Now, he’s also going to be tackling a fresh adaptation of ‘The Mist.’
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Deadline brings word that Warner Bros. has made a deal for Flanagan to write and direct a new take on King’s 1980 novella, which originally appeared in the collection ‘Skeleton Crew.’
(L to R): Marcia Gay Harden, William Sadler, Toby Jones and Jeffrey DeMunn in ‘The Mist’ (2007). Photo: Dimension Films.
King’s story concerns what happens when a small town in Maine is consumed by a thick mysterious fog from which creatures emerge to attack the townsfolk.
A group of survivors hole up in a local grocery store. As often happens with King’s fiction, anarchy and societal reordering brings out the best in some, and the absolute worst in others, sparking mob mentality and empowering unhinged extremists who become as dangerous as the horrors outside.
Spoiler alert: things get dark. Very dark.
When will ‘The Mist’ be on screens?
There is no date for the new version as of yet, but if you want to check it out in movie form, Frank Darabont brought a film of the story to screens back in 2007.
Thomas Jane in ‘The Mist’ (2007). Photo: Dimension Films.
(L to R) Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo star in Paramount Pictures’ ‘The Running Man.’
‘The Running Man’ is not necessarily the movie you might expect director Edgar Wright to make; he’s brought his own zippy visual style to genre comedies set in the horror, cop and alien invasion world, but has also plowed his own lane with the likes of ‘Last Night in Soho.’
Still, he does everything he can to liven up a fairly –– yet not completely straightforward studio wannabe blockbuster.
Script and Direction
Director Edgar Wright on the set of Paramount Pictures’ ‘The Running Man,’ starring Glen Powell.
Wright, working alongside Michael Bacall (with whom he adapted the box office flop-turned-cult favorite ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’) here sets his sights on Stephen King’s darkly dystopian tale of a working man trying to help his family by entering America’s most dangerous game show.
In places, it’s almost surprising that Paramount, with its recent, shall we say, political moves, is still putting this one out, since it takes the prescient King book as its basis and mostly smartly updates it for our trying times.
There is a problem inherent in movies such as this which the new ‘Running Man’ (let’s not forget there was a much looser adaptation in the 1980s starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) in that it is tempted to batter you over the head with its message as much as possible. Wright and Bacall don’t entirely escape that particular sinkhole, but they do at least inject plenty of dark humor in to the screenplay.
And as a director, Wright has always been a dynamic craftsman –– while he tones things down here from the days of ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ there is plenty of his flare on display.
Cast and Performances
Glen Powell stars in Paramount Pictures’ ‘The Running Man’.
Glen Powell is really the only person who gets much screentime, and he’s a charismatic central figure who can get across the burning anger of his character.
But on the supporting front, the likes of William H. Macy, Colman Domingo and particularly the director’s ‘Scott Pilgrim’ star Michael Cera have fun in different types of roles.
Final Thoughts
Colman Domingo stars in Paramount Pictures’ ‘The Running Man’.
‘The Running Man’ certainly delivers on the action side of things, and some of its satirical message really hits home. It’s just a problem that it goes on too long with diminishing returns and ultimately wimps out (no spoilers) on King’s big finish.
‘The Running Man’ receives 70 out of 100.
Josh Brolin stars in Paramount Pictures’ ‘The Running Man’.
What’s the story of ‘The Running Man’?
Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by The Running Man’s charming but ruthless producer to enter the deadly competition game as a last resort.
But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite – and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Running Man’?
Glen Powell as Ben Richards
Josh Brolin as Dan Killian
Colman Domingo as Bobby “Bobby T” Thompson
William H. Macy as Molie Jernigan
Lee Pace as Evan McCone
Michael Cera as Elton Parrakis
Emilia Jones as Amelia Williams
Katy O’Brian as Laughlin
(L to R) Josh Brolin and Director Edgar Wright on the set of Paramount Pictures’ ‘The Running Man’.
Bill Skarsgård in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’. Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO.
Arriving on HBO Max on October 22 with its first episode is ‘IT: Welcome to Derry,’ which turns the clock back to 1962 so as to explore more of the dark history of the titular town and the equally titular presence, who feeds on fear and terrorizes the locals.
(L to R): Mikkal Karim-Fidler, Clara Stack and Jack Molloy Legault in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’. Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO.
While prequels have been around for years, it feels like we’ve been besieged by them in recent years, especially as studios and TV networks seek to find new ways to explore established franchises.
It’s a tough tightrope to walk –– audiences can tire of learning too much about certain characters (‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ is an example), while lazy storytelling can creep in. But refreshingly, ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ is a worthwhile addition to the canon of a story that began with Stephen King’s 1986 novel and has been most famously adapted into two big screen outings.
Script and Direction
Chris Chalk in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’. Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO.
‘Welcome to Derry’, thanks to the presence of some of the filmmaking team, faithfully connects to the movies without too many overt references. The show’s plotline and characters are smartly drawn, offering layered approaches to a variety of stories, not the least of which is Taylour Paige and Jovan Adepo as Charlotte and Leroy Hanlon, the latter of whom links the townsfolk with the nearby army base and the military’s attempts to learn more about its dark secret.
Andy Muschietti, who directed both the more recent movies, gives the show its own signature blend of everyday life and gory, bone-chilling scares.
Cast and Performances
Taylour Paige in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’. Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO.
It’s kudos to both the creators and the rest of the cast that the series doesn’t lean on Skarsgård’s creep-tastic Pennywise to generate its scares, at least not in his actual clown form. Paige and Adepo are both great, but the real winners are among the younger cast (including Amanda Christine and Clara Stack, who offer naturalistic work in the face of some truly terrifying set pieces.
Final Thoughts
Blake Cameron James in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’. Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO.
‘Welcome to Derry’ proves to be that rare prequel that works to enhance what has gone before, and finds interesting angles to peek into beyond even Stephen King’s source work.
Kicking off just before Halloween, it’s ideal creepy viewing for a fall evening.
‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ receives 82 out of 100.
Kimberly Guerrero in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’. Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO.
What’s the plot of ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’?
The show is set in 1962, 27 years before the events of ‘IT: Chapter One’ (which updated the book’s 1957 setting to 1988). The show dives into the lore of Pennywise and the town’s horrific history, drawing heavily from the “interludes” in King’s original novel — the eerie flashbacks and historical tragedies Mike Hanlon researched as an adult.
(L to R) Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch, Garrett Wareing as Stebbins, Cooper Hoffman as Garraty, David Jonsson as McVries, Ben Wang as Olson, Tut Nyuot as Baker, and Joshua Odjick as Parker in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
(L to R) Joshua Odjick as Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Harkness, David Jonsson as McVries, Cooper Hoffman as Garraty, and Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
Stephen King began writing ‘The Long Walk’ in 1966, at the age of 19, while a student at the University of Maine, and eventually published it 13 years later under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Rediscovered after his Bachman cover was blown in 1984, ‘The Long Walk’ has since been acclaimed as one of King’s finest early novels and a frightening depiction of a totalitarian future in which citizens are mere fodder for the regime (at the time King wrote it, it was an allegory for the Vietnam War).
A film version has long been in development, but has now finally arrived from director Francis Lawrence, who has been traversing similar territory with his adaptations of the ‘Hunger Games’ books (which owe a clear debt to this and King’s other early dystopian work, ‘The Running Man’). We’re pleased to report that ‘The Long Walk’ is easily one of the finest King-based films ever, capturing the harrowing intensity of the narrative as well as the camaraderie that develops between its characters, especially the warm friendship between its two leads that gives the story a powerful emotional gut punch.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Mark Hamill as The Major and Director Francis Lawrence in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close.
At some point in the indeterminate (but not too distant) future, the United States has been taken over by a totalitarian regime that annually stages a contest called the Long Walk, in which 50 young men must walk from Maine to Florida without stopping. If you stop for any reason or fall below the required pace of three miles per hour, you are given a warning. If you reach three warnings and do not resume walking at the correct speed, you are executed. The last walker alive wins, and is given a lifetime of freedom, riches, and opportunities.
‘The Long Walk’ focuses in particular on two of the boys thrust into this hellish marathon: Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) and Peter McVries (David Jonsson), who quickly forge a friendship that McVries in particular extends to a number of the other contestants. Even as others on the Walk try to sabotage them, and despite the malevolent presence of the Major (Mark Hamill), the mysterious figurehead who presides over the Walk, a group of the boys manage to keep each other going – all while the Walk takes a horrific and increasingly fatal physical toll.
In theory, ‘The Long Walk’ might not work onscreen, given the straightforward nature of the narrative and the ever-tightening if repetitive cycle of death as more and more contestants succumb to their doom. But Lawrence and screenwriter JT Mollner (‘Strange Darling’) keep the focus squarely on the characters, particularly Garraty and McVries, as we learn more about them and watch them turn from frightened, uncertain pawns into something resembling, of all things, a resistance.
Roman Griffin Davis as Curly in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo: Murray Close.
It’s the human element that powers ‘The Long Walk,’ although the horror of the situation is never far away. And while we don’t gain very much knowledge about this version of the U.S., the bleak, decrepit, empty homes and storefronts we see along the way – along with the scattered, hollow-eyed observers on the side of the road – tell us all we need to know about a dying nation ruled by cruelty and distraction. Lawrence and Mollner make some cosmetic changes to the material – and alter the book’s ambiguous ending in a way that we’re not sure is totally successful – but capture the tone of King’s work perfectly.
While some of Lawrence’s movies have left us cold in the past – particularly the later ‘Hunger Games’ entries – ‘The Long Walk’ is suffused with a sense of sadness and loss, coupled with the utter brutality of the regime and the way it mercilessly dispatches the walkers who can’t go the distance. But there’s also the warmth of friends and the bond of a shared experience, brought achingly to life by the cast.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Cooper Hoffman as Garraty and David Jonsson as McVries in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close.
David Jonsson has been on viewers’ radars thanks primarily to his main role on ‘Industry’ and his standout work as the android Andy in last year’s ‘Alien: Romulus,’ but he comes fully into his own here as McVries. His mix of optimism, cynicism, courage, and bravado makes the character incredibly appealing and watchable, and his performance is moving enough to be awards-worthy down the line.
Cooper Hoffman has only a handful of credits since making his debut in 2021’s ‘Licorice Pizza,’ but ‘The Long Walk’ may also represent his finest work so far. Garraty is the critical character in the sense that he’s the protagonist who changes the most over the course of the Walk – prodded along by McVries. But his naturalism as Garraty and the chemistry that he and Jonsson share is the engine of the story.
The rest of the cast, almost to a man, step up even when they have little more than an agonizing death scene. But standouts include Garrett Wareing as the villainous Stebbins, Charlie Plummer as the dissolute Barkovich, Ben Wang as the irritating (but heartbreaking) Hank Olson, and Joshua Odjick as the noble Collie Parker. Judy Greer is excellent in her relatively small screen time as Garraty’s mom, and while we appreciate Mark Hamill showing up in his second King movie of the year (after ‘The Life of Chuck’), we wish his work as the Major was a bit more subdued in its menace than over-the-top.
Final Thoughts
Mark Hamill at The Major in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo: Lionsgate.
Stephen King is having a banner year on screen: with the acidic ‘The Monkey’ and the excellent ‘The Life of Chuck’ already released and Edgar Wright’s version of ‘The Running Man’ due out in November, ‘The Long Walk’ will nevertheless be difficult to beat. It may well be one of the best movies of 2025, in addition to being possibly the best King adaptation of the year.
Francis Lawrence and JT Mollner have not forgotten that King’s work is not just about the scares or the premise, but the people. ‘The Long Walk’ poignantly chronicles how human beings can find hope and comfort in each other in the darkest of circumstances, a theme that’s even more bracing and timely now as the United States slips terrifyingly toward the kind of scenario postulated in the film. Even as it doesn’t provide answers, it does offer a glimpse of a light in the darkness – and what people will endure to keep walking toward that light.
‘The Long Walk’ receives a score of 90 out of 100.
Judy Greer as Ginny Garraty in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
What is the plot of ‘The Long Walk’?
In a dystopian United States ruled by a totalitarian regime, a group of young men enter an annual walking contest in which they must maintain a speed of at least three miles per hour or risk execution. The contest ends when only one walker remains alive.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Long Walk’?
Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty
David Jonsson as Peter McVries
Garrett Wareing as Stebbins
Joshua Odjick as Collie Parker
Tut Nyuot as Arthur Baker
Charlie Plummer as Gary Barkovitch
Ben Wang as Hank Olson
Roman Griffin Davis as Thomas Curley
Judy Greer as Mrs. Garraty
Josh Hamilton as Mr. Garraty
Mark Hamill as The Major
‘The Long Walk’ opens in theaters on September 12th.
(L to R) Joshua Odjick as Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Harkness, David Jonsson as McVries, Cooper Hoffman as Garraty, and Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate.
The latest adaptation of one of King’s novels, ‘The Long Walk‘, which he wrote when he was only 19 and was directed by Francis Lawrence, is scheduled for release in theaters on September 12th.
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In honor of the new film, and August 19th being “King Day”, Moviefone is counting down the 19 best Stephen King movie adaptations of all time!
Idris Elba in ‘The Dark Tower’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
A boy (Tom Taylor) haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.
Four boyhood pals (Thomas Jane, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant and Jason Lee) perform a heroic act and are changed by the powers they gain in return. Years later, on a hunting trip in the Maine woods, they’re overtaken by a vicious blizzard that harbors an ominous presence. Challenged to stop an alien force, the friends must first prevent the slaughter of innocent civilians by a military vigilante (Morgan Freeman)… and then overcome a threat to the bond that unites the four of them.
Author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.
27 years after overcoming the malevolent supernatural entity Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), the former members of the Losers’ Club, who have grown up and moved away from Derry, are brought back together by a devastating phone call.
Ewan McGregor in ‘Doctor Sleep’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Still scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook Hotel, Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) faces the ghosts of the past when he meets Abra (Kyleigh Curran), a courageous teen who desperately needs his help — and who possesses a powerful extrasensory ability called the “shine”.
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro), a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen), a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.
Charlene “Charlie” McGee (Drew Barrymore) has the amazing ability to start fires with just a glance. Can her psychic power and the love of her father (David Keith) save her from the threatening government agency which wants to destroy her?
(L to R) Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston in ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
In this extraordinary story of an ordinary man, Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
When twin brothers (Both played by Theo James) find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.
In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
Withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her fanatically pious mother (Piper Laurie). When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers.
After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by a nurse (Kathy Bates) who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Captain Benjamin “Ben” Richards in ‘The Running Man.’ Photo: Tri-Star Pictures.
By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style ‘The Running Man’, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian (Richard Dawson), where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) possesses the mysterious power to heal people’s ailments. When the cell block’s head guard, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), recognizes Coffey’s miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man’s execution.
After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie (Wil Wheaton), Vern (Jerry O’Connell), Chris (River Phenix) and Teddy (Corey Feldman) encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys’ adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd), must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren’t prepared for the madness that lurks within.
(L to R) Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Photo: Columbia Pictures.
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates — including an older prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman) — for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
.(L to R) T. Mollner, Tut Nyuot, Roy Lee, David Jonsson, Mark Hamill and Garrett Wareing attend “The Long Walk” panel at San Diego Comic-Con International 2025 at the San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2025 in San Diego, California. Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Lionsgate.
Preview:
Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk arrived at Comic-Con.
Mark Hamill and Garrett Wareing were among those on the panel.
The movie will be released in September.
‘The Long Walk’, just the latest adaptation of prolific author Stephen King’s work –– in this case, a dystopian tale of an annual event that ends with the death of everyone competing save the winner.
(L to R) Cooper Hoffman as Garraty and David Jonsson as McVries in ‘The Long Walk’. Photo Credit: Murray Close.
Every year, fifty teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as “The Long Walk.”
Among this year’s chosen crop is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty (Hoffman). He knows the rules: that warnings are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, sit down. That after three warnings… you get your ticket.
And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that there can be only one winner in the Walk. The one that survives.
What happened at ‘The Long Walk’s panel?
Mark Hamill speaks during ‘The Long Walk’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con International 2025 at San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2025 in San Diego, California. Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Lionsgate.
The movie’s panel opened with the latest trailer and then a soldier taking the stage with a loud hailer to explain the premise of the walk to the audience.
Producer Roy Lee and writer JT Mollner were first up on the panel, with Lee praising Mollner’s script for getting the movie made after years in development.
For his part, Mollner recounted underlining dialogue from the book he wanted to use –– suffice to say, he underlined a lot!
Joining them on stage were the likes of Hamill, Wareing, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot and other cast. The early banter between the young actors in particular was mostly enthusiastic descriptions of their characters’ arcs and praise for their co-stars’ skills.
(L to R) Anthony Breznican, Eric Vespe, Mark Hamill, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Garrett Wareing, Roy Lee and J.T. Mollner speak during ‘The Long Walk’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con International 2025 at San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2025 in San Diego, California. Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Lionsgate.
Hamill revealed that Stephen King had casting approval –– and specifically wanted him to play the character of the Mayor, who oversees the Walk. For his part, Hamill wanted to dehumanize the character as much as possible.
Lawrence and Ben Wang weren’t present at the panel –– they’re both at work on ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ –– but they sent a video praising their colleagues and hyping ‘The Long Walk’.
The panel wrapped up with a screening of the first 22 minutes of the movie. Tense stuff!
When will ‘The Long Walk’ be in theaters?
The new Stephen King adaptation marches into theaters on September 12th.
‘The Long Walk’ opens in theaters on September 12th.
(Left) Director Doug Liman attends Apple Original Films’ world premiere of ‘The Instigators’ at the Jazz at Lincoln Center. ‘The Instigators’ opens in select theaters on Friday, August 2, 2024, before streaming globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, August 9, 2024. (Right) 1994’s ‘The Stand’. Photo: ABC Television.
Preview:
A new version of Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ is in development as a feature film, with Doug Liman on board to direct.
Liman has directed hits like ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ and flops such as ‘Chaos Walking.’
‘The Stand’ has already been adapted twice as limited series, and it’s not clear how the massive book could be boiled down to a single feature film.
Stephen King’s massive post-apocalyptic novel ‘The Stand,’ first published in 1978, chronicles an epic battle between the forces of good and evil in an America where most of the population has been wiped out by a deadly virus known as Captain Trips. It remains one of the author’s most popular books; he published an uncut version in 1990 that restores some 300 pages to the text, bringing its length from 823 pages in its original publication to a hefty 1,152.
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The book has been adapted twice for television, first in 1994 as a four-part, eight-hour (with commercials) miniseries for ABC-TV, and then as a nine-part, nine-hour limited series in 2020 for CBS All Access, the forerunner of the current Paramount+ service. And now director Doug Liman is reportedly teaming with Paramount Pictures to bring ‘The Stand’ to the big screen.
Although other filmmakers have tried squeezing the novel into a theatrical film (or films), no one has been able to pull it off. And frankly, Liman shouldn’t bother trying either. He’s the wrong director for this and — from what we understand — he’s got the wrong take on the material.
‘The Stand’ is one of Stephen King’s most revered works, not to mention one of the most influential post-apocalyptic novels of the last five decades. King’s book is wide-ranging and complex, full of intersecting narrative threads and dozens of characters, and its sheer size has made it a daunting prospect for a film version from the start. Directors like John Boorman (‘Excalibur’) and George A. Romero (‘Creepshow’) couldn’t pin it to the mat in the 1970s, while the 2010s saw David Yates (the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise), Ben Affleck (‘The Town’), Scott Cooper (‘Black Mass’), and Josh Boone (‘The New Mutants’) all take a crack at it.
The first adaptation of ‘The Stand,’ the 1994 miniseries starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Ruby Dee, Rob Lowe, and others, was a tremendous ratings success for the network. Directed by Mick Garris and adapted by King himself (who also executive produced), the project cost $28 million – a fortune back then for a TV miniseries – and, while hampered in some ways by the format and budget, is considered largely faithful in both tone and narrative to the book.
The second limited series, produced in 2020, was an outgrowth of Josh Boone’s proposal to adapt the novel as four films. The 2020 series, developed by Boone and Benjamin Cavell (‘The Institute’), also had a good cast – including James Marsden, Amber Heard, Alexander Skarsgård, and Whoopi Goldberg – but was fatally injured by the inexplicable decision to tell the story out of order, ruining the flow of King’s narrative and making the series nearly incomprehensible. ‘The Stand’ is structured like a modern version of an epic quest – joining the quest halfway through and then flashing back to the beginning was a catastrophic mistake.
Even after the mixed results of the two TV series, one thing seems clear: it’s not possible to boil ‘The Stand’ down to a single film. Scripts for even a three-hour feature – a risky, costly bet to begin with, especially for a movie that would almost certainly be rated R – have existed since the 1970s, and none have been workable. But Doug Liman is going to try, even though he shouldn’t.
Doug Liman’s ‘The Stand’ is wrong for all kinds of reasons
(L to R) Casey Affleck, director Doug Liman and Matt Damon on the set of ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Doug Liman allegedly has “a particular take” on ‘The Stand’ that doesn’t involve making multiple films but would somehow fit into a “one-off” movie. But there is no way that the book, whether it’s 800 pages or 1,100 pages, can be shrunk down into a two-to-three-hour movie without losing a great deal of its essence and texture. Whatever Liman’s “take” is, we fear it would render ‘The Stand’ almost unrecognizable (see the dismal 2017 movie version of King’s other epic, ‘The Dark Tower,’ for proof of that).
The larger the production, the more involved the VFX, the action, and the world-building, Liman seems to lose control of the project, often needing to find the movie he wants to make either through reshoots, re-editing, or both. It’s an expensive, wasteful way to work, and it’s another reason why a complex narrative like ‘The Stand’ might collapse under his supervision.
Liman is far from untalented – he’s made some fine movies, his methods notwithstanding – but his improvisatory style seems ill-suited to this. And that’s even before the challenge of trying to squeeze it into one film – imagine if Peter Jackson had tried that with ‘The Lord of the Rings.’
Our hope? That ‘The Stand’ joins films like ‘Gambit’ and ‘Justice League Dark’ as Doug Liman projects that never saw the light of day. If anything, Liman needs to go back to the smaller, spunkier films of his early days where his style of directing works best. In the meantime, let ‘The Stand’ rest. It’s only been five years since the last attempt, and there are plenty of other books out there – by Stephen King and countless others – to adapt.
Doug Liman in developing an adaptation of ‘The Stand.’
Stephen King’s 1987 tale is considered among his best.
Paramount Pictures is backing the new movie project.
There are certain things you can count on in life. The changing of the seasons. The tides of the sea. A studio or filmmaker deciding to adapt a Stephen King story.
Paramount Pictures is, per The Hollywood Reporter, teaming up with the director to adapt the novel into a movie, bringing to the big screen something that has previously been miniseries.
The book, first published in 1978 then revised in 1990, is a bar-setting literary genre offering that has long influenced pop culture and inspired many other takes on post-apocalyptic narratives across different media.
An ambitious story of good vs. evil, it takes place in an America after a virus wipes out most of the population and follows dozens of characters in overlapping storylines running over many years. And while readers root for the characters such as the Trashcan Man and Mother Abigail, the final showdown came down to a group of survivors fighting the Antichrist-like Randall Flagg in the wasteland known as Las Vegas.
‘The Stand’ has, as mentioned above been adapted twice as a miniseries, once in 1994 and again in 2020 (pretty sure no one was really ready to watch it as Covid initially gripped the world), and as comic by Marvel Comics.
There’s a reason it has primarily been made into miniseries form: the book is King’s longest work, with a whopping page count of 1,152.
The history of people trying to adapt it into a movie is a litany of different filmmakers, none of whom got it over the finishing line: directors including George A. Romero,David Yates to Ben Affleck and Josh Boone (the latter ended up involved with the 2020 miniseries) have tried to tackle the material, and Warner Bros. and CBS Films partnered on developing it in the 2010s.
Now Paramount, working with Liman and producer Tyler Thompson of Cross Creek Pictures (who previously helped the director shoot Tom Cruise effort ‘American Made’ for Universal) are meeting with writers to develop Liman’s particular take –– described by THR’s sources as a one-movie idea rather than trying to launch a franchise –– into script form.
What else is Doug Liman developing?
(L to R) Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau and director Doug Liman from Apple Original Films’ “The Instigators” make an appearance at View Boston. Photo: Marion Curtis / Starpix for Apple Original Films.
Liman is a real genre-hopper who hates being tied down to one sort of movie, and he has several other plates spinning right now.
Right now, he’s shooting ‘Everest’, which stars Ewan McGregor as British mountain climber George Mallory, the explorer who made multiple attempts to scale the titular peak throughout the 1920s.
And then there’s ‘Deeper’ in development, an underwater supernatural thriller that is being targeted for Cruise and Ana de Armas (because as the latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie can attest, Cruise loves spending time underwater).
The director keeps talking about the potential for another Cruise reunion –– a sequel to sci-fi ‘Edge of Tomorrow,’ though despite the tantalizing prospect, it remains just out of reach.
Then we have the big maybes, such as a movie that could be shot on the International Space Station, starring –– you guessed it! –– one Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, a new movie adaptation of ‘The Saint’ TV show and a variety of others.
That’s not even getting into his list as a producer, but to document all of those would take probably about the same word count as ‘The Stand’.
When will ‘The Stand’ be on screens?
While Liman is a director who can get movies made, even the fact that it has a studio attached is no guarantee that this will either move quickly or even reach screens.
Add to that the fact that the movie doesn’t have a writer aboard yet, let alone a cast, and we’d expect to be waiting a couple of years for this one. So, er, stand still for now?
Tom Hiddleston stars in ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
Mike Flanagan is not only one of the premier horror auteurs of the 21st Century, with films like ‘Oculus’ and limited series like ‘Midnight Mass’ under his belt, but he also has a flourishing sub-career as Director Of Difficult Stephen King Adaptations. From ‘Gerald’s Game’ (which was mostly about a lone woman chained to a bed) to ‘Doctor Sleep’ (a sequel to both one of the most iconic horror movies of all time and the very different book it was based on) to, now, ‘The Life of Chuck,’ Flanagan keeps excelling at bringing King stories to the screen that at first seem like insurmountable cinematic challenges.
‘The Life of Chuck’ (which first appeared in King’s 2020 collection ‘If It Bleeds’) reads on the page like one of the author’s strangest yet sweetest stories, with events taking place in three different timelines – and possibly more than one reality – of which the connections only become apparent as the story unfolds. Its centerpiece sequence involves two strangers doing an impromptu (and spectacular) dance in the middle of one of those outdoor shopping and entertainment destinations, and its three parts are told in reverse order.
It’s a strangely affecting story with a widescreen canvas and universal theme, and Flanagan effectively and faithfully translates it to the screen, helped by Eben Bolter’s gorgeous cinematography and moving performances from much of its cast. If some of its parts don’t work – such as an over-reliance on narration and a supernatural aspect that seems tacked on (as it did in the novella) – those are minor distractions from what is, for the most part, a compelling story that fits comfortably alongside other non-horror King adaptations like ‘Stand by Me’ and ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’
Story and Direction
(L to R) Director Mike Flanagan and Tom Hiddleston on the set of ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
‘The Life of Chuck’ begins with ‘Act III – Thanks Chuck,’ the most overtly frightening section of the film. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Marty, a high school teacher who is trying to hold his class and life together as the world starts to literally crumble from some unexplained apocalypse. As California falls into the sea following a 9.1. earthquake, and other disasters wreak havoc worldwide (followed by the loss of the internet, which may not seem as such a bad thing), Marty and others start to see and hear strange billboards and commercials thanking someone named Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz for a ‘wonderful 39 years’ – although who ‘Chuck’ is remains a complete mystery.
‘Act III’ ends with Marty and his ex-wife, an exhausted, despairing nurse named Felicia (Karen Gillan), reconnecting as events around the world grow even grimmer. It’s during the final moments of this segment that we also get our first, flickering images of Chuck (Tom Hiddleston) himself, in ways both inexplicable and melancholy. Both scenarios give way to ‘Act II – Buskers Forever,’ in which a middle-aged, suit-and-tie-wearing Chuck – an unassuming, mild-mannered accountant, as we find out from the narration provided by Nick Offerman – sits quietly on a bench at that downtown destination following a day at an out-of-town bookkeeping seminar.
It’s on his way back to his hotel that Chuck is drawn to a busker (Taylor Gordon) who is banging out a beat on her drum kit. Something stirs within Chuck and he begins to dance – and not just a little tapping of the feet and swaying of the shoulders but a full-fledged, spectacular routine like something Fred Astaire might take on. He’s joined by Janice (Annalise Basso), a complete stranger who’s just been dumped by her boyfriend, but who finds connection with Chuck and the busker through this one random moment together.
It’s in ‘Act I – I Contain Multitudes’ that we learn the origin of Chuck’s skills on the dance floor, as we meet a younger version of him (played primarily by Jacob Tremblay) as well as his grandfather (Mark Hamill) and grandmother (Mia Sara). The Krantz family goes through both remarkable tragedy and simple moments of happiness together – but we also learn why dancing was not in the cards for Chuck’s future and why his grandpa (or ‘zayde’) keeps the upstairs cupola in their house locked up tight.
It’s in this third segment that the pieces of the story fully fall into place, but it’s also where the movie’s heavy emphasis on narration (as good as the wry, always slightly sardonic Offerman is) and the secret of the cupola mix unevenly with the movie’s shifting tones and a late supernatural element that seems randomly dropped into the proceedings. No spoilers here, but Flanagan’s slightly off-balance juggling of these elements slightly dilutes the film’s drive to tie together its themes and narrative into a coherent whole, leading ‘The Life of Chuck’ to wind down into a moderately affecting conclusion instead of a poignant, universal crescendo of emotion.
Cast and Performances
Mark Hamill in ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
Although the movie is called ‘The Life of Chuck’ and it’s that central image of the title character that represents the film, Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz is very much part of an ensemble here. Tom Hiddleston makes the adult Chuck a bit of a cipher in some ways, a man who seems almost inconsequential – until he does his dazzling dance in the middle of the square. Hiddleston gives his all during this sequence (and is tremendous in it), while also showing how Chuck comes fully alive here for perhaps the one time in his adult life.
He’s very good, but the work from Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay as the teen Chuck (and the younger actors portraying him as a little boy) hits harder. Ejiofor and Gillan are believable and poignant as two people trying to find their way back to each other with barely any time to lose, while other minor characters are given brief but textured life by veteran actors like Matthew Lillard and Carl Lumbly.
And then there’s Mark Hamill and Mia Sara as Chuck’s zayde Albie and bubbe Sarah. The latter (of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ fame) brings warmth and light to the role of Chuck’s grandma, while the former is equally warm but also a man living with the pain of knowledge he’s not supposed to have. Hamill – appearing in the first of two Stephen King adaptations this year (he has a quite different role in September’s ‘The Long Walk’) – is engaging and sensitive, especially in a scene where Albie, an accountant his whole life, expounds to Chuck on why math is the bedrock for everything in existence, guiding his grandson to a decision that will have repercussions for the rest of his life.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan in ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
Stephen King has always been a deeply humanist writer, and it’s his empathy and compassion that Mike Flanagan seems drawn to and able to capture. Like predecessors such as Rob Reiner and Frank Darabont, he gets King in a way that many other filmmakers don’t. That’s why he aims for the same profundity found in earlier King classics like ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ even if ‘The Life of Chuck’ struggles to hit the exact same high mark.
But there’s no question that the message of this story, while in the end quite simple, is still a moving one: that every moment in a life is precious in some way, and that every life is made up of those moments, which we must recognize for what they are and hold onto. We do contain multitudes, King and Flanagan seem to say, and they’re all beautiful, rich, and worthy in some way, no matter how fleeting. In a world that seems to be coming unglued on a daily basis, that is a message worth repeating. Whether it’s Chuck’s life or yours, it’s important.
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What is the plot of ‘The Life of Chuck’?
Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Hiddleston about his work on ‘The Life of Chuck’, his first reaction to the screenplay by Mike Flanagan and the way he adapted Stephen King’s source material, and the challenges of preparing for and shooting the massive dance sequence.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan.
Tom Hiddleston stars in ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the way Mike Flanagan was able to adapt Stephen King’s source material?
Tom Hiddleston: I remember it so clearly. It was Easter of 2023 and I read it in a single sitting. In the UK, the Monday after Easter is a public holiday, so it’s a day off. Bank Holiday Monday, we call it. I was so moved and inspired by what I read because initially I felt like, I was so intrigued by the first act. It felt like a film about the end of the world, but with such tenderness and such truthfulness about the uncertainty of that experience through Marty and Felicia, the characters played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan. Also, because I had the letter from Mike, I knew he’d asked me to play Chuck and just like everybody else, I was like, well, who’s Chuck? Who is this guy? Then when it was revealed, what was happening, in terms of the narrative, and I don’t want to spoil too much. But when the stars started to be extinguished and I understood what that meant for Chuck’s life and how it turned into a meditation on joy and an exploration of the magic of the ordinary life of every human being, that none of us are one thing. We all contain multitudes, which is to say that inside the soul of every ordinary human being is an internal world of infinite possibility. That infinite possibility can create a universe in every life, a universe of connections, of people, of experiences, of memories. That when that life comes to an end, so does that universe. It sums up the way I think about life and that sometimes the small moments aren’t small at all, and they end up, in your mind becoming the big moments, in your memory. Really, in the last hours of our lives, all we will carry in our hearts and our minds are the people we loved, the memories we shared with them, the connections we made. That is all that matters. I was so struck by it and so moved by it and so inspired by how Mike had put the film together, and I just immediately wanted to get on the phone with him and say, please, can I do this with you? It was a very special experience and a film that’s very close to my heart.
(L to R) Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston in ‘The Life of Chuck’. Photo: Neon.
MF: Finally, can you talk about rehearsing for the dance sequence and how many times did you have to shoot it to get it right?
TH: Well, I had, in my own life, less formal dance training than Charles Krantz had. I’ve always loved dancing, but I’ve never danced like this. I had about five weeks and the brilliant, extraordinary Mandy Moore, our choreographer and her assistant, Stephanie Powell, who was working with me in London, we worked every day, and we did salsa, swing, Charleston, Bossa Nova, polka, samba, and jazz. I mean (we did) every dance under the sun, you name it. We put the thing together. It was so thrilling to do it, but by the time we got to set, I think the first four days of principal photography on the entire picture, we shot the sequence in the mall when Chuck starts dancing to the beat of those drums. It was me and Taylor Gordon on the drums and Annalise Basso. We shot it consistently across the same stretch of time so that the light matched, essentially. So, it was between about 11am and 3pm across four days. We just did it from every angle. Every camera was wide, it was high, it was dancing with us, it was Steadicam, and it was on a crane. But I will say, the very last take we did, because we’d do the whole sequence from start to finish every time, was on the fourth day, the Thursday. We went back to a setup we’d done before. It was almost an homage to the great musicals, which contained the entire thing. It wasn’t close-up; it wasn’t a mid-shot. It was both Annalise and me and the drum kit and Taylor and the crowd. We played it from start to finish. It was a moment I will never forget. It was a kind of magical take, and a lot of the sequence is from that take. Mike knew it. I knew it. Annalise knew it. The crowd knew it. Mandy knew it. It was like a perfect thing. That’s where we stopped.
TmJtO5movvVx2ISzod9XB2
What is the plot of ‘The Life of Chuck’?
Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
