UNSUSPECTING AND WITTY - A few days ago, Warner Bros. has officially announced that it will cooperate with the CBS Films to make a project (yet to be determined whether a 2/3-hour film or a film series) dedicated to The Shadow Of The Scorpion, a post-apocalyptic novel by Stephen King which, back in 1994, was transposed by means of a six-hour television miniseries. But what does the writer think of this initiative? Here are his words:
"I didn't know about it until I read about it on the Internet.".
Warner and CBS (which holds the film and television rights to the movie) decided to get their hands on a King without even questioning him! On this occasion, the writer would have had every reason to rage, hurl anathemas at the production companies and so on, but no! King preferred to give ten ironic tips to companies for the realization of the The Shadow Of The Scorpion:
- "No one will be able to surpass Gary Sinise, the interpreter of Stu Redman in the ABC original miniseries. He has been perfect. When he says ' you don't know anything' to the soldiers quarantining him, he manages to convey a sense of contempt. my choice for the role would still fall to Jake Gyllenhaal"
- "I didn't know about it [of the project] Until I read it on the Internet."
- "You absolutely cannot transpose it with a two-hour film. If it were a trilogy of films ... maybe"
- "Molly Ringwald will not play Fran Goldsmith this time around."
- "Rutger Hauer is a little too old to play the Walking Man. [nickname given to Randall Flagg, villain of the story]., and this is a real pity"
- "Some people who saw Kubrick's The Shining despised the miniseries I wrote (and which my friend Mick Garris directed) without even having seen it. That has always bothered me. But the wheel of karma turns! This time, people will probably say 'The miniseries was much better.' BUT."
- "...Looking into the past, studios usually inflate the budget for projects like this, reasoning that maybe it will be fun to watch. The money certainly won't go to me, even if it's a trilogy, and if it manages to gross a lot, maybe I'll be able to buy a chicken dinner at Popeye's. They make a great coleslaw!"
- "Molly Ringwald probably won't star in the role of Garbage [character originally played by Matt Frewer], but Billy Bob Thornton would be great. Billy Bob is always fantastic"
- "They have to put a lot of heavy metal in the soundtrack"
- "M-O-O-N, which sounds like 'you probably won't see this anytime soon' [you probably won't see him anytime soon].. And when you make it, it won't be Woody Allen directing. Or Molly Ringwald"
It will be interesting to observe the reaction of CBS and Warner to the "shenanigans" of King! Will they officially ask for advice from the writer for the realization of The Shadow Of The Scorpion or will they pretend otherwise?
Article by Cristian Taranto
