Cujo

Well, 2016 is getting off to a rollicking start for yours truly. First I had my less-than-two-years-old car battery die on me when I was at a bus station. Then I reached the day that I realized I can't pretend to be in my mid-30's anymore. And then, a day late, I learned that the Thin White Duke died. On my birthday.

Thank Gan I had some Stephen King to read. (My car is fine now, by the way, and I've made peace with getting old.)

I'll confess, I waffled on this one. I wasn't sure, until probably the last 20 pages or so, whether or not this one was getting its own post or if it was going on the "skipped stories" list. But I decided Dear Departed David would want me to. Actually, I realized how closely tied to The Dead Zone this book was, and that if I'm doing one, I gotta do the other.

So, without further ado, Let's Dance.

As many of you I'm sure already know, this book has been adapted to film before. I confess, this is another adaptation I have never seen. I've heard both wonderful and horrible things about it, some from the same people. Could this one stand to be updated? I don't know. Time may change it, but it can't change time. But while Cujo's film version might not completely supplant the novel like Kubrick's The Shining did, the name "Cujo" has become synonymous with "big scary dog" over the years, so much so that I don't think a big scary dog has appeared on a television show since the early 80's without someone on the show making a "Cujo" reference.

I'd never read this one up until now. I still don't know what I was waiting for, and my time was running wild. Several things struck me about it. First, from what I've read about it, Stephen King wrote this while so wracked out of his mind on drink and drugs that he swears he hardly remembers writing it at all. The result, however, is a pretty lucid story. It is very strange to think of a man out of his mind on mind-altering substances writing something so coherent. I mean not one plot thread is left hanging, nor does anyone suddenly have a bizarre out-of-character moment. The only truly strange aspect of the novel is that there are no chapter breaks. There are scene changes, but no chapter breaks, or page breaks of any kind. Each page was a wall of text, with only the occasional blank line to let us know the scene had changed. It was kinda...weird, at first, but I got used to it.

Another thing that struck me was how much I cared about the B-plots. Get this: the husband in the main protagonist couple, Vic Trenton, is an ad-man (continuing King's habit of making his protagonists creative types) whose livelihood is in jeopardy due to a cereal company he does ads for using a red dye that, due to an error, not only looks just like blood when in liquid form but also doesn't break down, causing a rash of panicked parents who think their kids are bleeding internally. As you might imagine, this is causing some trouble for the company, but especially for the ad-men in question, Vic and his partner. See, they came up with an ad campaign featuring an old professor talking about how healthy these cereals were in addition to tasting good. His catchphrase is, after taking a bite of the cereal, "Nope, nothing wrong here." Except now he's saying that about a cereal that appears to be giving kids bloody stool.

It's hard to believe how much I cared that Vic and Roger not lose their account. But that's not the only B-plot I cared about.

Cujo's owners are a pair of Maine rednecks, Joe and Charity Camber, and their son Brett. Joe's a mechanic and after he does some fine work for cheap on Vic's car, Vic's wife Donna is quick to remember them when she needs her needle gauge looked at. This sets up the main plot. We meet Cujo early on, when he's a friendly dog, and Donna and Vic's son, four-year-old Tad, falls right in love with the huggable old pooch. That only makes what happens later all the more heart-rending, but we'll get to that in a minute.

See, the Cambers aren't just there to introduce Cujo. They get their own plot where it turns out that Joe is abusive, mainly just because he doesn't know another way to treat a woman, and Charity has just won the lottery, seeing this as a great way to get away from Joe for a bit, possibly forever, and bring Brett out of Joe's influence. I truly cared about all this as well.

But for some reason I'm talking about B-plots when I haven't explained the A-plot yet. And you might not even know it, even if you think you do.

Everything starts off with Vic hearing his baby, crying hard as babe could cry. What could he do? Actually, Tad's not a baby, he's four, and he's convinced there's a monster in his closet. In what might be the most ambiguous case of "maybe magic, maybe mundane", King hints that, while there's not really a monster in there, All is Not Well with Tad's closet. There's also multiple hints that the murderous, and dead, Frank Dodd, from The Dead Zone, might not have entirely left Castle Rock.

Vic Trenton and his business partner Roger Breakstone recently split from a big New York ad company in order to start their own business, settling it in Maine. The move is good for Vic's business, but not so good for Donna, his young wife, who does not take to the small town of Castle Rock. She starts to feel like her life is going off the rails...well, there's a lot of reasons for her to do what she does, and frankly, there's no reason that, to me, can make it sound okay.

This is sorta spoiler territory, though it's revealed in the first fourth of the book, so it doesn't really spoil too much. Donna, wanting to still feel young and free, starts innocently flirting with Steve Kemp, a local guy who owns a furniture finishing shop. Soon that "innocent flirting" explodes into a full-on affair. Steve turns out to be an utter jerk, and reminds her that she really loves her husband, so she breaks it off.

Now, I have a hard time feeling sympathy for cheaters. I'll let you decide why. But King does manage to, eventually, bring even me around to hoping she doesn't die. The plot really kicks in, you see, after Vic leaves on his business trip, hoping to use that time to decide what he wants to do concerning his marriage. Vic is probably one thing King could have done a little differently; Donna's reasons for cheating are flimsy as it is, though I'd argue there are no strong reasons, but on top of that, Vic is practically a perfect man. He's a wonderful father, a loving husband and if anything, the only real issue with him is he's a bit of a nerd. Perhaps in a film adaptation, something like a porn addiction or unthinkingly making Donna feel abandoned with all his business trips could be added. We're supposed to like Donna, after all, and it took me a while before I did. I'm honestly not sure I ever really liked her, just hoped she wouldn't die, because if she does, Tad does.

And then there's Tad. (stops blogging for a while so he can have a good cry). Sorry, what was I talking about?

Parents, you're gonna have a hard time with this one.

But while Vic is gone, Donna has car trouble, and, thinking it will just be a quick fix, drives over the Cambers' place with Tad in tow. She has no idea that Charity has gone on her trip without realizing that lovable old Cujo has been bitten by a rabid bat, and is slowly growing murderous. Joe has already found that out firsthand, as it were, and no one is waiting now at the Camber home, out in the sticks, except a dog determined to kill the next human he sees. Donna's car promptly dies after successfully arriving in the Cambers' driveway, and from there it's a case of watching some good friends scream "let me out!"

Now to casting. As always, I won't be casting the kids.

Donna is the true main character, here, so I wanted an actress who audiences already like and who has carried several films herself, and yet was young enough to play a 29-year-old mom. Being a likable actress would also help audiences forgive her extra-marital dalliance. Jennifer Lawrence is 25 and America's Sweetheart, so she'll have no trouble getting everyone on her side. I actually pictured Anna Kendrick in the role, but Kendrick is already 30 and might age out too quickly.

Vic was a bit harder. Handsome, but nerdy, he's described as being 31, and I had a hard time thinking of nerdy-looking actors that weren't too screwball-comic or too old. I didn't feel like an A-lister was needed here, because while he's called upon to carry the B-plot, this is really Donna's story. So I went with Sam Huntington. At 33, he also is close to too old, but he's got a baby face.

Steve Kemp is a fascinating character. A total monster, with zero redeeming qualities besides being handsome, it struck me that this was likely the King avatar in this story. You know how King likes to make his protagonists writers of some kind or another? Well, here, Steve's the writer, a wannabe poet, in fact. And his name is three letters off from Stephen King's own. Knowing what state King was in when he wrote this, I wonder if this wasn't caused by a bout of self-loathing? Kemp is described as being tall, muscular, tanned, handsome and bearded. He's 38 and going grey (trying not to think about how old I just turned...) An image immediately formed in my head, and it looked like Joe Manganiello.

Roger Breakstone, Vic's partner, might very well be the first fat character King has written about that we're not supposed to either loathe or pity. If anything, he's the real driving force behind Ad-Worx, his and Vic's company. His fatness even plays into his ability to make clients instantly trust him. But he's not just Vic's partner, he's his best friend. I pictured him played by portly, lovable Anthony Anderson.

Then there's Joe Camber, the stereotypical redneck. Does anyone play rednecks better than Kevin Rankin? He just fits right into the part.

I had a harder time casting his wife, Charity, a sympathetic character who I pictured as looking like a dowdy housewife but no actress would come to my mind. Finally I went with Robin Weigert, who's known for playing decidedly non-glamorous characters. She's a bit older than Rankin, but then, Charity's supposed to look several years older than she is, having lived as a housewife to an abusive husband.

A side character is Gary Pervier, neighbor to the Cambers and Joe's best friend. He's not in the story very long, but makes an impression. He's old, getting fat, a total drunk and no longer cares about anything. Jeff Garlin could play this role in his sleep.

Finally, there's Sheriff George Bannerman, who comes into the story rather late, but it was his presence that made me feel like this story needed to be part of the SKCU. WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. See, we're not done with Castle Rock. Not in the slightest. And Bannerman's absence from future stories needs to be addressed. So, come on back, Chris Bauer, and play Bannerman once more.

Let me please advise you to keep some tissues handy should you decide to read this, assuming you haven't already. I found myself a weepy mess several times toward the end, especially in a scene that involved playing with ducks. I also need to caution animal lovers; this is not going to sit well with you. But all in all, I am really glad I read it. I admit, I kinda avoided this one for years, because it sounded like it would be tedious and not at all scary. I was younger back then.

Coming up in the next short while here; another Skipped Stories post and a new take on an old Schwarzenegger movie. I don't know what order I'll do those in.

And after that...it's gonna get Dark.

Next Up: The Running Man!

Roadwork

Welcome back, Mr. Bachman.

Roadwork is the third novel King released using the synonym Richard Bachman. Contrary to what I thought until quite recently, he apparently actually wrote this between writing 'Salem's Lot and The Shining, which explains the 1973 setting. It was King's first attempt at writing a "straight drama", and while it worked, King's fingerprints are all over it.

This is the first Bachman book that isn't centered around teenagers. It's also the first one that doesn't have any elements of "horror" to it, though one could say that Rage didn't, either. Then again, one of the first actions our protagonist in Rage takes is to murder someone, so I can understand how that one gets classified as "horror". Roadwork is dark, depressing and in some parts, violent. But it's not a horror story. It's not even trying to be.

Also gone is the clinical tone of the first two Bachman books. You feel everything here. And it hurts.

This story concerns the uncaring, unfeeling raping life often hands you as an adult that you're expected to just shut up and take. Our protagonist, Barton Dawes, hasn't done a thing to ask for all the crap that's happening to him. He's been a faithful husband, a valued employee at his job (even management material) and owns a fine home in the suburbs that's fully paid for, all at the age of about 40.

And here's what life has handed him for all his hard work: his son Charlie died of a brain tumor over two years before the novel's beginning, and now the only way Bart can function is holding fake "conversations" with him in his head, where he acts as his father's conscience. Thanks to a highway extension the city has undertaken, he's about to lose both his house and his job.

But then, that's part of the problem. No one's threatening him with homelessness and joblessness. He has the physical ability to move into a different house, and he's also the man in charge of securing a new building for his work, which is the Blue Ribbon laundry company. But something has snapped in Bart's mind. He finds himself unable to face the idea of leaving the house his son was born and raised in, and the building he poured his life into, rising to a management position. He cannot accept that his entire life is about to be uprooted for no other reason than to save drivers a bit of road time.

To make matters worse, the 1973-74 energy crisis is in full swing. Everyone's anxious, no one knows how the coming winter is going to hurt them.

I could resonate with Bart. I've gone through miscarriages with my wife. I have had a marriage crumble with nothing to be done to save it, and I have had more than one job disappear on me through no fault of my own. I know what it feels like when life grabs you, spreads those cheeks and hate-fucks you just because it can. Sometimes the only thing preventing me from taking the actions Bart Dawes takes in this story is concern for how it would affect people I love. For Bart, even that isn't enough. There's only one person left who he really cares about, and he convinces himself that somehow trying to deny, or prevent, the inevitable, is doing right by his wife.

Done right, this could be an Oscar-caliber movie. It's more or less a one-man show, as Bart's actions drive the narrative throughout, and whoever ends up playing Bart should probably be prepared for a Best Actor campaign. This will probably be one of those King adaptations that keeps his name kinda low-key. Remember how The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile seemed to deliberately hide the fact that they were based on King movies? Stand By Me and Misery did the same, for that matter, as did others. King's name is often splashed in huge lettering on posters, even titling the movies "Stephen King's Whatever", but often where his straight dramas were concerned, you'd only notice his name if you bothered reading the credits. This will probably happen here, too.

I want a big name behind this one. Part of me wants Sam Raimi to do this (his best film, A Simple Plan is bleak like this one) and another part wants Clint Eastwood. Let's go with Clint. I'll let him pick the screenwriter.

I honestly don't know why this has never been filmed; it's very cinematic.

But then, maybe I do know. At points in the story, Bart holds very animated conversations in his head with another personality that he calls "Fred" and "Fred" calls him "George". It's revealed almost immediately that Bart's full name is Barton George Dawes, and comes as no surprise when Charlie's full name is revealed to have been Charles Frederick Dawes. "George" is his dominate personality, the one the public sees and the one that's busy making sure he hangs on to his old life for as long as he can. "Fred" is the better part of himself, the one that's trying to make him see reason. I don't see a way for these conversations to be internalized, and using voice-over is always cheesy. But then, so would having the actor play both parts. Maybe a kid who plays Charlie can also play Fred, even just removing the whole "Fred/George" interplay and having his alternate persona be his dead son. A skilled screenwriter can make this work.

Throughout the reading of this, I wondered if updating the setting would work, or if this should stay in the 70's. The environment created by the energy crisis was pretty unique, and this book is firmly rooted in the mindset of those times, but I wondered if today's job crisis would work just as well. In the end, I decided there was more gravitas in keeping the original setting. Making it a historical that can be related to our current issues just adds to the award-bait feel.

Now for casting. The role of Barton Dawes has to be cast well. It hinges on being played by an actor skilled enough to carry this off. If you'd asked me twenty years ago, I would have said Viggo Mortensen in a heartbeat, but Dawes is only 40, so Mortensen has, regrettably, aged out. In their prime, Sean Penn or Tim Robbins would have knocked this out of the park. The original cover of the book (though rather inaccurate) made me think of Eastwood in his prime. If Bryan Cranston were twenty years younger, I'd pick him, because Bart Dawes has a lot in common with Walter White. I struggled to think of an actor in the right age range who has the sort of screen presence this role requires. Initially I went with Bradley Cooper, but I think he might just possibly be too handsome and WASPish for Bart. Bart is very much working class. He should looks like a dude who's spent his life working hard. Jeremy Renner is 45, which is five years older than Bart, and not, in my opinion, too old to play 40.

The other roles are all small by comparison, but the next biggest is probably Bart's wife, Mary, who truly believes her husband has everything well in hand, but watches it all come apart well after it's too late to do anything. The role isn't all that meaty (though there are some killer scenes with Bart) but I wanted to cast a late-30's actress who's held on to her youthful good looks. I eventually came up with Keri Russell.

If there's a villain in this tale, it's Steve Ordner, owner of the company that owns the Blue Ribbon, and the man Bart places in the villain role when he's looking for people to blame. Steve is older, rich, tall and can go from friendly to threatening very quickly. I went through a few names before settling on Kelsey Grammer.

When Bart finally decides he's going to take physical action against the highway expansion, he does what any sane, rational individual would do and goes to see the local mobster. Ultimately, things don't go his way, but I think the scenes with Salvatore Malgiore are pretty key scenes. He'd described as fat and bespectacled, but in every other sense a classic mobster. I had a hard time finding an Italian American actor that I felt suited the role (unfortunately James Gandolfini is unavailable) but Oliver Platt can step into the part and look, and act, perfectly credible.

About mid-way through the story, when he's at his lowest point, Bart picks up a young hitchhiker named Olivia, takes her home and...well, figure it out yourself. But it's less a booty call and more an attempt to help someone other than himself that doesn't go as planned, and his own selfish nature takes over when he realizes she's willing. I had a hard time with this character. She's described as being about 21 and looking younger, but there are few actresses that age who wouldn't feel uncomfortable in a role like this. I ended up going with Olivia Luccardi from It Follows because, while she's 26 years old, she looks much younger, and I have no problem believing her as a young girl from the mid-70's experimenting with drugs, sex and hitchhiking.

Then there's Phil Drake. I'll just let the Stephen King Wiki describe him: "He is a fallen priest who helps the homeless and has left "The mother church." He will not allow himself to be called father and has a "oddly scarred" right hand." Uh huh. "Phil Drake", eh? And I'm Richard Nixon. This is Father Callahan, plain and simple. This is what he got up to after leaving Jerusalem's Lot. Now, I could suggest that, as this film is more award-bait drama and 'Salem's Lot is more horror movie, not to mention that I'm updating the setting for that one but not this one, using the same actor might end up being confusing and unnecessary. But then, Father Callahan's travels following his departure from the Lot take him through a lot of other worlds and even time periods. That can certainly account for him showing up in the 70's, looking older than he did in the 2010's. For that matter, we can even suggest that Bart's adventures happen in the Keystone World. Whatever the case, my Father Callahan is also my Phil Drake. Come on back, Alan Dale.

A few minor roles: Vinnie Mason, one of the young salesmen at Blue Ribbon, is the man who starts the negative ball rolling by alerting Steve Ordner that Bart hasn't closed the deal on the new laundry location. In all his scenes, I couldn't help but think "pretentious little shit", and there is no actor more suited to playing pretentious little shits than Vince Kartheiser.

I liked the few short scenes featuring Tom Granger, the head tech guy at the laundry, and I pictured Craig Robinson in the part for whatever reason.

Finally, even though he's not a very large role, I couldn't help but picture Giovanni Ribisi as Malgiore's right-hand man, Pete Mansey.

So that's Roadwork, and I hesitate to say, going forward, when I'll be posting again. My next story is The Jaunt, which I'm told is one of his classics, and that there's already a few filmmakers interested in the property, so maybe this is one of those short stories that can be expanded to film. After that comes Cujo, which I strongly doubt needs a second adaptation. If you disagree, let me know in the comments. For sure I'll be doing a post on The Running Man and...the next novel after that one. I'm itching to get to that.

Firestarter

Happy New Year, Constant Readers!

I hope your holiday season went well. Mine was...too short.

Well, what way to kick off the new year than with the first full Stephen King novel from the 80's!

Disclaimer: The Mist was written before this, but it's technically a novella.

Firestarter is another chapter in Stephen King's non-horror collection. Already collected therein, at least by my estimation, are Carrie, Rage, The Stand, The Long Walk and The Dead Zone. We'll have the argument over what qualifies as horror in a future post, but suffice it to say that Firestarter is more along the lines of sci-fi thriller than horror.

In this case, the plot revolves around a young girl, Charlie McGee, and her father Andy, trying to escape the clutches of a shadowy government agency known as the Shop. They want Charlie, you see, because several years ago Andy agreed to participate in an experiment wherein his pituitary gland was altered, giving him a special mental power that allows him to mentally "push" people to sort of believe and agree with everything he's saying. While in this experiment, he met Vicki, another test subject, and the two would later marry. Their combined DNA with their altered pituitaries, produced Charlie, who has a much stronger ability than either of them. Her "push" works on machines, too, but when she pushes, there's enough friction built up by the energy that fires break out. To a limited, but growing, degree, Charlie can even control where the fire starts.

I'm afraid I won't be able to talk about this one much more without some spoilers, so be warned. If you haven't read this yet, you might want to before you read the rest of this post.

The plot kicks into gear when Charlie is 8, almost 9, and a misunderstanding causes the Shop agents to believe that Andy and Vicki have gone on the run. Before Andy can act, Vicki is killed and he narrowly manages to get Charlie back from two Shop agents before going on the run for real. For a large part of the novel, Andy is using his pitifully small level of resources to try and get Charlie somewhere safe.

This is the first novel to really introduce the Shop, an organization that King uses a couple of more times. He inserted them into his expanded edition of The Stand, in an off-hand mention (I honestly can't recall if the original edition mentioned them, but I can't imagine it did) and I believe King confirmed that they were behind the Arrowhead Project from The Mist, but as they're not mentioned by name in that story, I can't confirm if that's true. They showed up as the villains in the Stephen King-created television series Golden Years, which I haven't seen, and they were used in the film version of The Lawnmower Man, which I've already mentioned has nothing to do with King's story, and thus I have no interest in seeing it.

Their actual name is the Department of Scientific Intelligence and they are apparently just another branch of the government. Outside canon, the Shop has taken on quite a life of its own, with CR's quick to attribute almost any shadowy conspiracy directly to them. I don't mind this. I even like it. I kinda wish King himself had done more with it.

But in this novel, the Shop is definitely not all-powerful. They're just a rogue government agency, but they make handy villains in this story.

What's at the heart of this story, at least to me, is a father's love for his daughter. What drove the first half, and a majority of the second, was Andy's struggle to keep Charlie safe, and the hazards he encounters while trying to do so. As many of you know, I have daughters myself; one's almost 20 and living apart from me and the other is 15 months old as of this writing. In the flashback scenes with Charlie as a toddler, I couldn't help but see my own baby girl as Charlie, and boy, did that make those scenes hard to read without getting misty-eyed.

And this is one reason why I rejected one of the earliest ideas I had for this adaptation. I thought "Why not make it Vicki who survives and Andy that's murdered? Just say it's Vicki who got the push power and the rest of the story tells itself."

I rejected this idea for several reasons. For one, single moms on the run protecting their kid haven't exactly been under-represented on screen. There are umpteen thrillers about them, and I'm sure there will continue to be more. There are movies about single dads on the run, as well, but it's harder to do because it's very easy for an audience to feel sympathy for the mother. Fathers on screen are usually portrayed, at best, as providers or perhaps advice-givers, but when it comes to actually caring for the kids, dads are usually portrayed as not really knowing what they're doing or even being the problem.

Also, when a woman is obviously on the run, people want to help her. When a father goes on the run with his kid, as this novel shows, people are automatically distrustful and wondering if this isn't a kidnapping situation. This makes Andy's struggle a bit harder and thus, more dramatic to watch.

And as I said before, we just don't get that many movies about the bond between father and daughter. It's a special bond, and one that might even be stronger than father and son, or mother and daughter. Firestarter shows this aptly, and I'd like to see it kept for the screen.

Of course, as most of you already know, Firestarter has been adapted before, back in 1984 with Drew Barrymore in the title role. For bonus points, it also has Martin Sheen in it, who was also in The Dead Zone the previous year. This adaptation I have not seen, though I plan to someday, but what I know about it is that while it's not exactly bad, per se, it wasn't really all that good, either.

There also seem to be plans to remake this, but whether or not it's going to be a straight adaptation or whether or not it's just so that a TV series can be made surrounding an older Charlie (and other people with abilities) on the run from the Shop, or whether it's both, aren't clear. This is far from greenlit. Even the Dark Tower project is light-years ahead of this one, and we don't even know how certain The Dark Tower movie is yet.

So I'll proceed as normal, without really worrying about the supposedly planned project for this. The hardest part is that I won't be casting the title character! This might be the first time a lead role is being left uncast by me because of my own rules: I won't cast preteen characters because of the tendency of young actors to age out of the role very quickly. There also aren't many Drew Barrymores among the young talent of today. Charlie is not an easy role to play. Whatever actress is cast will be called upon to carry half the movie. Charlie's an ordinary kid (barring her ability) in a far-from-ordinary situation. Whatever actress is cast should probably be a young-looking 11 or 12, rather than 9. Drew Barrymore was 9 at the time, but like I said, she was kind of an exceptional 9-year-old.

The rest of the roles actually were pretty easy to cast this time. Certain actors just fell into my head and wouldn't leave. We'll start with the male lead, Andy. Andy's described as a big man, physically, but a very gentle, cerebral type of man who's more of a big teddy bear. We need a man that audiences immediately sympathize with and could never imagine would let his daughter be harmed. I decided that Jason Segel would work, and as weird as this sounds, this is not a case of me choosing a comedy actor to go serious. Segel has already proved his serious actor cred, and oddly enough, it was in episodes of How I Met Your Mother that it happened. His best scenes on that show are dramatic. He'll do a good job.

This next role isn't nearly as large, but I wanted to have Charlie's parents' pictures close to each other. I wasn't sure who should play Vicki, but she's described as being really pretty with reddish blonde hair. I went with a redhead. That's right, Jason Segel gets a hot redhead again! I chose Karen Gillan, who, at 28, can be taken seriously both as a college student (where most of her scenes would take place) and as a young mother.

And now for the men from the Shop. First, there's Captain James Hollister, or "Cap" as he's referred to throughout. Cap is the head of the Shop. This is the role Martin Sheen played in the movie, but I don't know why, because Cap is referred to several times as elderly. I grew to appreciate the idea of a man who looks like a kindly old grandpa but wouldn't hesitate to pick up a phone, if needed, and order the death of someone he personally liked, and would lose zero sleep over it. I picked Michael Gambon for the job.

And on the other end of such a phone call would probably be John Rainbird, the Shop's most feared assassin, and a strange, enigmatic character in his own right. He's a large First Nations man (his tribe isn't specified), a Viet Nam vet with hideous battle scars and a missing eye. There's a subplot where Rainbird pretends, rather successfully, to be nothing more than the friendly orderly who cleans Charlie's room, and ends up gaining her trust in a way that Cap could only dream of. I almost think this would work better on screen if the viewer was kept in the dark as to his true intentions as well, and only after the reveal would we see him putting into action his plan to gain Charlie's trust and then kill her. I chose Graham Greene for this role, because he's a very good actor, because he's actually First Nations (unlike George C. Scott who played him in the first movie) and because he's old enough that he could have believably fought in Viet Nam even in today's day and age. And he can be scary looking when he wants to.

The man behind the Lot Six experiments that gives Andy and Vicki their powers is Dr. Joseph Wanless, a creepy mad scientist-type who Andy thinks looks like the guy from Dr. Cyclops. Is there another choice than Ben Kingsley?

Then there are the two scientists who conducts tests on our two protagonists. I initially thought they were prime candidates to replaced by a single composite character, but they do enough different stuff that they both need to be there. Let's talk first about Dr. Patrick Hockstetter. There's a name that sends a shiver down the spine of your average King fan. I'll discuss this here: the name Patrick Hockstetter is used again in the novel It to describe a thoroughly creepy character, in this case, a young solipsist from the 50's. I cannot help but think this is the same character. After all, There Are Other Worlds Than These. Thus, I wanted a creepy actor for this role, and there are few younger actors with more lifeless, mask-like faces than Cillian Murphy.

The other doctor, Herman Pynchot, isn't described much but I imagined him speaking in clipped tones with barely concealed irritation and even rage. I imagined him as Joel de la Fuente.

When it comes to composite characters, I decided that Orville Jamieson, one of the Shop's field operatives, would be the "face" of the Shop's goons. Aside from the two who kidnap Charlie in the beginning, for reasons you'll know if you've read this. Jamieson can stand in for Al Steinowitz, Bates, Mayo and Knowles, watching over the Lot Six experiment (and being the scarred face that Vicki remembers) and then leading the troops out to capture Charlie, never understanding just how dangerous she is. I pictured him as the ultimate scarred tough guy, Michael Kenneth Williams.

Finally, there's the Manders family. Irv and Norma are a friendly farm couple and probably the only real help the McGees ever receive. They're folksy, brighter than they first appear and I immediately pictured John C. Reilly as Irv...

 ...and Dale Dickey as Norma.

If you've read the book, I doubt you're raising too many objections.

As for a director, well, this thing would be at home in the hands of almost any director of thrillers. I doubt even Joel Schumacher could kill it (well, maybe he could, lol). I admit I'm not sure who'd be best, but there are many who could be competent. If you've got a choice, let me know in the comments.

So, welcome to the 80's, Stephen King style. Coming up we've got more Richard Bachman, an angry dog and a certain Gunslinger we all know and adore. Probably more besides! I don't know if they'll all get separate posts but I'll definitely do another skipped stories post. I also just challenged myself on Goodreads to have all these works read by the end of the year. Let's see if I can hold to that...

Next Up: Roadwork!

King of the Hill: A Question for My Readers

Merry Christmas to Me

As you can see from the photo above, I had a pretty nice Christmas. Actually, I really did, and for more than just those reasons. I got to see my oldest daughter, who lives north of me so I don't get to see her very often, I saw the new Star Wars movie (it rocked!) and I think I managed to find the right gift for just about everyone concerned.

And thanks to my wife, I have now completed my King collection, and started my Joe Hill collection on the ground floor, as it were.

For those of you who don't already know, Joe Hill is Stephen King's oldest son. He was born Joseph Hillstrom King, and chose the professional name Joe Hill in order to insure that whatever success he had in the writing world would be due to his own efforts, not just his connection to his incredibly famous father.

I must confess, I've never read a Joe Hill novel. I have long wanted to, but never got around to it. I have, however, read his comic series Locke & Key and found that to be amazing. I can safely say based solely on that series that Hill has earned his spot among the great horror writers of today. Like his dad, his horror is often subtle, and gets to you the more you think about it. Also like his dad, he doesn't always try to scare (from what I've read about him). He also tends to go "cosmic", as in, writing about ordinary people being affected by things man was not meant to know, which is very Lovecraftian and therefore, I love it. I am really excited to get to these books.

And now, a question for the readers: Should I include Joe Hill's books and stories in this blogging project?

Do you want to see me (eventually, as I have a long way to go before I get there) make casts for Hill's books? I automatically exclude Horns because its adaptation is less than a decade old, but his short stories and the other two novels might be ripe for adaptation.

There are arguments for doing so. First, I'm going to read them anyway, and I do plan on adding them to my chronological list amid King's books. If I'm gonna read 'em, why not blog 'em?

Second, I already have two Hill works on my list; Throttle and In the Tall Grass, which he co-wrote with his dad.

Third, I understand that King has said that as far as he's concerned, Little Joe's stories take place within the same canon as his own. I say "canon" instead of "world" because King's canon already encompasses umpteen different worlds, some mostly like ours but subtly different, others incredibly unlike ours. There's no reason that two writers from the Keystone World aren't being used of Gan (and if that sentence confuses you, read the Dark Tower books). The fact that they have collaborated and that references to each others' works have shown up in their books (again, I'm told) just solidifies that.

There are a few arguments against it, as well. First, and most obvious, is that this is a Stephen King blog, not a King Family blog.

Second, there are six stories of his that don't appear to be available unless you happened to purchase whatever it was initially published in (usually magazines). They're not even available on Amazon that I can see. Therefore it won't be even as complete as my King reading (and even that isn't 100%, though it's as close as one can really get).

Third, if I include Joe Hill, why not include Owen King as well? This one I'll actually answer. Owen King, despite being the one who kept his last name professionally, has really set about doing his own thing. He doesn't really write horror at all, at least, from what I've read about him. Hill, meanwhile, is something of an Heir to the Throne.

But I'm engaging my readers here and asking their opinion. Would you like to see Hill adaptations when I get there? Would you prefer me to stick to things King put his name on and nothing else? I want to hear from everyone on this; regular commenters, lurkers, people who just found this blog today, etc., etc. The more the merrier.

In the meantime, I'll wish everyone a Happy New Year, advice you to party responsibly and we'll see you in 2016!

Crouch End

Awwwww yiss.

This will do nicely. I love HP Lovecraft (what I have read of him; I admit not to being a Lovecraft scholar) and I love it when Stephen King goes Lovecraft on us. And he sure did here.

In fact, Crouch End is more or less set in Lovecraft's world, where unseen eldritch abominations beyond the conceptions of mortal men lie in wait behind the thin, gauzy veneer we call reality, and to so much as hear their name means insanity, or even death.

Crouch End is all about a young couple who wander into the worst part of town. A part where reality is fluid, and beyond the borders of our sane world waits a presence...

This story has it all. Creeping dread, paranoia, creepy deformed kids, whispers from the shadows, a demonic cat, red lights in the sky, the Black Goat with a Thousand Young...

It's told en media res by the lady of the pair, Doris Freeman, to a couple of cops working the night shift in Tottenham Road. She and her husband are in England on business, but after getting lost in the little berg of Crouch End, horrific things began happening to them, and her husband Lonnie is now missing.

The two PC's, Ted Vetter and Robert Farnham, discuss her story between themselves, Farnham being young and cocky and sure she's crazy or on drugs, while Vetter has been around a while (get it? Vetter, veteran, nyuck nyuck) and isn't so sure that her story should be so easily dismissed.

As a story, there's not all that much to it, but I do think there's much left deliberately unexplored, and I do think there's enough concept here to expand this to at least an 88-minute movie, and there's nothing wrong with a movie that short. And Gan knows it would be plenty scary.

I think it should focus almost as much on the cops involved as on the couple. There's an especially nice little conversation in the middle of the story between Farnham and another cop, Raymond, who doesn't really have anything to do with the story but holy god what a creepy character! If anything, his one scene sent more shivers up my spine than any other part. Something's clearly up there, and needs to be examined a bit more. Especially considering the ending, which I will not spoil. If you're interested, this story is part of the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection. Off to the book store with you.

Now, I should mention that it's been adapted before. It was part of the mini-series Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King and it starred Claire Forlani and Eion Bailey. I haven't seen it, but I have heard literally nothing good about it. It's on YouTube, though. I watched a bit of it with the sound down. It looks laaaaaaaaame.

No, a movie is the only format this will work in, I think.

Now, to casting.

Before I really start, though, I should mention that, being a short story, the young couple don't get much more characterization than "young couple". If anything, I almost don't think of them as the stars of the story, even though they're the ones things happen to. The cops are far more detailed, so both my leads are essentially just attractive people we like watching.

Doris will be played by Jessica Chastain. Honestly, there are dozens of women who could play this part. I picked Chastain because she's a good actress who's shown a willingness to do horror.

Her husband, Lonnie, is kinda blandly handsome, but described as a big man with an athletic body. I wasn't sure who should play him, but Ryan Kwanten could fit this role no problem.

PC Ted Vetter is an older British Bobby who's been around and seen some crazy things. He talks to Farnham about the barriers through reality being thin around Crouch End. Mid-way through his speech, I realized who should play him, whose voice I was already reading the lines in. Peter Capaldi.

Younger, less experienced and incredibly cocky young PC, Robert Farnham, grows to take an interest in the story after Vetter's description unnerves him. He has a brief conversation with another cop, PC Raymond, and then decides to explore the area the Freemans were in for himself (cue Jaws music). There's probably thousands of young British actors who can play him, but I pictured Harry Lloyd.

Finally, I gotta talk about PC Raymond. Wow, I just don't know what to say about this guy. He just sorta walks over at the end of his shift and talks to Farnham about his case. Farnham's internal monologue tells us that he doesn't trust Raymond, that Raymond gets a bit violent with suspects, and the whole time Raymond behaves in a creepy-as-fuck manner that makes me more than suspicious of him. What he's got to do with Crouch End's mysterious happenings is beyond me, but come on, this ain't no run-of-the-mill cop gone bad. Something is very much so "up" with him. I pictured him with the creepy smirk and raised eyebrow of Jared Harris.

Well, two posts in one day. Whoda thunkit? This one was short, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm not fleshing it out into a screenplay. If I was, I'm sure there'd be more roles to cast. The creepy kids, for one thing, whom I'm not casting due to my own rules.

And with this post I will say Merry Christmas (again), Happy New Year and Fa la la la laaaaa, la la la la. We'll see you in January with a cast for Firestarter and your friendly blogger will edge even closer to the big 4-0.

Next Up: Firestarter!

The Dead Zone

Now, here, we have another example similar to The Shining.

The Dead Zone, published in 1979, was turned into a movie in 1983 by horror-maestro extraordinaire David Cronenberg. Christopher Walken starred in the lead role of Johnny Smith, and it remains one of his most acclaimed performances. There was even an Oscar campaign for him (he wasn't nominated, ultimately).

The movie has become so popular that when I was searching for a picture to use for this post, I could not find one that wasn't related to the movie, or the television series (yes, there was a TV series, I'll get to that in a moment). I ended up going with a bit of fan art that I'm pretty sure is still based on Walken's performance.

And, like The Shining, the movie based on this novel is really good. Great, even. And, unlike The Shining, remains somewhat faithful (though not as much as some, like The Green Mile or The Mist) and gets the characters pitch-perfect. So, why adapt this one again?

I'll be honest; I'm mainly doing a cast for this one because Bryant Burnette of The Truth Inside The Lie told me he'd like to see it happen some day, and because he liked my casting choices (though I'm altering one of them) for a potential remake. However, the other reason I'm doing it is that we live in probably the most politically contentious climate the US has experienced since the whole Nixon/Ford debacle. The entire political plot of this book could be translated to 2000, 2008 or even this year without missing a beat, and honestly, it might even be more topical now.

Also, this one has been adapted a second time, in this case as a weekly television series, sorta like Under the Dome is now. It ran for six seasons and starred Anthony Michael Hall in the title role. I watched a couple of episodes here and there, but what I know of it suggests that not only was it not very faithful to the source material at all, but not even really all that good. Others have suggested to me that it was pretty good in its first season, but went downhill later. I have no trouble believing that. So, much like Carrie, which got a great adaptation, suck-ass attempt at a TV series and finally a second theatrical run, The Dead Zone deserves a bit of an update.

As a side note, this story also has a sub-plot set in Castle Rock, which was introduced in It Grows on You and mentioned in several other works, including The Stand, which I'd forgotten until my re-read. This is really the first novel to be set there. That's kinda important.

The story concerns Johnny Smith (and yes, the story mentions quite often how much like an alias this name sounds), a young school teacher who falls into a coma and wakes up four and a half years later. Much has changed; his parents have grown old beyond their years and his mother's oldschool Baptist convictions have morphed into a religious mania that has turned her borderline certifiable. Sarah Hazlett, the woman he was falling in love with has married another man and is now a mother. But moreover, Johnny has gained an ability (one that he has had in a smaller degree since childhood) to get impressions of things by touch. If he picks up a wallet, for example, he'll be able to tell who it belongs to (which, oddly, isn't one of the things that happens in the book). If he touches a person, he'll get glimpses of their past, and even potential futures.

At first, he does this instinctively and while it makes the papers it also freaks out nearly everyone who comes into contact with him, aside from his doctor, his parents and Sarah (okay, it freaks them out, too, but they don't start avoiding him). He comes to see his gift as a curse. This only intensifies the day he encounters a flesh-pressing politician...and the brief handshake leaves him convicted that this man should not be allowed to live much longer, because he will usher in a nightmarish era that could very well end the world as we know it.

By the way, that contentious political climate I mentioned is important to the story because Greg Stillson, the politician who serves as our villain, uses the political uncertainty and party shifting, among many other things, to his advantage. It's implied and even outright stated several times that a man like Stillson could never be elected outside of circumstances like the ones in existence then.

Speaking of, I think that's one area that could be improved upon, at least from the novel. I haven't seen the movie in years, and I don't really remember how Martin Sheen portrayed Stillson, but I've got a problem with his presentation in the novel.

See, the idea King had that led to this book was "Is it possible to make Lee Harvey Oswald the good guy?" That's not what the story does, though. It gives us a genuinely good guy vs. a truly horrible man. Greg Stillson is so evil he's almost a cartoon, and his campaign speeches remind one of guys like Lyndon H. LaRouche or any one of the hundreds of clearly certifiable people who have sought public office. I truly don't believe there's any political environment that would allow for such shenanigans to actually get someone elected.

(Please don't lob Donald Trump at me. Trump may have a "devil may care" attitude and say a lot of controversial things, but he's never run around on stage like a crazed bull or thrown hot dogs at the crowd.)

When I heard the quote from King about Lee Harvey Oswald, I assumed that Stillson was going to be presented as a good man who Johnny foresees making a deal or new law or something that seems to be a solid bet, but that ultimately has disastrous unforeseen consequences. Now, I'm not suggesting that he be changed this way in the movie, because the scenes where he goes off the rails are too juicy, but I will suggest that perhaps his craziness be limited to behind closed doors, where those who witness it are too afraid for their lives to repeat what they witnessed. In public, however, he's got to come off not just like a good politician but a great man, one who convinces 90% of the people that he encounters that he genuinely is a saint.

So let's begin:

For Johnny, I wanted someone the audience would instantly like. Johnny is a very likable guy in the book, in fact at times he almost seems too good, but he has his flaws, for sure. Johnny has to be a guy whose side we are immediately on, knowing that he's right about the visions he has, even when others disbelieve him, and he has to be someone we're still rooting for, even as he makes his...final decision. Initially I pictured Matt Smith in the role, but lately I've come to like Michael B. Jordan. Jordan, whom I've followed since his days on The Wire where he played an innocent kid caught up in the drug trade for no other reason than that he doesn't know what else to do, and I love that he's becoming a genuine movie star. He's more physically fit than Johnny is described as, but he definitely has that likability factor, as well as the acting skill to make this part come alive.

For Greg Stillson, there was never another choice. I wanted an actor who could be described as handsome and charismatic, but could instantly turn on the crazy, and that man is Michael Shannon.

I struggled with Johnny's lost love, Sarah. Most of the popular black actresses of today are in their 30's and I wanted one that was closer to Jordan's age. I chose The Walking Dead actress Sonequa Martin-Green, because she's a very talented actress and the image of the beautiful "one that got away" for Johnny.

Then there's Dr. Sam Weizak, a neurologist who takes over with Johnny's care after he comes out of his coma. The two become friends, and Sam is one of the few who doesn't grow distant from Johnny after Johnny's abilities make themselves obvious. He's described as being Polish with a huge mound of hair, and in the book, the second World War is the reason he was sent to the US. He doesn't have to be Polish, necessarily. He could be a young refugee from almost any war that would have sent people to the US, but since he's described as Polish, I pictured Adrien Brody, who we know can handle the accent.

Johnny's parents play a pretty big role in the story. Johnny's dad, Herb, is described as a big, bulky contractor who is essentially the patient, loving dad and husband, but who is saddled with caring for his wife, whose sanity is definitely in question, as well as trying to pay his son's hospital bills. Does anyone else find Terry Crews as lovable as I do? The man makes me feel like if I met him, I'd want to give him a hug. He's just so nice. Could he bring the pathos to this role that is needed? Absolutely he could, and it would give him a chance to show his dramatic side.

Herb's wife, Vera, Johnny's mother, is a devout Baptist who slowly turns cuckoo, believing in one religious cult after another, initially believing that one of these cults will bring her son back, but eventually abandoning all good sense. Taraji P. Henson is capable of bringing the crazy, and still having us sympathize with her.

Probably the element that most non-readers are familiar with in this story is Johnny's aiding of Castle Rock Sheriff George Bannerman to catch a criminal known as the Castle Rock Strangler. Despite this being a relatively small side plot in the book, it has far-reaching echoes in other books, especially Cujo. Bannerman is described as being big and powerful-looking, yet bespectacled and quiet, so I chose Chris Bauer.

And of course, I had to case Frank Dodd, Bannerman's young deputy, and a key figure in cracking the case of the Strangler. For reasons that will be obvious if you're familiar with the story, I went with Tom Payne.

Toward the middle of the story, Johnny is hired to tutor a young all-American athlete who has trouble reading. His father, a rich man named Roger Chatsworth, hires Johnny and befriends him. There is no actor who can better communicate "upscale WASP" than Jack Coleman of Heroes.

His son, Chuck, a big football player and also friendly with Johnny, can be played by Leo Howard, who played young Conan in the Jason Momoa film, and who has grown to be a very fit young actor. He also looks like he really could be Jack Coleman's son.

Honestly I don't know who would direct it. It could be done by just about anybody, as long as that anybody's name isn't Mick Garris (or Tommy Lee Wallace, for that matter). As this film is not a horror story, someone known for their dramas should probably handle it, like Tate Taylor or someone.

And with that, I leave the 70's behind and say hello to the neon-bright, pastel-colored 80's! Oh, wait, this is Stephen King. So we're leaving behind post-apocalyptic waste lands and freaky powers and welcoming Lovecraftian abominations masquerading as clowns, alternate universes and the most emotionally devastating of King's novels I've ever read.

Pray for me.

There will be another casting coming up soon. I will not be re-casting The Mist, which was done quite well by the Man Frank Darabont less than a decade ago. I actually had a much better time watching that movie than I did reading the novella (which I had not, up until now). There's no need to try and do it better. However, there is another story which was done as a TV episode that I feel could make a nice, tight, terrifying horror film, and I'll have a cast up for that one hopefully before Christmas.

But if I don't, I will say for now, Merry Christmas and I truly hope it is good for all of you. I'll be spending as much of my time off work as I can ripping through Firestarter (yes, that one's getting a post) as well as, hopefully, Roadwork, as well as several short stories.

The Long Walk

My last casting post ended with "next up: The Long Walk", so I guess I'd better cast this bitch.

To be honest, I didn't have a good time with this one. Not because it wasn't well-written. It was. But it was so...unpleasant. It affected me on too deep a level. When I was done, the feeling I think best describes how I felt was "Yuck." Out of all of King's books, most of which are very, very dark, it's weird that this is the one that gets that reaction from me. It's another Richard Bachman tale, and I can now see why people describe Richard Bachman as "Stephen King having a really bad day."

The story takes place in an alternate version of the 1980's, which means that King was probably trying to predict the future, seeing as he wrote this book in the early 70's, possibly even starting it in the late 60's. He wrote it pre-Carrie and this was his third, possibly fourth novel overall, so the idea that he wrote it in the 60's is not unfathomable.

There's hints that in fact it's not just "the future" but an entire alternate reality. For one thing, there's an April 31st in this world, and there was an air blitz from the Germans along the east coast of the US during their version of WWII, not to mention a reference to said war still going on in the 1950's, and a reference to the US having 52 states. I'm grateful for these references, because the idea that this could take place in our world is even more disheartening.

The titular "walk" is a grueling endurance contest that takes place every year on May 1st. It is restricted to teenage boys between the ages of 16-18. Contestants walk from the US/Canada border in Maine down US-1 until it merges with I-95. If necessary, it will continue through New Hampshire and Massachusetts until only one Walker remains.

Side note: as a fan of The Walking Dead I had to continually remind myself what a "Walker" was in the context of this story.

There are several rules:

• Each contestant must maintain a walking speed of 4 mph at all times. They cannot stop even to sleep or...anything else.
• No Walker may leave the road at any time.
• No Walker may interfere with the progress of another Walker.
• No onlooker may interfere with a Walker at all, either with help or hindrance, nor should a Walker accept such help.
• Breaking any of these rules results in a warning. After 30 seconds, if you are still breaking the rules, you get a second warning. Another 30 seconds, a third warning. 30 seconds later and you get your ticket out of the walk. I'll explain what that means in a second. The exception to this is the second rule; you instantly get a ticket if you leave the road.

That ticket? Death.

The Walkers have a half-track rumbling along beside them full of soldiers, and their progress is monitored. Even after one kid trips and gets his legs run over by the half-track, there are no exceptions. Three warnings and then...they shoot you. And they aren't firing tranquilizer darts.

The Long Walk is somewhat like the Game of Thrones. You win...or you die.

Let me tell you; you feel every inch of that walk. Reading this book was physically exhausting, and harrowing. Any one of the characters could die at any second, and many come very close several times each. But the winner...oh, yes, the winner gets a pretty decent prize, I must say. Whatever you want for the rest of your life.

The story is told from the perspective of one Walker, Ray Garraty, who isn't entirely sure why he entered the Walk and, here's the funny thing, isn't sure he's going to win. In fact, none of the boys are with the exception of a couple. This is one of the problems I had with the story, which I'll get to in a bit.

Ray is a fairly average teenager, except more than once his innocence and naivety is commented on by the others. Ray even thinks to himself after watching the first Walker get his ticket that until that moment he hadn't allowed himself to believe that the soldiers really were going to shoot him dead. He had pictured white flags saying "bang" coming out of the guns.

During the walk he makes friends with many of the boys, dire enemies with one of them in particular, and comes to see the one who continually lags behind everyone as a mystery in great need of solving.

Running the entire thing is a mysterious character known only as "the Major", and it is here that we must bring up one of the most striking differences between this world and our own; apparently it is highly militarized and adults who get too vocally political are "Squaded", a term which is not explained except that it apparently does not mean death by firing squad, which was my first thought, or death of any kind. I think it means they're taken away and put on work "squads", or it could mean they're drafted into some sort of military detail that might also involve conditioning their minds akin to the sort of "breaking" that the government practices in George Orwell's 1984. I don't know, but the Major is clearly a man of power, and the boys on the walk alternate between being a bit scared of him to open hatred of him to a sort of hero worship.

These little glimpses into just what sort of world this takes place in are pretty fascinating, and I like that we're left with more questions than answers. I still had other questions; why is the Walk only open to teens? Why only boys?

But here's my biggest problem with the Walk itself. It's often compared to the Hunger Games, but one thing people forget about the Hunger Games is that participation is mandatory for those whose names are chosen. You can volunteer, but if no one does, someone's chosen anyway. Here, participation is 100% voluntary, and in fact, you have to write an essay about why you should be chosen, then if your essay is good enough, you're put through a physical, and if you pass that your name is put in a draw from which 200 names are chosen; 100 primes and 100 alternates. If you're chosen as a prime, you have 24 hours to opt out. If you're an alternate, you are only chosen when someone opts out, and even then, it's random.

So, what we have here is a voluntary contest wherein people sign up willingly to die. They know going in that only one person can win, and most of them are not even sure they'll win. So they're willingly signing up to die. Moreover, people are watching from home as though it's any other sporting event or reality competition.

And unlike a sport like mountain climbing (which it's compared to at one point), death here does not come from negligence or accident. There's not just a chance of death, but a 99% certainty of it. It comes purposefully, delivered by military snipers who aren't even competing. That's another difference from the Hunger Games. In that game, it's you against your opponents, and while they will kill you, or accident or negligence will, it's part of the game. Here, it's punishment. Permanent punishment.

Call me naive, but I don't think we're gonna get to a point as a society where people willingly sign up to be shot by soldiers after putting their bodies through torturous strain. And I don't think anyone's going to want to watch it. We may accept violence in movies as par for the course, but we know that violence isn't real. When we hear on the news that real people are being shot, it definitely affects us.

That being said, this could still work as a movie, as long as it's put up as a sort of satire on the concept of reality shows. A sort of picture of how things might go as long as the public is willing to watch.

Apparently, the Man Frank Darabont owns the rights to this story and fully plans on turning it into a movie. Okay, I'm all for that. If anyone can turn this into a good movie, it's Darabont. So I'm proceeding as if this is Darabont's take on it, and unlike last time, I'm going to include a few of his usual suspects.

The Competitors
For starters, there's our central character, Ray Garraty. Unlike the story, I don't think the entire movie can focus on just him and what he experiences, but he'll be our Katniss throughout this ordeal. Much is made of his innocence, as I already said, and I think Ansel Elgort has that innocent look.

Garraty's closest "friend", if such a word applies to any of the Walkers, is a boy named Pete McVries, who is more philosophical but also bigger and in better physical shape. Noah Gray-Cabey, the kid from Heroes has grown up to be a rather handsome, and very physically fit, young man, and as his acting has always been more cerebral, I think he'd make a good McVries.

What would a story be without an antagonist? In this case, a kid named Gary Barkovitch is our boo-hiss "villain", a boy who seems to be on this walk just so he can, as he puts it, dance on people's graves. If anything, his persistent douchebaggery keeps several of our main characters going just to spite him. Ryan Potter is capable of a cold, hateful stare that seems pretty perfect for Barkovitch.

One of the more tragic Walkers is Hank Olson, who starts the walk rather boastful, sure that he's going to win, but within a short while, he realizes that he seriously failed to consider what he was up against. His spirit is consequentially shattered. He's relatively nondescript but I like Tony Revolori as an actor and I think he can bring the necessary sympathy one should feel for Olson.

Stebbins (no first name given) is the most mysterious out of the Walkers. He's a skinny, almost effeminate kid who for the most part remains consistently in last place, seemingly unconcerned about the entire ordeal. Of all the Walkers, he's the one that shows the least strain and mental/physical breakdown. This layered character is sure to be difficult to play successfully, so I'm going with Kodi Smit-McPhee, who is already a favorite on the arthouse acting circuit.

Art Baker is a hayseed with a lot of down-home sense. He's one of the more prominent characters, despite not really doing much or being described much. Somehow the tired eyes of Austin MacDonald made me choose him for this role.

That's the major players, but there are two others who should probably be cast. The others all sorta blur together in your head. Scramm, a very fit Walker who is actually, despite his young age, married and with a kid on the way, entered the competition sure he could win, willing to bet his wife's companionship and child's growing up with a father on his physical skill. I think a handsome, muscular young actor who looks really sure of himself would do pretty good here, such as Luke Benward.

Abraham is one of the longer-lasting Walkers, a guy who essentially entered the Walk because he felt he had nothing to lose. I'm casting him because of a funny scene where he tells the other Walkers what he wrote on his essay. I chose Robbie Kay, because he came closest to my mental image of what Abraham looks like.

That's it for the Walkers, though of course there are plenty others. Now let's move on to the other characters.

The book doesn't stray from the Walk. Literally all the action happens on the road. We see stuff off to the side, and the Major is unquestionably watching progress from somewhere, but we don't see that aspect because we never leave Garraty's point of view. This is where the movie could expand somewhat. We get to see what the Major is actually up to. We get to see what Garraty's family is going through, dropping him off, driving back to their city where they're going to be waiting as spectators. Maybe even glimpse inside the halftrack a few times, though personally I like the idea of leaving them faceless, a spectre of death for the Walkers.

My thought is that portions of the movie could take place within a studio, with a regular host, or hosts, almost like a sporting event today. It would be a way to "remind the viewing audience" what the rules are and really focus on each walker. There could be interviews with the Major, a previous winner, a parent of one of the losers, etc.

Meanwhile, I also like the idea of the Major screwing with the game; the various by-standers who actually do try to interfere being put in place by the Major himself. I can just see him now, in some control room somewhere; "Okay, deploy the wagon offering free watermelon." "Pick one of the boys' mothers and tell her she can come get her son. Don't tell the boys in the halftrack."

I pictured Kevin Spacey as the Major.

Your host, Curtis Vance, will be the man in the studio checking in with the Walkers. He'll be played by Darabont Regular Amin Joseph.

Garraty's girlfriend, Jan, I see as having a larger role in this. We'll actually see the conversation where she begs him not to compete, even offering to sleep with him if he opts out. Then we'll get her side of the events when they reach the crowd in Freeport and she almost gets to speak to him from the sidelines. I chose a random up-and-coming young actress, Madison McLaughlin.

Finally there's Garraty's mother and her man, Dr. Patterson. I again picked some Darabont Regulars to play them, but I wonder if Dr. Patterson shouldn't be changed to Garraty's grandfather. Honestly, there'd be no difference to the character's purpose, and it allows me to use the most frequent of Darabont's cast.

Melissa McBride plays Mom and Jeffrey DeMunn plays Patterson/Grandpa.

Melissa McBride

Jeffrey DeMunn

It's funny, but I honestly think this will make a more enjoyable movie than it was a book. Don't get me wrong; this book is very strong, and the idea that we might some day reach this level of inhumanity is scary (again, it kinda loses me because I just can't quite see us getting there, but I might be the minority opinion here). I think one of the biggest differences between King and Bachman is that King usually seems just as horrified at what's going on as the readers are, but Bachman is cold and clinical in his description of atrocities. Charlie Decker just killed someone (who remains inside the classroom, bleeding on the floor for the entire duration of the book) but meh, she's just collateral damage. Here, deaths pile up, but hey, they knew what they signed up for.

Presently I'm nearly halfway through The Dead Zone, and moving straight into The Mist after that. I don't think either one is getting a blog post, because both have been adapted to film before, and are generally (I said generally) considered to be among the better adaptations. I doubt either one needs to be adapted again. The Dead Zone already was, as a TV series back in the early 2000's, which I have not seen barring an episode or two here and there, but understand it started off strong and became utterly stupid fairly quickly. This doesn't surprise me, really. Strong book, strong movie, not the sort of stuff ongoing TV series are made from.

However, after that, there's a few stories after those that I think might work very well as movies, one of which already got one, but there's definite room for improvement. I'm refraining from putting a "next up" at the end of this post, because I'm going to read the stories before I decide if a movie version would work, or is needed.