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KingVerse
16 Plays3 years ago
Stephen King news and adapations we would like to see
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Transcript
Introduction and Focus on Horror Topics
00:00:03
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, die in times here. Welcome to the right.
00:00:29
Speaker
All right, welcome back to Fright Central. We talk all things horror. I'm Kevin Dock and I'm back here again with Keck and we are just touching up on our steaming king.
Review of Josh Boone's Adaptations
00:00:40
Speaker
We just reviewed Josh Boone's The Stand because I forgot to mention the writer, creator of the new series, so I thought I'd bring that right to the top. Well, now we all know.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, he also did the not very good new mutants that kept getting delayed and pushed back and then finally just dumped on DOD as the last X-Men project. Granted, I think it was better than the previous X-Men project, Dark Phoenix, and then probably better than a lot of the other ones, but it still wasn't very good.
00:01:14
Speaker
But his so and that and the stand is his track record is not that great right now with me. So but some Stephen King adaptations that I am looking forward to. And I hope you are,
Upcoming Stephen King Adaptations
00:01:29
Speaker
too. I have some written down right here. I've got Mr. Mercedes season three is coming to Peacock on March 4th. The first two seasons are already available. It's with Brendan Gleason.
00:01:43
Speaker
And he plays a retired detective sets out to hunt a serial killer who begins torments in him through like letters and emails and stuff like that. And it's supposed to be a really good series. I mean, I like Brendan Gleason. Peacock affiliate. What are they a subsidiary of?
00:01:59
Speaker
that's M. B. C. Universall the universal stuff on th third season. They haven to be the final season a already kind of been out just finally putting the
00:02:16
Speaker
peacock right now.
Cancellation of Castle Rock and Its Potential
00:02:18
Speaker
So that doesn't necessarily hasn't been canceled or not. Unlike Castle Rock, which apparently like they say it's canceled, but they're also saying that that that's where they wanted the story to end. It doesn't really seem like it does not seem like that's where they would want it to. In fact, yeah, that seemed like there is a lot that could
00:02:46
Speaker
be done from that point. Yeah. I thought they were going to kind of open it up into more of a dark tower type of scenario where they were going to explore the world of Steaming King and like the those little stories like
Praise for Castle Rock's Storytelling
00:03:00
Speaker
that. And then and season two was so phenomenal. Like there was so much like, you know, I mean, like there are so many good directions. They could have went from there to very solid seasons.
00:03:14
Speaker
Obviously, they were able to attract great cast. The acting was very, very good. The storytelling was done properly. They were good, solid adaptations of King's writing, which is not always good. I think what made it even better was that it wasn't like a direct adaptation of anything.
00:03:42
Speaker
It was like we took these stories and these characters and we put them in this new situation or whatever. But they were the stories and characters, they were just portrayed very effectively. Yeah, that's
When to End Projects Due to Lack of Ideas
00:03:53
Speaker
it. I mean, and it was just, you know, it is something I'm not useful, used to like it wasn't like just burn together crap, like a lot of like.
00:04:03
Speaker
like, Stephen King material is like this was carefully planned and it was well executed, but, but, but seasons, and like you know hey I'm always someone that says like look, if
00:04:17
Speaker
you don't have any good ideas. I would rather you just stop what you're doing now than make a mediocre project just because you had fans that wanted to say it. If you've drawn the blank, if you don't think you can attract the talent, if you don't think you're going to be able to put forth a quality product,
00:04:40
Speaker
Like, I would rather just lay it down and move on. And that'd be a reason. Because that is a good reason. You know, I mean, rather than get credit.
00:04:49
Speaker
I would have liked it if that's the reason and like if they had said like, you know, we're we just want to
Pandemic's Impact on TV Projects
00:04:56
Speaker
move on. I could accept that. But like, God damn, it really seems and there's just so much more material. There's so many other directions they could go to. And they've already shown like that they have a very successful format with some reoccurring characters, too. They could probably attract a lot more talent. And this they announced this before the pandemic, correct?
00:05:19
Speaker
No, I think this might have happened in the middle of the pandemic, because I was going to say that this might have been one of those shows that just got canceled because of Covid. And it was Hulu. I think Hulu was doing it before Disney had bought out most of Hulu. So I believe Disney owns almost like 90 percent of Hulu now. So it might have been it might have been like a Disney
Highlighting Upcoming Stephen King Projects
00:05:42
Speaker
cut thing as well.
00:05:44
Speaker
So it might not have just been that. There might have been a few factors involved. I don't know. But then they also canceled The Outsider at HBO after one series, which granted, it does need to be more than one season. No, I don't think it should either. But I think King had ideas for second season. He had already started writing. I believe they are shopping it around to other networks right now. But that one series pretty much covers the entire book, from what I understand.
00:06:12
Speaker
So it's like it's not like you have other material to work off of. And when you don't have other material to work off of, when you're basing something directly on it, then don't do it. But Castle Rock's not directly based on anything. It's just a bunch of different stories with sometimes reoccurring characters and a reoccurring town. So you can easily go off and keep doing that.
00:06:33
Speaker
I don't understand. Yeah, but whatever. Yeah.
Concerns Over Repetitive Storytelling in The Shining
00:06:36
Speaker
Well, you know, hey, we didn't. This is what I would say to Stephen King, who talked about, like, you know, argument, fans of foreclosure and stuff like that. This is the kind of stuff I'd like closure on. I'd like an explanation. Yeah. We stopped this because even if they just said, like, you know, we stopped this because, like,
00:06:58
Speaker
we just aren't feeling it, like, like, and just anything, you know, I mean, I like reasons for things like, you know, I like, you know, no, what I mean is, is if like, something started like, for example, the show,
00:07:19
Speaker
uh i don't know but you could pick any show that has started to decline in its later seasons yeah you don't have to see you write out source materials you don't have to say anything like if like you know you're you know it you don't have to say anything if like you know
00:07:38
Speaker
you've been on a decline for several years. Oh, yes. And yeah, I wasn't like saying,
Edgar Wright's The Running Man Adaptation
00:07:45
Speaker
you know, I mean, they kind of had to end Game of Thrones. Like you couldn't just be like, oh, well, we're out of ideas because we're out of source material. You kind of have to end it like that. I wasn't going to use Game of Thrones. Yeah, that is about several seasons of decline.
00:07:58
Speaker
where things have been just getting worse and worse, you know, I mean, like, you know, and it suddenly ends like people are like, all right, well, you know, it wasn't good. Like, you know, there was an obvious, like, decline in quality, like, you know, it just ended. No one cares. But like they were at like the top of their game. Yeah. But anyway, only two scenes. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's what's disappointing about it.
00:08:25
Speaker
Like maybe if it had an actual complete story, I would have felt better, but.
00:08:30
Speaker
I mean, it completed that story, but yeah, maybe one of them, maybe somebody can pick it up. Maybe I'll come back after the pandemic, after, you know, a lot of it. Yeah. I mean, maybe another network will pick it up.
Stephen King's Adaptation Flexibility
00:08:41
Speaker
Who knows? Yeah. Yeah. But another one coming this year actually come into Apple TV in the summer is JJ Abrams produced Lizzie Story. It's spelled L-I-S-E-Y.
00:08:57
Speaker
I don't know if that's Lizzie, but I think it's Lizzie's story. But this one's, it's about a personal thriller that follows Lizzie Landon, played by Julianne Moore, two years after the death of her husband, played by Clive Owen. A series of unsubtle events calls Lizzie to base memories of her marriage that she has desperately blocked out of her mind. Joanne Allen, or Joan Allen,
00:09:24
Speaker
Jennifer Jason Lee, Dandy Hain, and Ron Jones also star. That's the cast I like. Yeah, that was a pretty good cast list right there. And everything, all the TV series that I've watched on Apple Plus, sorry, I think I wrote down Apple TV, but it's Apple Plus. All the stuff I've seen on there has been great so far. Is this the quest to Apple Plus?
00:09:49
Speaker
Yes, Mythic Quest is Apple Plus and Ted Lasso, which was fantastic as Apple Plus as well. Oh Ted, I didn't know that. I thought Ted Lasso was like Netflix or something. No, you gotta check out Ted Lasso if you haven't seen it. No, I've already seen it. I just didn't realize that's the way it was on. Yeah, oh yeah, that's quality. That's quality programming right there. That's
Stephen King's Cameos and Desired Adaptations
00:10:11
Speaker
good stuff.
00:10:12
Speaker
And I'm sorry, when is this? It just says this summer. There's not a release date yet, but this summer sometime. I don't know if there's even a trailer yet, but that was more than likely next summer. No, it's coming. It's coming to Apple. So it's already done.
00:10:34
Speaker
It's going to be, it's coming out this summer. It's not like a movie coming to theaters. That's definitely getting pushed back, but this is coming out. So this is a totally completed project. Yeah. They're saying guarantee this summer, they just don't have an acceptable estate. If they want the two, they could start airing it this week. Probably. Because I'm saying like it's in concrete, it's completely a finished product.
00:11:00
Speaker
As far as I know, yes. OK. Yeah. Well, that's it. HBO Max has given a series order to Overlook, which is another JJ Abrams produced through his company, Bad Robot, because they have a good deal with HBO or whatever. This show is inspired and featured, if you don't
Adapting Darker Stephen King Stories
00:11:23
Speaker
know by now, The Shining Hotel.
00:11:26
Speaker
So I guess it's supposed to, yeah, they overlook hotel so it's supposed to explore the untold terrifying stories and the most famous haunted hotel in America. In the court they called it room 237. Maybe I think there's already a documentary called that I think that might be why they went with overlook because that was the name of the hotel because it's not just about that room it's about the whole hotel I guess so.
00:11:53
Speaker
I don't know. It just seems unnecessary. I don't know. But I'll check it out. It's HBO Max. I mean, it might be pretty good. Well, how many how many we've had? We've had The Shining. Then we had the TV miniseries The Shining. Then we had Dr. Sleep, Dr. Dr. Sleep.
00:12:14
Speaker
I'm not sure of anything else. Yeah, but I mean, we only need the original Shining and Dr. Sleep. We don't need a whole series of suspects. I really only need the original Shining, to be honest with you. It's kind of starting to beat it to death a little bit, I guess. I mean, I really like Dr. Sleep, but that was a whole other podcast.
00:12:35
Speaker
I'm actually, I don't know if we talked about it, but whatever. Uh, then the last weekend. Okay. Yeah. Uh, then the last piece of news I have is Edgar Wright who did Sean of the dead and a hot fuzz and baby driver. He is co-writing and directing a new adaptation of the running man. So not a remake of the running man, a new adaptation of the, uh, the book that he wrote under his pen name, Richard Bachman.
00:13:01
Speaker
So I love Eggert, right? And I think that he had talked about, like, if there was one Stephen King thing or something that he could adapt, he said it would be the Runner Man. It looks like he's getting his wish now. Let's say he gets Schwarzenegger to be the host of the game show. Well, I'll say I never read the book, so I don't even know if any of that's even in there.
00:13:27
Speaker
Cause the, cause the way they're saying a new adaptation of the running man, I'm like, I mean, is that not that was the running man that we got with shorts and anger, not the same. So, I mean, I have no idea. Yeah. The only thing, I mean, it's sort of, I, it's sort of like the hunger games kind of reminds me of a little bit. And I don't, I don't, I get if it's a totally new ad that who knows maybe it was not even the man running.
00:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was just running in place.
Pre-production in Film Industry
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah, like like what the movie Forbidden Planet did for William Shakespeare's The Tempest, like just a whole different take.
00:14:13
Speaker
You know, yeah, it has nothing to do with men running. Nobody dies. And it's it's arguable that it's even like sci-fi or it could be something all the way different. Yeah. Like we have no idea about could be a love story. Yeah, I mean, I'd have to I'd have to read the book to tell you anything about it. But I've never gotten around to that. Maybe I will. Who knows?
00:14:38
Speaker
But yeah, that's all the major news of the ones coming out either this year or in development or whatever that have been announced recently. There's actually a whole list that I've seen of 21
00:14:57
Speaker
movies or TV shows that are in production so-called.
Exploring Adaptation Costs and Agreements
00:15:01
Speaker
I'm not going to list them all but we can go into ones that we would like to see. Let me just get a quick definition like what exactly is pre-production when like when it's listed say on IMDB or something.
00:15:18
Speaker
Is does that mean like the prop the project has started the money has been the money has been acquired that means has begun or dislike or is this like
00:15:31
Speaker
actual early production like they've started shooting. I've never been totally clear on what pre-production is. I know obviously pre-production is before post-production. You know what I mean? And actual, I'm just wondering like, you know, what does that entail? Like, does that mean like, it's definitely happening, the money hasn't been acquired, casting has started, or what, you know what I mean? Do you
00:15:58
Speaker
Can you just give me yeah pre production in the end when you see in development that just means somebody has decided that they want to adapt something and then they've gotten the they've procured the rights that's like the early stage they procured the right to do this.
00:16:16
Speaker
They haven't even pitched it to they haven't even pitched it to it could it could be a studio that that's the side they want to pick something up or like they're like hey we want to adapt this project let's go out and get the rights to it sometimes it means they haven't even hired a writer yet that they've just been like hey you see that steven king book i want to make a movie or tv show out of it let's get the rights to that and then they hire then the first thing they do is hire writer and they fuck off and write it
00:16:42
Speaker
Then there's rewrites and all that other stuff. And then the rest of preproduction is hire and director.
00:16:50
Speaker
actors and then the whole production crew. Okay so pre-production is they have not even begun the project yet. Yeah they might be writing it but they haven't started shooting yet like yeah pre-production can be anywhere from you know getting the cast and crew together to just starting the writing process.
Balancing Creative Freedom and Financial Constraints
00:17:12
Speaker
Sometimes you'll hear like a studio has decided they want to adapt a certain project
00:17:18
Speaker
and then you won't hear for like a month later that like okay they fired this writer on or this writer on you know i mean like so sometimes it's even earlier stage that is steve is steve king is more the sympathy than i thought yeah uh some things can be uh other things can be a lot further on but uh steven king like with his work i think you can just write him a letter or send him a dollar or something like that if you want to adapt one of his projects but
00:17:47
Speaker
The catch is that if you do it that way, you can't make profit off of it. So it can be like a student film or just to like show somebody that like, hey, like I can make this short. I can get at this short story and pitch that to a studio so you can turn around, do that. But you can't show it like public. I mean, I guess if it's a student film, you're kind of showing it publicly, but you can't make profit off of it. But I'm sure like you can be like, oh, let me I got this for like a dollar or whatever. Let me go out, get some money.
00:18:18
Speaker
we'll shoot an entire thing and then be like, okay, this, this is actually pretty
King's Openness to New Directors
00:18:23
Speaker
good. We've made some money off of it, then go out and get the rights. You could do it that way, but I feel like it's probably harder to do it that way. Like who's going to invest in a project that you might be able to actually produce. Give us this money and we're going to make this and then we're going to hope
00:18:45
Speaker
that we're allowed to legally show it and actually recoup on our investment. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't seem like King is like, you know, very it doesn't seem like he's protective of his stuff that much. It seems like if you just want to be like, hey, I want to make this movie, he'll just give you a price, I guess, depending on the project to be like, oh, you want to make a show out of this? Well, I want this amount of money or you want
00:19:08
Speaker
Oh, this is actually something that Stephen King, like, has, I thought this was like, um, a legal snag or something like that. Like when somebody, when you want to sell somebody a car, but like they don't, you don't want to like actually charge them a bunch of money. You sell them a car for like a dollar or something like that to avoid like them, like writing on a new expense on their income taxes or something like that.
00:19:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah, no, I mean, like, I didn't know that this was something that Stephen King has, like, said, like, yo, if you want to adapt my shit, just give me a dollar.
Opportunities for Emerging Creators
00:19:44
Speaker
I thought this was actually like,
00:19:46
Speaker
No, yeah, that's the yeah, he's he's straight up like it's a it's a thing like within like mostly I did not know. I did not know he did that. Yeah, he does. It's mostly for like student films and people that are just just so like, like he's he's really like, you know, free to like let people do their stuff. But like, if you want to actually make money off of something, it might like I don't know like how much he charges.
00:20:11
Speaker
you know if you want to actually like make money off of one of his books or something like that but if you just want to make a student film or something like that he's all for it. So I think that's really cool. Like I wish I'd known that when I was in film school I would have been like yeah let's fucking adapt this fucking Stephen King piece real quick. Yeah, seriously, that so I mean, so, but
00:20:32
Speaker
the fact that he would let people do that has to mean that he's at least open to the possibility where if he's going to you know give you the rights to that like that he's going to also be you know open to the idea of like you being like we made something really good based on your work like we want to now
00:20:55
Speaker
like he's got to be flexible oh yeah i'm sure he's like yeah you made something really good on it and like you want to put it into like film festival stuff you'd probably have to like go to him show him he would probably have to be like obviously he's going to want to see it yeah and then he'd have to be like okay you're right this is really good uh all right this is how much i'll charge this how much i think that like this is worth or whatever or be like i just want money on the back end you know i mean yeah yeah yeah i just want i
00:21:24
Speaker
want a percentage of profit you know what i mean like that something like that yeah you know but then you'd still have to pitch to a studio and stuff but i mean obviously if you were to get steven king on board where he's yeah i'm impressed with what you need tell you what don't even call paramount let
Hope for Successful Adaptations
00:21:43
Speaker
me do it
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? I got this young whipper snapper here that did a really good job with this. I found a diamond in the rough here. I want to fast track him through early trick. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's definitely. Yeah. Once you got Stephen King to be like, yeah, I'm impressed what you did. Like, I don't think there's a studio that's going to not show interest.
00:22:10
Speaker
I wonder if that's also like a thing, like even if you just make it for a nonprofit, if you, if like he's like, yo, I also want to see that shit. Or if he's just like, yeah, as long as you're not selling, I don't give a shit. Like, like, I wonder if he also wants to see the projects as well. Yeah. I would, but I, you know, I don't know. Stephen Kitten's getting old, man.
00:22:32
Speaker
Oh, by the way, he doesn't look like it though. He still looks good. He's a strange, he's strange. Stephen King actually does make a very small cameo in the stand that we just talked about.
00:22:47
Speaker
via a poster, I know this. Yeah, yeah, I called that too. I meant to mention that on the previous cast and I forgot. I was like, oh, there's the there's the King. Yeah, it was real obvious. Yeah, I just tried to hide it all. Yeah. Yeah. But so what's next?
New Adaptation of The Langoliers
00:23:10
Speaker
But what were like, what were some of the ones you want to see? I can tell you.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely The Lion Layers. I mean, I was fond of the TV series when I was younger and I saw it, but like I've gone back probably in like the mid 2000s to try to watch it and I kind of did it. Like these special effects were just so bad. I gotta tell you, some of the acting. Oh yeah, some of the acting is really terrible too.
00:23:44
Speaker
Yeah, that that definitely that was not the team in terms of like talent, but I just think that story has like infinite potentials like you know you're talking about a different adaptation of the running man.
00:23:58
Speaker
Like, there's so like you there's so I mean, it's just so like there's so much that you could do with that story.
Tommyknockers' Adaptation Potential
00:24:07
Speaker
There's so many different ways you could tell it there. There's, I just think it would be really really really cool. Like, you know, and
00:24:16
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, for me, that is like that just comes to the top of the list. Like that's number one on my list of what I'd like to see. I had heard, but this was like two years ago. So obviously it's not happening. But I had heard that there was significant interest into doing what they just did with the stand with the Tommy knockers.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah, I would love to see Tommy knockers. Tommy knockers came out right around the time the stand did, didn't it? Yeah. I think so. It's like in the 90s. I think that Tommy knockers is much better than the stand. I like that. Yeah. It's just been so long. I mean, they were very, very, very different. Yeah. But I
00:25:10
Speaker
I don't remember the Tommy knockers like I remember more like the stand in the 90s. I don't remember the Tommy knockers that well, I know that I know the plot.
00:25:24
Speaker
Um, and I know some of the actors and actresses that were in your boy, uh, Jimmy Smith is in it. Yeah. And I, I remember people becoming, cause they start losing their teeth and crap like that. Like, uh, and yeah, I remember the, like, I get that, I get the town. It's kind of, instead of vampires, it's time it's aliens like taking over the town. Um, and you know, I don't know, I'd like to see it, but like I said, it's been.
00:25:54
Speaker
I heard about it like two years ago that there was interest in it and I haven't heard anything since. Yeah. But I see I would think that that would be because you already have an outline.
00:26:09
Speaker
in that there was already a miniseries and you can take from that. I would think that that would make, that would be a more attractive proposal, you know, and easier to get interest in if you were going to pitch that because like it's something the public's already familiar with. Like, you know, they saw, I remember the miniseries of being like a big deal when I was younger. I remember my parents watching it. I remember my parents. I watched it with my dad. Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah, I remember my parents having front like I remember people being pumped about it. So like I would think that like something that has already proved to be lucrative and successful would be something easy to attract.
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't heard anything else since. No, you know what? I mean, like, I don't know, like, what the fuck's going on, because, like, the pandemic is just, like, so fucked up. Like, who knows? It could have been on the list. And, like, you know, it's like people with the pandemic, like, ideas are just going to die right now.
Pandemic's Effect on Film Development
00:27:10
Speaker
So I don't know if that's it. But, like, I would just think that that would be something, like, very practical.
00:27:17
Speaker
that we could see some time in the future. Well, I just found it on my list. The original one was made in 93. There was a TV version announced in 2015, but that's dead now. But there is, it seems like a movie in development with James Wan.
00:27:38
Speaker
uh and Roy Lee uh James Wan most recently did the uh Aquaman movie he's done a lot of horror stuff though or no I think he might have happened there was a really an Aquaman movie yeah with uh with with Jason Momoa not the guy from entourage oh no it's nothing it's not the James Cameron entourage one
00:28:08
Speaker
Like, bro, you know, I don't talk to like that many people about shit like, you know, like television and movies. And like, I have a history of mental illness. And like, I wasn't actually sure if that happened or if it was in my head. And I never asked anyone.
00:28:28
Speaker
That would have been great if James Cameron had to. I'm not trying to be funny. I'm not trying to be funny right now. I was not sure if I had just dreamt that or like it's just in my head or what, like you saying that that's right. I, I, yeah, I know entourage, like I know that dude there. Like I didn't know that actually happened. Who is Aquaman? Jason Momoa. I played a call, call, call Drago.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's fucking crazy anyway. Yeah. But yeah, he's he's him and the guy who did it. Roy Lee, they've signed up to produce a film adaptation. Universal has the rights for the projects and they've tapped Jeremy Slater to write the scripts.
Exploring Diverse Stephen King Stories
00:29:16
Speaker
He recently did
00:29:19
Speaker
Fox is the Exorcist TV series. He's also worked on the Lazarus projects, which was pretty much the flatliners. And 2015 is fantastic for so I think the flatliners wasn't that just called the flatliners you're talking about the one with Ellen Page.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah, there was another, but the Lazarus projects is pretty much the same thing from what I remember. I think I, I'm pretty sure I saw it, but it was pretty much like almost the same thing as Flatliners. That's ridiculous. Yeah, but there, so he's hired to write it and there's just speculation that Juan might direct as well, but there's been no official
00:30:04
Speaker
announcement on that yet. So I guess it is in development and there's just, there's two producers and there's a writer and a studio involved. So would you consider this pre-production? Yes. Or production? No, this is production. If it says in production, then that means they're filming. Okay. If it just says in development or pre-production, then they're still in the writing process. Yeah, gotcha.
00:30:34
Speaker
Well, that's interesting. So I guess it is. I don't expect to see it anytime soon. Yeah, it could be a while from now because I know James Vaughan is doing other projects with HBO Max and stuff, so he might end up just producing this.
00:30:52
Speaker
while he does his other things. So who knows? We'll see when things start to clear up a little bit. But some of the other ones I've noticed that they are redoing is going to be the Firestarter, Salem's Lot. I think there was talk of again. Yeah, I think there was also going to do Jerusalem's Lot and Salem's Lot. That's I mean,
00:31:20
Speaker
There is a Salem slot, there is a Salem slot, part two, and there's already been a Salem slot miniseries. Yeah, and this is gonna be another Salem slot. I don't know, does it say if it's a, oh he's, he's pretty, James Wan is producing this as well. They should just get Rob Lowe to play it again. I mean, Rob Lowe looks pretty much the same as he did 30 years ago, so.
Excitement for The Dark Half Adaptation
00:31:47
Speaker
This is screenwriter Gary Dauberman will adapt and now direct. But it's also produced by James Wan alongside Roy Lee and Mark Walther. This is a Salem's, I'm sorry, just to be clear, is this Salem's Lot? Is this a feature length film? This looks like a movie, yeah. This looks like a movie, yeah. And so they're not going to call it Salem's Lot, part three. It would be Salem's Lot, part three.
00:32:16
Speaker
That's true. I do see here that Mike Flanagan is directing, he's attached to direct a revival based on a 2014 novel about a preacher turned faith healer who opens up a portal to a much darker place than he could imagine. I'm into that because it's Flanagan. Yeah I know it's just I've heard that like
00:32:38
Speaker
darker than he can imagine. I've heard that so many times, bro. I'd like to hear one where he opens a portal to some place that's not as dark as he would imagine. Yeah. You know, it's not really that dark. I thought this could be really dark in here. Or it could be a place that's like mad dark, but like he could be like, it's real dark, but I could imagine slightly more.
00:33:09
Speaker
This is exactly what I was expecting. Darker than he can imagine or worse than he could imagine. You got to be a little bit more articulate with the title. You got a little bit more articulate. Speaking of which, Alex Rawls Perry was recently attached to a remake of The Dark Half.
00:33:35
Speaker
So that's the one with the sparrows, right? The dark half. This thing where he says the sparrows are flying again or something. Wasn't like Mickey work in the one, the dark half that already got made. We'll see that because I kind of get that one, Jeremy. I think I think dark half is with Sam Neil, isn't it?
00:34:03
Speaker
I thought I thought it had something to do with Timothy Hutton. Timothy Hutton. Yeah, I think that's the one with the sparrows. I was ninety three as well. Yeah, I think there's sparrows and shit in it. There was a there was a tagline about sparrows and I thought I remembered like a guy's face getting eaten off by birds. Like that's what I think of.
Stephen King's Influence on Adaptation Culture
00:34:33
Speaker
when I think of the dark half, but I'm not sure if. Oh, yeah, Michael Rorker is the sheriff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Not not Mickey Rourke. You said Mickey Rourke. Oh, I was like a worker. I was thinking of Michael Rorker. I didn't. Yeah, that's like what I remember of. Are there yet the dark half sparrows? I'm just obviously like, yeah, but that is the
00:35:03
Speaker
Yeah, there's an adaptation, another adaptation of that. There was another one of what else did I see here? I thought they were hearts in Atlantis, because apparently the Hearts in Atlantis movie that came out wasn't really it was based on only like a small part of the of the book. So, yeah, it says the movie adapted. It's actually a retelling of two other novellas and Stephen King's collection of the same name.
00:35:34
Speaker
The movie adapted low men in yellow coats and heavenly shades of the night are falling. The new Hearts of Atlantis is more of, I think it's just gonna be called Hearts. It's a coming of age story that takes place at the University of Maine dorm, Vietnam era. Maine character Peter lives in an all male dormitory where all the students have become obsessed with playing hearts. You know, the game. Oh, okay.
00:36:03
Speaker
the obsession of serious implications for both their academic and personal lives. So it sounds nothing like the movie we got with, with what's his name. God, why am I drawing a blank? Anthony Hopkins, thank you. It's supposed to be completely different.
00:36:28
Speaker
That so I didn't mean to not rescue that I was just when we I just walked up and yeah there's a lot of interest in the dark half like coming to.
00:36:41
Speaker
like they're being like another movie or a show or something like that. I just typed in dark half sparrows. And the first thing that came up was the sparrows are flying again. And there were like links to some people on Reddit and stuff talking about like, yeah, dude, they got bring this back. Did you hear about this? This.
00:36:59
Speaker
Obviously, I'm not going to like, you know, I hate to go through, but like, and there was a thing that said the sparrows are flying again, and then the thing meaning question mark. So like, yeah, like that. Apparently, the book was really good. I haven't read it. You know, I don't read a lot of I don't read a lot of fiction. But, you know, apparently, it was like really good. And the movie was just God awful. Yeah. God awful.
00:37:30
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember. I mean, I remember seeing it. I don't remember it being that good. But yeah, there's a bunch of other stuff in here that I haven't heard of. I already mentioned Firestarter. Oh, here's the other one, Chapel White. It's Adrian Brody. It's an intriguing period piece, chronological.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah, chronological. Yeah, chronological the origins of the author's signature horror novels, Salem's Lot. So it's a piece about the author.
00:38:12
Speaker
of the fictional author of Salem's Lot, I guess, it's supposed to come out on the epics and it's gonna adapt to Jerusalem's Lot, a short story prequel to Salem's Lot. If any of that makes sense. Wait, who owns epics? That's a good question. Because they actually have their own app.
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah. And their own, like, I guess, like. I thought it was Cinemax. Yeah. Like, I thought it was the movie. I wasn't. I'm not sure. I was just here.
Chapel White and Prequel Exploration
00:38:53
Speaker
I will have to, like, get into. I was just I was just asking because I had noticed that Epic's has its own app and like it streams its own movies. It's not like its own library. It's MGM. MGM owns it.
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah, so MGM, Lionsgate, Viacom, yeah, those guys.
00:39:12
Speaker
But yeah, so they're the ones that they're going to do. So Jerusalem's Lot is a short story prequel to Salem's Lot. And it's just in Salem's Lot. Salem's Lot was called Jerusalem's Lot. Yeah, yeah. But I just wanted to try to differentiate the two different projects that are going. Jerusalem's Lot is going to be called Chapel White, which is a prequel to
00:39:41
Speaker
Salem's Lot is going to be called Salem's Lot. Yeah, and it's about the events in the 1850s that initially brought the evil to the main town to Salem's Lot. So, yeah, that's going to be the initial story. So, yeah, they should get the guy that directed the movie The Witch to direct that. Oh, yeah.
00:40:09
Speaker
Yeah, that guy's fucking great. To do both. Yeah, and they should get all the actors from the witch to also be in it. They were all great.
Needful Things as TV Show
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. Then the only other thing that that was all the main ones I knew about. I'd like to see another Needful Things. I think that'd be dope. Yeah.
00:40:35
Speaker
I mean that would be a really cool television show you could make and there's you could do a lot yes that a lot of Stephen King's ideas like
00:40:48
Speaker
give way to so many little subplots within the plot. Stuff like that, sort of like what George R. R. Martin does with Game of Thrones. You could make infinite movies and television shows just based on the intricate subplots. Stephen King's writing, especially with something like Needful Things, where you have so many things.
00:41:14
Speaker
that people need. So many things that people need full of. Yeah, I mean, literally like you could like an episode could just be talking, could just be a story about like a family that's like real down on its luck and how like they came to prominence meeting this guy. Like, yeah, I mean, just thinking about it, like I could speculate for hours on like, you know,
00:41:42
Speaker
You know, I did you ever. Did you ever watch Rick and Morty? I've seen. Yeah. There's a episode that's a Needful Things episode. And that that was what got me into that show. She was like, I'd seen other people watching. I was just like, I'm not really into it. And then like they were like, no, you got to watch this episode. And I like I watched the episode. I was like, holy shit, this is a fucking Needful Things episode. This is fucking fantastic. And then they reference Cronenberg.
00:42:12
Speaker
Like there's a Cronenberg world and like, and it's all full of these like weird fucking creatures. And I was like, I like, I like this. I need to start this from the beginning. It's such a fucking show. Yeah. Yeah. There's a full Needful Things episode where like the devil comes into town and like, uh, um, Rick's granddaughter starts working for the devil and like, so he opens up the shop, like across the street that that removes the curses.
00:42:39
Speaker
from the items so he's like putting the other guy at a business and then like as soon as you get what he wants he just lights his place on fire and walks out
00:42:52
Speaker
It's like a great you gotta watch it. Would you say so would that be like in your top three like adaptations that you'd like to see come back to the screen, like would be with me. Yeah, one of ones that's already made. Yeah, definitely. I think the evil things Tommy knockers along the leaders are probably my top three.
00:43:12
Speaker
I like the pilot episode for Needful Things to be a totally different town at the end of the rope. Like a whole bunch of buck wild shit happening. Like the end of In the Mouth of Madness.
00:43:27
Speaker
where it's just like them tearing everyone apart. Well, like everything's on fire. And you have no idea what the hell is going on. You know, it's just, you know, people eating their own children, like blood in the streets, violence, guy running up to another guy with an axe. Like, you know, I mean, like just like a town and like the whole first hour is just constant chaos, civil unrest, murder, fucking like nonstop. And everybody
00:43:57
Speaker
angry as fuck at everybody else with no explanation as of why they're so murdered or merrily mad at one another and then that just be the pilot and like at the end of the pilot you just see a car drive away yeah that dude yeah i think that would be awesome yeah i could oh god yeah i'm really hoping this get this gets
Character-Driven TV Adaptations
00:44:22
Speaker
made
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think that would work out as a TV series over a. Yeah, so I think so too, because there's just so many little things you can like dude, you get like there.
00:44:39
Speaker
could ever, there's so much to that story. A lot of the story of Needful Things is the story of individual people, like having their struggles and how they got there. Like, especially with that guy Buster, who is played by J.T. Walsh in Needful Things. And there's that one thing where he's talking to Max Van Zant, is that his name, who played the
00:45:07
Speaker
I think. Oh, well, Max has snout snout. It's like, yes. Well, I forget how to pronounce his last name. But yeah, the class. I just remember. I just remember him on the phone with him and he's like, I killed my wife. Is that wrong? And he's like, no, these things happen. I just I always like that line. You don't know what I'm talking about. No, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, he's like, I killed my wife. He's like, it's OK. These things happen.
00:45:37
Speaker
Yeah. The only one I would have liked to seen, which has now been like scrapped completely, would have been the Dark Tower series because like they were supposed to do that that movie that came out, which was terrible.
00:45:53
Speaker
the one with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. No, I still haven't read all the books. I think I've started like the first one in that. Oh, I thought you told me I remember sending I thought you had told me like you were like, yeah, I asked you what kind of quality they were and you're like, it's good. Well, I thought you said you were like 300 pages in you were like, oh, no, maybe like one book I might be
00:46:16
Speaker
and not but no I've checked I went and checked to make sure all they were I thought you were like now I haven't flown through them at all I've I've kind of put it down and I haven't gone back to it but uh yeah they were supposed to do that movie and then they were supposed to do an Amazon TV series that was gonna supposedly into like another movie or something like that and then Amazon had picked up
00:46:38
Speaker
the rights and they were going to do a straight up series. But and it was a show run by one of the guys who did Walking Dead. But I guess that's the movie did so bad, like Amazon just scrapped it completely. There is a there's a Walking Dead movie. No, no, no. I'm talking about the guy who was one of the showrunners for the Walking Dead series was supposed to show was supposed to be a showrunner on the Dark Tower series.
00:47:07
Speaker
And that got scrapped like last summer, I believe. Um, there was supposed to be, there is an unaired pilot, so they shot a pilot for it. I don't know if we'll ever see it, but, uh, he had like a multi-season arc for it. And I'm like, there's just so much material in there. It's like, why would you not do this? Like, like, uh,
00:47:28
Speaker
Or like I like it because I kind of thought that's where Castle Rock was going to do was pretty much like a Dark Tower esque thing with all these different characters and stuff
The Dark Tower's Narrative Potential
00:47:38
Speaker
in it. But then it's like, why not just adapt? And then what I heard about, oh, they're going to do a straight up adaptation where it's like a fucking Western meets fucking fantasy series with different worlds and shit like that.
00:47:48
Speaker
And like, there's a bunch of those type of shows coming out now so it's like this would be fucking perfect. And I guess they, they canceled it I'll have to. There's a King cast podcast where I guess these guys talk with some writers and creators that have worked on on Stephen King stuff or they just talk about Stephen King doesn't do any kind of like.
00:48:17
Speaker
No, it's not him himself. No, I'm asking Stephen King because I heard that Stephen King is somewhat reluctant to do many interviews. Yeah, I don't think I don't know. He's involved in social media at all.
00:48:35
Speaker
No, it's just two guys. I don't even know who they are, but I think this is a pretty new cast. I think it's only like a year old, maybe. I don't know how many episodes they have, but they did an interview with the guy.
00:48:52
Speaker
And one of the early episodes where they talk about the dark tower and stuff like that. So I'd have to go back and listen to it to really figure out his plans of what he wanted to do for the show. But like, I hope somebody picks it up and adapts it because there's so much material there. You can do an easy fucking like seven, eight seasons with that shit too.
00:49:12
Speaker
You already have seven to eight seasons. Well think about how many, if you go through and look at all the books that are involved in the Dark Tower series, it's like 30. People have told me that the ideal intro to Stephen King, someone that's new to the writer, is to read the Dark Tower series first and then
00:49:36
Speaker
from there you'll you see like how a lot of the characters from the Dark Tower series um have like their own spin-offs. Yeah pretty much like because I think even like uh it and the Shining and I think a lot of those other ones are kind of all in that Dark Tower universe so it's like yeah there's like more references to them and stuff like that. The macroverse where Bob Grey is from is I think like started and yeah I don't know
00:50:06
Speaker
where they are in chronological order. Like, I'm not sure what their sequence is, but people have said to me that, like, you know, if you were going to start reading Stephen King, Dark Tower, and then whatever else you want, but start there, so. I mean, it's already been adapted into, like, graphic novels and stuff like that, and the artwork and it's really good, but, like,
00:50:30
Speaker
It's like, why not just bring it to the screen? I don't know. Whatever. But yeah, anything. Right now, I mean, right now, though, I mean, if if I was right now, there's nothing I would not be trying to start any projects, right?
Adapting King's Works Amidst Industry Changes
00:50:46
Speaker
You don't think you would just hire a writer at least and see where it goes?
00:50:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I made you now you say it like that, like, yeah, maybe it would be worth to just hire a writer and get like an outline or something like that. I'm just talking about the state of the world right now. Like if I was.
00:51:07
Speaker
I don't know. Obviously, if I was in that business, yes, then I would do that. That's the main thing I'd be focused on. I wouldn't even be worried about spending all this money on getting stuff into production and spending extra money on PPE and stuff for that. I'd be like, all right, well, let's take this time.
00:51:27
Speaker
So, I mean, I guess if you've already started filming, you kind of want to finish those things. But anything else on the docket that you have writers on, it's like, all right, well, let's take it. Let's take another run at this. Let's get the writing down. Let's get it fucking absolutely fucking keyed in. No, no. That wouldn't get into it. Yeah, I get that. I mean, I guess if the money was there for me to hire those people and I'd be able to do it, I guess what I was trying to get at is like right now.
00:51:53
Speaker
currently like it seems like it's more lucrative to be the writer of like, you know, to be the writer of a novel rather than to be somebody that's like writing stuff for television. Just because I'd be so uncertain about the potential for anything getting made because everything depends on the world getting itself collectively together.
00:52:19
Speaker
And like, you know, I mean, like we, I'm not going to dig into, cause we've talked about like the ridiculous.
00:52:27
Speaker
amount of extra money, almost double per episode what you would normally spend due to requirements for personal protective gear and things to make people safe during the pandemic. I would just be so absolutely mortified that if I had a really good idea, it could be years or never before it's made because of purely financial reasons.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I mean, if the company's already come in and paying you to write it, it's like, yeah, I'll write this. Like if you're, I'm talking about, yeah, the start something. Yeah. The start something new that you're going to go pitch. Yeah. That's a different story. Like, yeah. If you're Stephen King, like if you're Stephen King, like you can just keep writing novels and you're going to keep making money because people are, you know, they're going to read. You don't have to worry about that.
00:53:20
Speaker
you don't have the moving pieces that you have when you're, oh God, I just, like, if I was like, if I had already just made my first piece and I was just starting to make it in Hollywood as like a writer, you know, whatever, like, I would just be so fucking pissed off right now. I'd be hoping big companies would be coming to me and be like, hey, go out, write this while we're independent. And I'd be like, all right, like, you're going to pay me? Oh, yeah. But like, yeah, trying to be like an independent
00:53:48
Speaker
writer where you're like trying to write come up with your own original stuff and then
00:53:53
Speaker
having to go pitch that to the studio, it's not gonna go anywhere right now. I'd be scared if I was a big studio too. I'd be scared if I was a big studio too, that I'd be squandering all this money on shit that like, you know, sounds good and looks good and we think could make money, but just isn't because there's gonna be major outbreaks of this and that. And like, it just seems like, you know what I mean? Like that Tom Cruise meltdown was like spot on. Like, you know what I mean? I felt his jam.
00:54:21
Speaker
I guess if you have like, if you have the big studio like Warner Brothers or Disney, and you're just basically and I think TV right now would be the way to go unless you were already filming something. Well, not if you were also the writer of novels, if you were like, capable writer that
00:54:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, obviously, but I'm just I'm talking about like screenwriters stuff like that Yeah, if you're what but a but even like studio wise if unless you're one of those companies That can like streamline everything where you can like have somebody write it You can you can film it and then you can just release it to your service then you're still you're still making money off because then you're bringing subscribers into your service and
00:55:02
Speaker
So you're not really losing money now. It's the filming. That's the problem. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously it's not that big of a problem. Horribly wrong. Yeah. But I mean, people are still filming stuff now. So and they've been filming stuff. I mean, there have been some shutdowns and some bring it back up. And yes, it's expensive.
00:55:21
Speaker
and it's definitely more expensive than it was, but also if you're one of those studios, if this project comes out and it's good and you're not having to promote it really, you're not spending an extra money for promotion, and it's coming right onto your service. At this point, you're just trying to bring people to your streaming service. You're not worried about somebody else buying it or something like that.
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. It just seems to me that this would be a very high anxiety time for everyone involved in the entertainment. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure it is. Yeah. I mean, I just I heard this crazy thing about Broad Street, how I or Broadway, Broad Street. That's a different movie.
00:56:15
Speaker
And like the stuff they want to do is just so fucking ridiculous. Like if I was if I was kind of show time, you know, like, oh, God, this I would just be walking around like nonstop angry as fuck. Yeah. Yeah, that's got to be. That's got to be difficult for Broadway. But any other series that you have in mind or is that about it? Oh, pretty much. I mean, for me, it's now that you mentioned needful things, I hadn't thought about that. But like for me, I would say like my top three would be
00:56:45
Speaker
Wengelier's number one, Needful Things number two, and then maybe the Tommy Knockers like remake number three. If I could, and you know, but like you said, it looks like there is already something involved in the works with the Tommy Knockers. Yeah, I think Needful Things was the only one. Needful Things was the only one I didn't see in the list of a new adaptation.
00:57:10
Speaker
But I think pretty much everything that has come out before is coming out again, it seems like. And Stephen King said, at least nowadays, nothing is unfilmable.
00:57:22
Speaker
Like the technology is there. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. You can easily do that now. So yeah, it seems like I mean, hey, man, I just watched pictures of a fucking spacecraft land on Mars
Future Adaptations Leveraging Technology
00:57:35
Speaker
the other day. Yeah. So yeah, the technology is definitely fucking that. And it looked like a movie. It looked like an HD movie. So like after seeing I got to tell you, I was really blown away. I really was.
00:57:51
Speaker
After that, you know, I think about, yeah, I think anything is possible visually after we dropped that craft. Yeah, and the way they've been filming stuff with with Disney, like the way they shot Mandalorian.
00:58:07
Speaker
which was basically on like it wasn't necessarily a green screen, but they had like projected the scene in the background of their thing. I'll have to send you the video for this. No, I could tell there was a whole bunch of like unique stuff going on. Yeah, it's really fascinating. You'll have to check out this. I think there's some behind the scenes thing on Disney Plus.
00:58:29
Speaker
If you check out the behind the scenes thing on Disney Plus for Mandalorian, you can see what they did. And I've seen a lot of productions are starting to use that now because it's so much cheaper. And you don't need to go scout locations and stuff. You can just shoot it right there. And there's a lot less crew involved on shooting something there as well.
00:58:50
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, I guess if there was one good thing about like the pandemic, it would be like ingenuity. I mean, it would be for people like trying to find out like what works and like when things are to like, you know, clear up, hopefully, like, you know, it could be that we have invented new avenues that we would not have come across had it not been for the hardship of the pandemic.
00:59:20
Speaker
You know what I mean? So that could be really cool. So just try to end the cast on something positive. Yeah. That's about it. All right. Well, thanks for joining me. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next time. Thanks for joining me again, Keck. I'm saying always. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Peace. Peace.