one is (forgive me) ripe.

If you're not familiar with the novel and/or film, the basics are that a city family moves out to the country, but their house is near a highway. Their young son wanders into the road and is killed, but fortunately there is magical/cursed plot of ground nearby from which buried creatures "” and people "” will come back to life.

The LA Times says that Matthew Greenberg (writer, 1408) is about to turn in a remake script, and the studio may be looking for a "˜high-level director' to helm the film. And what about the soundtrack? Will someone re-record the theme song by the Ramones, too? (I love that song.)

Now place your bets on which Stephen King movie might next get the remake treatment. I'm surprised we haven't heard about a new version of Silver Bullet or (shudder) Sleepwalkers. Also, this news caused me to notice that Lawrence Kasdan's adaptation of Dreamcatcher, which is the most batshit insane trainwreck of all the bad Stephen King films "” and that's saying a lot "” is now streaming on Netflix.

 

[FLMountainMan]

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/02/0...-of-the-stand/

Stephen King: 10 things I know about the remake of 'The Stand'
by Stephen King
Categories: EW Exclusive, Movie Biz, Movie Casting, Remakes, Stephen King
Comments 240 Add comment When news broke on Jan. 31 that Warner Bros. is remaking Stephen King's 1978 novel The Stand, we at EW wondered what our old friend Uncle Stevie thought about the development. We asked, and here's what he had to say:

1. No one will be able to top Gary Sinise, who played Stu Redman in the original ABC miniseries. He was perfect. When he says "You don't know nothing" to the soldiers who are putting him under mandatory quarantine, you believe his contempt completely. My runner-up pick would be Jake Gyllenhaal.
2. I didn't know anything about the remake until I read about it on the Internet.
3. You absolutely can't make it as a two-hour movie. If it was a trilogy of films...maybe.
4. Molly Ringwald won't be playing Fran Goldsmith this time.
5. Rutger Hauer is a little too old to play the Walkin' Dude, and that's too bad.
6. People who've seen Kubrick's The Shining dislike the miniseries I wrote (and my amigo Mick Garris directed) even if they haven't seen it. That's always annoyed me. But the wheel of karma turns! This time people will probably say, "The miniseries was lots better." BUT...
7. ...historically speaking, movie studios blow the budget on things like this, so maybe it'll be fun to look at. The dough certainly isn't going to me, although if it is a trilogy, and if it makes a lot of money, I might be able to buy a chicken dinner at Popeye's. Great slaw!
8. Molly Ringwald will probably not play the Trashcan Man, either, but Billy Bob Thornton would be cool. Billy Bob's always cool.
9. They need to write in a lot of heavy-metal for the soundtrack.
10. M-O-O-N, that spells "you probably won't see this anytime soon." And when you do, Woody Allen won't be directing it. Or Molly Ringwald.

 

[MBreinin]

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

The Stand is now getting the business too.....going to be hard to fit it all into one two hour movie....


No way to do it right. They could do a LOTR type of deal with 3 movies, that might cover it.

Mike

 

[MBreinin]

The problem with King books, and what makes them so hard to adapt to film, is that there is often a huge backstory that has to be developed, and King gives you much insight into the character's thoughts throughout a novel. It is very hard to translate that stuff onto the screen, if you ask me. There are some that could make the cut, since the plots are less developed and intense. I always thought "The Long Walk" would be a good place to start. Something like "I am the Doorway" would be a cool story to flesh out into a movie. The short stories/novellas have a better chance of working.

Still, the idea of a real, genuine big Hollywood effort at adapting "The Dark Tower" or "The Stand" interests me greatly. If done right, they could finally break down the wall that seems to prevent much of King's work from winding up as a good movie.

Mike

 

[S. Paul]

Great thread, MountainMan! A couple of you guys are spot-on with your King info and opinions.

The Long Walk was always one of my favorite short stories of his, that one could be good. I guess like anything, if a movie adaptation was done right it would be great. But trying to cram some of his epics into 2hr movies just isn't going to work.

The Dark Tower starts out as one of his greatest works and yes, right at the point when he starts putting himself into the plot it goes to hell. Kinda makes you wish he would have finished it many years ago when he probably wouldn't have done something like that, huh?

SP

 

[milosz]

If King really isn't going to make money off a big-budget production of one of his most famous novels, ********* up a contract somewhere along the way.

 

[darnelled]

Originally Posted by LawrenceMD

I carry around an E copy of skeleton crew on my iphone and wife's ipad just in case if i want to read some awesome short stories.

kings movies are garbage but he has some good writing and books.

Skeleton Crew was the first King book I ever got a hold of.

Salem's Lot adapted from Jerusalem's Lot is still about the scariest movie I've ever seen-> many childhood nightmares.

 

[FLMountainMan]

Another one in the works, novel hasn't even been released yet. The article's author has an inflated sense of his own comedic skills.

http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2011/08...l-novel-about-the-jfk-assassination-wait-what

Rights bought to Stephen King’s time travel novel about the JFK assassination. Wait, what?
08.12.11 Written by Vince Mancini

Scientifically speaking, I believe that if Stephen King doesn’t write at least 100 pages a day, he’ll start biting himself like a shark (sharks do that, right?). One of his most recent works is the not-yet-released 11/22/63, a thousand-page tome about an English teacher who goes back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination. But that’s not all, he also discovers A TREASURE MAP HIDDEN ON THE BACK OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! Okay, not really, but he does party with Elvis and bang a librarian. The movie rights have already been picked up by Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married). What do librarians do these days, anyway? Do they just give jerk-off lotion to hobos?

The Oscar-winning filmmaker (The Silence of the Lambs) will write and direct as well as produce the adaptation.
The tome, all 1000-pages of it, is set to hit stores in November and centers on an English teacher who goes through a time portal in an effort to stop the Kennedy assassination. He finds himself dealing with luminaries ranging from Elvis to JFK and meets a high school librarian that becomes the love of his life.
Ilona Herzberg, who produced Demme’s last dramatic feature, Rachel Getting Married, is producing the project, which is not set up or financed. King will exec produce if the movie gets off the ground. [THR]

I hope they change the English teacher to black secret agent Wesley Snipes, and he gets to the book depository with only seconds to spare, finds Lee Harvey Oswald and yells, “ALWAYS BET ON BLACK!” and kicks him out a window. And then Marty McFly pulls up in the Delorean, pulls down his sunglasses and he’s all like, “That’s heavy, Doc!” And then a dog nearby covers his eyes with his paws for some reasons. But that’s just me.

In other Stephen King news, The Stand is getting a multiple-film adaptation from Warner Bros.

 

[limping_decorum]

isn't the dark tower movie/tv special dead?

 

[Dr Huh?]

Ben Affleck to direct The Stand?: http://comicbookmovie.com/fansites/joshw24/news/?a=48678

 

[Kid Nickels]



Ben Affleck to direct The Stand?: http://comicbookmovie.com/fansites/joshw24/news/?a=48678

please no.. can't Affleck just go somewhere and leave us all in peace?

 

[FLMountainMan]



please no.. can't Affleck just go somewhere and leave us all in peace?

I know you're all edgy and stuff, but these are the movies he's directed - The Town and Gone Baby Gone. A small smaple size, but impressive all the same.

 

[Kid Nickels]



I know you're all edgy and stuff, but these are the movies he's directed - The Town and Gone Baby Gone. A small smaple size, but impressive all the same.

I'm all edgy?? haha...ok I don't mean to seem so. I'll admit I just think Ben's a douche! :tounge:

 

[stevent]



I'm all edgy?? haha...ok I don't mean to seem so. I'll admit I just think Ben's a douche! :tounge:

Ben as a director is the only thing that matters, I think his two movies have been pretty good