NEWS -

Rose Red

Posted: January 18, 2000, 20:34
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ABC signs a deal with King on Rose Red.

King goes to Springfield

Posted: January 17, 2000, 19:21
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Zap2it reports that the Simpson episode with King will air on November 12. Here is what they say:

Drew Barrymore provides the voice of Sophie in the "Insane Poppy Clown" episode Nov. 12. Bart meets Sophie while waiting in line to see Krusty at a book festival and she reveals that she is Krusty's daughter -- a product of a one-night stand he had during the Gulf War with a special forces commando. Hoping to make up for lost time, Krusty looks to Homer for parenting advice. Stephen King also guest stars as himself and Joe Mantegna reprises his role as Fat Tony.

The Simpsons Archive reports that the episode of The Simpsons where Stephen King and Drew Barrymore are lending their voices has been pushed forward and will not air until the series 12:th season. This means that it will air on FOX sometime between the premiere (September or October 2000) to mid season 12 (early 2001).

Here is an article about it:

THE SIMPSONS GUEST VOICES

Writer Stephen King, teen pop singer Britney Spears and actresses Drew Barrymore and Betty White are among the upcoming guest voices on The Simpsons.

Don Cheadle provides the voice of preacher Brother Faith in the episode "Faith Off," this Sunday. When Homer get his head stuck in a bucket of glue, the family attends the revival meeting of Brother Faith in a desperate attempt to save Homer. Brother Faith calls upon Bart to assist him and when the bucket comes off, Bart is convinced he too is a faith healer.

Spears appears as herself in "The Mansion Family" episode on Sunday, Jan. 23. When Mr. Burns is honored as Springfield's oldest resident, he retreats to the Mayo Clinic while the Simpsons house-sit at his mansion with disastrous results.

King and Barrymore lend their voices to the upcoming "Insane Clown Poppy" episode, in which Krusty the Clown takes parenting lessons from Homer when he discovers that he has a daughter about Bart's age from a one-night stand.

White plays herself in a forthcoming episode entitled "Missionary: Impossible," in which Homer inadvertently joins the Peace Corps.

Other guest voices upcoming this season include musicians Randy Bachman and Fred Turner of Bachman Turner Overdrive, singer Shawn Colvin and rock stars Kid Rock and his sidekick Joe, all of who will play themselves.

The longest-running sitcom on television, The Simpsons also currently holds the Guinness Book of World Records titles for "longest-running prime-time animated series" and "most celebrities featured in an animation series." Celebrating its 10th anniversary, The Simpsons also will receive a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday."

King signs a 3-book deal

Posted: January 10, 2000, 19:19
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Stephen King will sign a new three-book deal later this week -- proving that there will be more Stephen king books after his accident.

"He's well, he's active, he's working very hard," said his literary agent, Arthur Greene.

King has been walking on a crutch since suffering 25 broken bones in his hip, right leg and pelvis, a collapsed lung and other injuries. "He was pretty well mangled," said King friend Stu Tinker, owner of Betts Bookstore in Bangor. "It's amazing that in this short a period he's able to get up and around and drive by himself."

The new publishing deal is for three books, "one of which is completed and the other two that he's working on," Greene said. The agent would not say what the new books are or if the deal is with King's publisher Scribner, or another house.

King has finished a non-fiction book on writing. Scheduled for a September release, that volume completes his three-book 1997 deal with Scribner that was unusual because it was light on up-front royalties but heavy on profit-sharing.

Bryan Smith gets away

Posted: January 10, 2000, 19:16
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Bryan Smith, the man who hit Stephen King on June 19, 1999 pleaded guilty Tuesday, January 4:th, to lesser charges under a plea agreement that will keep him out of jail.

Bryan Smith pleaded guilty to driving to endanger, and a more serious charged of aggravated assault was dropped.

Smith's license had been suspended for six months after the incident, and that will be extended to a year. Smith was also given a suspended six-month jail sentence.

Smith, who has a history of driving offenses, did not address the court. He has said he was distracted by his dog when his van veered off a road and hit King on June 19 in Lovell, where King has a vacation home.

King chided prosecutors for not trying Smith on the more serious charge and called the plea agreement "irresponsible public business.'' He said he did not believe a license suspension would keep Smith off the road because it did not in the past.

"What he took from me, my time, my peace of mind and my ease of body, are simply gone and no court can bring them back,'' King said.

King has said he was angered that Smith was allowed to keep his license for three months after the crash. It was suspended after Smith was indicted. He also said he wanted the more serious charge to be pressed so Smith could be kept off the road longer, "so that if Mr. Smith should hurt someone else, or even kill someone else, as he nearly killed me, we could at least all say we had done our absolute level best to keep this from happening," King said.

State records show Smith was convicted of driving to endanger and failing to stop upon the signal of a police officer in 1998.

He was also convicted of failing to produce evidence of insurance in 1991, driving while intoxicated in 1989 and four speeding violations since 1988.

The Green Mile Golden Globe nominations

Posted: December 22, 1999, 19:14
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The Green Mile only got one Golden Globe nomination and that was Michael Clarke Duncan for his role as John Coffey. Let's hope for a better result in the Oscar's!

Unknown poems by King

Posted: December 22, 1999, 19:13
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The Charnel House reports that there has been some, previousl unknown, poems by King showing up recently. They where published in the first issue of Contraband! One of the poems is called Woman with Child and the other is untitled.

Very interesting!!!

The untitled one is in five verses of 7,4,8,5,4 lines respectively and begins:

"She Has Gone To Sleep While..."

The other one, entitled Woman with Child, is 17 lines in length.

The Green Mile

Posted: December 19, 1999, 19:12
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The Green Mile opens at #2 at the box-office.

King and Writing

Posted: November 2, 1999, 18:54
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Stephen King comments on fears that he's unable to write:

"I am aware that a lot of people have been concerned about press reports that I am either not writing or not able to write. Most of these reports are the result of material taken out of context in the Dateline interview Tabby and I did. What I said--and I believe the actual interview makes this clear--is that I found it extremely difficult to find my way back into writing after the accident. That battle was fought in July however, and I feel that I won a conditional victory.

Since the accident I have finished my book on writing, I have written a novelette called "Riding the Bullet," and have begun work on an original miniseries for TV. This is called Rose Red and is an expansion of a screenplay I wrote some years ago. I have also begun talking with Peter Straub about finally writing a sequel to The Talisman -we jokingly called this project T2, although I doubt if there will be a part for Arnold Schwartzenegger. My endurance is much less than it was, and my output has been cut in half, but I am working.

I hope that this sets some fears to rest, and believe me when I say that I am very touched by the expressed concern. I am touched, in fact, that anyone cares at all, one way or the other. Now get out there and do something nice for someone else."

Stephen King, 2 November 1999

From the official page

King's Accident

Posted: June 19, 1999, 18:53
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On Saturday June 19:th, 1999 Stephen King was hit by a van while walking on the side of the road in his hometown of Bangor, Maine...

Here is what happened:

King was walking south on the shoulder of Route 5 in North Lovell, where he owns a home, at about 4:30 p.m. when a motorist approaching from behind lost control of his Dodge Caravan because of a dog that was running loose inside.

Oxford County Sheriff's deputy Matt Baker also said that according to witnesses, the driver, Bryan Smith, 41, of Fryeburg, did not appear to be speeding and charges will not be filed against Smith. "There's nothing to charge him with,'' Baker said. "He wasn't being reckless, he was just distracted. If he had been drinking or something like that, it would have been something else.''

Baker didn't know of any state law requiring pets to be secured inside moving vehicles. However, he noted that King was technically violating the law by walking in the same direction as traffic.

King was lying in a depression about 14 feet off the road and appeared to have been thrown by the collision. The van's windshield was broken and the right front corner of the car was crunched in from the impact of striking him, he said.

Baker continued:

He was hurting, but he was able to communicate. He was talking to me. He gave me phone numbers of where to call his family. He was in a lot of pain.

Baker also said he could tell King's leg was broken and he was bleeding from a laceration on his head.

King was transported to Northern Cumberland Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Central Maine Hospital. His physical condition includes a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of the right leg, scalp laceration, and a broken hip. King have had multiple surgery and it'll be somewhere between 9 month and a year before he is fully recovered.

King was discharged from Central Maine Medical Center on June 9, after spending nearly three weeks in the hospital.

You can find info about King's accident on King's official web page and at Central Maine Medical Center's web page.
Thanks to Marc-David Jacobs for sending me updates!

Desperation on hold

Posted: May 1, 1999, 23:24
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King has completed the screenplay for Desperation. Originally they planed to start shooting in early July, 1999 but unfortunately the project has now, for different reasons, been put on hold.

Movie version of Desperation?

Posted: February 6, 1999, 23:23
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King's official page reported that the movie Desperation is currently making progress in negotiations with a film studio. Great news!