ROTTEN TOMATOES: Frank Darabont and Stephen King Reteam for Long Walk Comments

Frank Darabont and Stephen King Reteam for Long Walk

by Fred Topel | November 30, 2007

Summary

Directing three Stephen King movies (four, if you count an early short film) wasn't enough for Frank Darabont. Perhaps cinema's biggest fan of the horror author, the Mist writer/director has plans for another Stephen King movie. This one, written under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman, is the sci-fi tale The Long Walk. Back to Article

(1-30 of 30 posts) | Reply

Ashron writes:
on Nov 30 2007 06:43 AM

Ah, The Long Walk. I remember practicing my screenwriting by adapting that story into a screenplay. I actually had an original copy of that book, before anyone knew Richard Bachman was Stephen King, but I loaned it to my mother and she lost it (sigh)

It's a tough one to adapt, since there's very little action and it's mostly teenagers talking and waxing philisophical. Hopefully they won't screw it up like they did The Running Man.

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frogleg writes:
on Nov 30 2007 06:52 AM

I bet they don't. I think Darabont understands King better than anyone else adapting his stuff. The Long Walk is definitely the best of the Bachman books, and it's up there pretty high in King's library, IMO. I think this is pretty exciting news.

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rustdog writes:
on Nov 30 2007 07:33 AM

I like Bachman more than King, if that makes any sense? The problem with the Long Walk is there's little back story before the contest. I imagine to make a feature length movie some extra character development will need to be added.

451 has been in the works with so many directors. At one point Mel Gibson owned the rights. I'll believe it when I see it.

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frothy writes:
on Nov 30 2007 08:00 AM

I'm skeptical in the sense that the book seems to be a tough one to film, but I'm encouraged by the fact that it's Frank Darabont, who's shown some affinity for adapting King's books. Imagine if they got Tony Scott or Michael Bay to direct instead!

I imagine that rather than there being 90 minutes of young men walking, we'll have plenty of flashbacks - like how Garity got chosen, for example, or any of the other constestants' backstories.

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Ashron writes:
on Nov 30 2007 08:24 AM

They'll have to change the ending a bit, too, since, in typical King fashion, it's sort of ambivalent as to what happens (at least to me it was.) It will be kind of interesting to see how close it is to my adaptation (probably not very. Mine was pretty literal.)

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ctall33 writes:
on Nov 30 2007 08:46 AM

I thought I watched that movie in the 80's? It was called "The Running Man" with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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opTIMus Nerd writes:
on Nov 30 2007 08:48 AM

The Long Walk was, IMO, the best of the Bachman Books and could be a cool flick. I doubt we will see the Running Man syndrome here with Darabont directing. This could be really awesome!

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bangoskank writes:
on Nov 30 2007 09:22 AM

ctall33: Nope, "The Running Man" is based on King's story "The Running Man." See how that works?

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dracus writes:
on Nov 30 2007 09:38 AM

One of my favourite King books. Looking forward to audience's reaction to seeing the fat little kid getting knocked off for not keeping up with the others.

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DIABLUSX writes:
on Nov 30 2007 09:42 AM

Wow. This is movie can go so horribly wrong so very quick if it is not done right. I am just hoping it doesn't sprial downward into some horrible teen movie with added in action sequences to draw movie viewers.

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DiscoDan writes:
on Nov 30 2007 10:39 AM

The Mist was incredible I'm sure this one will be too!! Can't wait!!!

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primetime21335 writes:
on Nov 30 2007 11:11 AM

I too thought the book was fantastic. I am skeptical about how this could be done well cinematically considering the entire book is more about internal challenges than just walking. Such a good book. It's a shame people write it off and don't read it just because it's about a long walk. It's soooo much more than a walk. How are they going to convey that properly on the big screen?
King is awesome.

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Ashron writes:
on Nov 30 2007 11:31 AM

I want to be the first to nominate Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) to play Stebbins. He has the look and is good at playing an evil jerk.

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BrianInSD writes:
on Nov 30 2007 12:03 PM

Speaking of The Running Man, it would be cool to see someone actually adapt that book for the screen. The only thing it had in common with the Schwarzenegger movie was the title. Of King adaptations, I think only The Lawnmower Man has deviated more wildly from the source material.

However, it would probably be hard to get greenlit without changing the ending of the book, which, if I remember correctly, ivolved the hero hijacking a plane and flying it into a building.

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Ashron writes:
on Nov 30 2007 01:29 PM

In reply to this comment (#1318609)
You are in fact correct.

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Aqueryan Reloaded writes:
on Nov 30 2007 03:25 PM

This is joyous news - the fact that it is Mr. Darabont who will be helming the adaptation. Considering that the man is batting .1000 in terms of adapting King's works to the screen I kind of find it insulting that anyone would choose to express skepticism about whether The Long Walk can be successfully translated into a feature film. Darabont more than deserves to receive the benefit of the doubt from people regarding his ability to do justice to such a challenging and cherished story. I am fully confident that Darabont has the balls and the clout to render the long walk in all its unsettling, uncompromising glory. I cannot WAIT to see this on the screen.

*sigh* Now if only Darabont can wrest away the rights to The Dark Tower saga from JJ Abrams. Hey I can dream, can't I?

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volid writes:
on Nov 30 2007 04:24 PM

Seems like I'm the only one who didn't like the book ...

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ColdBloodedBMC writes:
on Nov 30 2007 04:27 PM

In reply to this comment (#1318246)
I don't recall any walking in the Running Man, mostly RUNNING!!!

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walkingdead09 writes:
on Nov 30 2007 08:10 PM

Ashron, when do your movies come out?

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High School With Money writes:
on Nov 30 2007 11:05 PM

to Darabont: steadicam it all the way - that'll impress me. Also, you're wrong about Truffaut's [i]451[/i].

to King: if you give up the movie rights to your stories for a dollar each, should you really be complaining when they barely fit your vision? Also, you can quit giving Mick Garris a career.

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punktuate writes:
on Dec 01 2007 09:59 AM

The Long Walk was definetly up there in the Bachamn books my personal favorite WAS Running Man and seeing as how everyone and their grandma is remaking movies why not get Michael Fincher (Fight Club, Seven) to remake it keep that dark and violent theme going but yeah it's going to be hard to make a movie out of The Long Walk but definetly possible maybe make it a little more violent or like someone said flashbacks or even just give a whole backstory of how all the kids decided they wanted to do the race and how the process they had to go through to get picked was like I can't wait.

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Ashron writes:
on Dec 01 2007 10:26 AM

In reply to this comment (#1320165)
Walkingdead, one of them is already out. It's called Night Feeders and it's available on Netflix and at many Blockbusters. If you decide to watch it, don't be too harsh on us. Our budget was less than the cost of a nice SUV. The other one is making the rounds to distributors now, so we have no time frame for it.

And I agree with you Aqueryan, if anyone can do Long Walk justice, it will be Darabont, but you have to admit that it's a tough one to adapt.

And just a fun little note for those of you who saw The Mist, the grocery store manager in the movie is a friend of mine and has been in several industrial videos I've produced. He's a really nice guy.

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BrianInSD writes:
on Dec 01 2007 10:42 AM

In reply to this comment (#1321042)
FYI: That's David Fincher, not Michael Fincher.

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Scott Weinberg writes:
on Dec 01 2007 07:51 PM

Ooh, he's been talking about Long Walk for a Long Time. It's an AMAZING story, and I really hope Frank makes this his next project.

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SpawnofAchilles writes:
on Dec 03 2007 01:42 PM

I agree no one has any right to doubt Darabont adapting King at this point. The Mist was incredible, and very faithful. The ending deviates and is very jarring (and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, it definitely left an impact though) but it does at least give it a solid ending(the book was more open ended with the finale.)

I heard that King will sell his book rights to film students for a dollar, which Darabont was at the time he bought those rights.

I am supremely excited about The Long Walk as it is a very interesting, unique and DARK story, and Darabont just proved to me that he can do dark better then most with the mist. And as I stated already, he can do King better than anyone.

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theunrulyone writes:
on Dec 04 2007 03:43 AM

punktuate that is david fincher, and he could do the running man justice, but that movie won't get remade because it will be so hard to separate from the 80's flick.

The Long Walk should be a good movie. The Mist was not excellent, but it worked as a movie adaptation of a book, and for those who think there is not enough action in the Long Walk, Shawshank did not have a ton o action and it was a great movie. If Darabont can get Tarantino to write teh dialogue (or at least some of it) this movie would totally rock balls.

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albert_sy2 writes:
on Jan 27 2008 06:44 AM

the running man was also in the bachman books, so was the long walk. the movie the running man wasn't very good and i personally think the book was far better. this is one story begging to be re-filmed.

* * *

both the running man and the long walk are contests. the running man was built around the idea of bounty hunters trying to hunt down a running man. the long walk was about a bunch of contestants who have to walk as long as necessary until only one remains -- literally. winner gets whatever he wished for, according to the story, IIRC.

in the book it was horrifying to read about the public spectators and how blood-thirsty they were.

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titobandito1978 writes:
on May 12 2008 10:04 AM

If any director can make this awesome story into a great movie, its Frank Darabont. I couldn't be psyched any more for Darabont to direct this... Only sleep and work got in the way of me finishing this book in one day. Darabont was born to direct Stephen King/Richard Bachman.

On another subject, as for Eli Roth Directing "Cell", not so excited about. He can definatley make it gory, no doubt about that, but he wants to show the effects of the "pulse" all over, not just from Mass to Maine... which takes a big element out of the story to begin with. You never know if it's happening any where else, because almost all communication has been cut off. Plus, one of the great parts about "Cell" is the character developement... Sure as hell not going to get that either... Anyway, another topic for a whole other movie.

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epiphanymia writes:
on Jun 01 2008 07:01 AM

In reply to this comment (#1319457)
JJ Abrams does action well, but I'm cringing to imagine the treatment that my beloved Dark Tower series will get. I am glad, however that it has been optioned, and hope they find a way to work The Little Sisters of Eluria into the series somehow.

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Amalgamate writes:
on Aug 12 2009 04:37 PM

Yes, Volid, you are the only one-it's a great piece

Just finished rereading it again. I thought the ending was pretty clear-he saw death and raced after it...

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