Stephen King adaptations continue to roll in, not that we’re complaining. The latest film version of a King tale comes from Stories to Tell in the Dark and Trollhunter director André Øvredal’s who is adapting dystopian The Long Walk. Word is King himself has read the script by James Vanderbilt and given it a thumbs up. After hit road blocks due to the COVID pandemic, the film is finally moving forward.
Øvredal recently gave an update via ComingSoon: “It’s alive and well and moving along. I guess in the end, he just didn’t choose to do it, I actually don’t even know if he ever had a script. This script was written on spec by James Vanderbilt when he did not even have the rights to it, he just wrote it out of pure love for the book, and in the end, suddenly the rights were open and he was able to go to King with his script and say, ‘Can we do this?’ Then New Line bought it and somehow I got involved.”
Written by King in 1979 under the pen name Richard Bachman, the book centers on sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty who is about to compete in the annual grueling match of stamina and wits known as The Long Walk. One hundred boys must keep a steady pace of four miles per hour without ever stopping…with the winner being awarded “The Prize”—anything he wants for the rest of his life. But, as part of this national tournament that sweeps through a dystopian America year after year, there are some harsh rules that Garraty and others must adhere to in order to beat out the rest. There is no finish line—the winner is the last man standing. Contestants cannot receive outside aid. Slow under the speed limit and you’re given a warning. Three warnings and you’re out—permanently.
We’ll keep you posted.
