Tim Jamison has an article on about.com titled "Top 5 Stephen King Film Adaptations That Need To Be Made." Here's his list, but Jamison also gives some great explanations on why he made these choices, and who should make the movies!
1. The Long walk. He notes that Frank Darabont has said he would get to this story "one day" and would make it "on a low budget, weird, existential and very self-contained."
2. The Sun Dog. I enjoyed this story quite a lot, but think it would work best in a Twilight Zone type format. 30 minutes, build the story and give a final twist.
3. The Man In The Black Suit. Jamison points out that a short film was already made in 2004, but he is hoping for a feature length film. Why? He writes, "There’s plenty of great horror movies about the devil catching up with people – Angel Heart is especially good – but within that familiarity there is great potential for invention. With a director who can expand upon the short story, or show the devil and Gary interacting over a number of years, it could be pretty damn creepy. You could even treat it like a Roald Dahl adaptation, producing something akin to The Witches."
4. The Ballad Of The Flexible Bullet. Under "who should star in it" Jamison offers us this whitty response: "Anybody except Jack Nicholson, James Caan, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp and John Cusack. They’ve all been there and done that."
5. 11.22.63. He says that filming is expected to start in 2012. I'm not sure why this is on a list like this, since I think the deal is already made.
Under The Dome could make an awesome movie. Can't wait to see Bag of Bones.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think "The Long Walk" is near the top of the list for a LOT of King fans. Including me.
ReplyDelete"The Man in the Black Suit," on the other hand, is a strange choice. What Jamison essentially says there is that it could make a good movie ... if the story were totally changed. That's true, but in theory, that's true for ANY story, regardless of who wrote it.
"The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" is one of those stories by King that I have a hard time remembering much of anything about. I remember the phrase "fornit some fornus," and that I liked the story the last time I read it ... but that's about it.
I don't even remember THAT much about "The Sun Dog."
As for "11/22/63": I was excited when I heard Jonathan Demme had optioned it, but after reading the novel, I'd have to say that there is simply no way it can be done justice as a single movie. This is another case in which it needs to be done on television or not at all.