NEWS -

Review and contest

Posted: February 21, 2011, 00:22

Here are my review of Stephen King on the Big Screen and Stephen King on the Small Screen. And don't miss the chance to win these books in the contest!

Full Dark, No Stars in paperback

Posted: February 15, 2011, 13:17

Here is the cover for the US paperback ed. of Full Dark, No Stars (might be some changes done) that's being released on July 26. The UK paperback will be released on July 7 and will probably have the same cover as the hardback.

One For The Road being filmed

Posted: February 15, 2011, 00:30

One For The Road will be turned into a movie by Tim Sullivan according to Talk Stephen King. Read more here.

Thoughts on A Very Tight Place

Posted: February 14, 2011, 16:13

As I have reported earlier A Very Tight Place is being done as a Dollar Baby and I got the chance to check out the script. Read my thoughts of it here.

Next book in November

Posted: February 11, 2011, 20:24

It has now been confirmed (on King's message board) that the next book will be released in November 2011.

Thanks to Ari.

My review of Everything's Eventual

Posted: February 9, 2011, 15:30

Here is my review of the first featurelength Dollar Baby, Everything's Eventual.

Unboxing

Posted: February 8, 2011, 15:43

Looks like this thing called Unboxing is a lot bigger than I first realized. You have probably seen the video I posted where Scott unboxes a copy of my book. Today I got a link to a second unboxing of my book (unfortunately the link was broken) and this got me thinking. If anyone out there has done or found an unboxing of Lilja’s Library, send me the link and I’ll post it on the site.

King won't take a Stand

Posted: February 4, 2011, 10:28

The moderator on King's official board confirms that King won't be involved with the remake of The Stand.

10 things about The Stand

Posted: February 4, 2011, 08:52

Stephen King: 10 things I know about the remake of 'The Stand'

1. No one will be able to top Gary Sinise, who played Stu Redman in the original ABC miniseries. He was perfect. When he says “You don’t know nothing” to the soldiers who are putting him under mandatory quarantine, you believe his contempt completely. My runner-up pick would be Jake Gyllenhaal.

2. I didn’t know anything about the remake until I read about it on the Internet.

3. You absolutely can’t make it as a two-hour movie. If it was a trilogy of films…maybe.

4. Molly Ringwald won’t be playing Fran Goldsmith this time.

5. Rutger Hauer is a little too old to play the Walkin’ Dude, and that’s too bad.

6. People who’ve seen Kubrick’s The Shining dislike the miniseries I wrote (and my amigo Mick Garris directed) even if they haven’t seen it. That’s always annoyed me. But the wheel of karma turns! This time people will probably say, “The miniseries was lots better.” BUT…

7. …historically speaking, movie studios blow the budget on things like this, so maybe it’ll be fun to look at. The dough certainly isn’t going to me, although if it is a trilogy, and if it makes a lot of money, I might be able to buy a chicken dinner at Popeye’s. Great slaw!

8. Molly Ringwald will probably not play the Trashcan Man, either, but Billy Bob Thornton would be cool. Billy Bob’s always cool.

9. They need to write in a lot of heavy-metal for the soundtrack.

10. M-O-O-N, that spells “you probably won’t see this anytime soon.” And when you do, Woody Allen won’t be directing it. Or Molly Ringwald.

Thanks to Al Mattice

IT's out to directors

Posted: February 3, 2011, 08:48

Yesterday I spoke to David Kajganich and he told me something interesting about the remake of IT.

Apparently his script is currently out to directors, and some very interesting filmmakers have started talking to the studio. This can be a lengthy process, though, so there may not be more news about it for a couple of months but it's moving on as it should.

More remake news

Posted: February 3, 2011, 08:45

Several sources reports about Matt Greenberg is set to have a script ready for the remake of Pet Semetary soon:

According to Los Angeles Times, screenwriter Matt Greenberg (who also scripted the King adaptation 1408) "is set to turn in his script for a new version of the tale, according to a person briefed on the project who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. And executives at studio Paramount have put out the word to at least two representatives in the agent community that they are seeking a high-level director to tackle the material."

Thanks to Louis Sytsma.

Lilja's Library: Lettered

Posted: February 1, 2011, 22:13

I guess most of you remember that there is a lettered edition of my book on the way. Well, here is a taste of it. This isn’t the finished version but something called “no tips” and what that is, is a lettered edition of the book without the signature page. You can still see how nice it looks. The difference between this and the trade is the following:

New endpaper

Different cover (color and texture)

Different front

Satin ribbon page marker

These “no tips” where used in a Grab Bag that Cemetery Dance sold and there where less than 12 done.

Dark Tower Game?

Posted: February 1, 2011, 08:52

Looks like we'll have a Dark Tower game as well as a movie. This was reported by Ain't it Cool News:

There are genuine plans for a May 13th, 2013, release theatrical, with T.V. hours to follow. [However,] there is no green light in place yet, as the scripts are not done, which means the budgets are not done, but Universal is giving very strong support. There's also a very ambitious Game component being planned that will further utilize elements from the books. [If everything continues on schedule and the budget is approved], it looks like things are coming together for a late-summer or early-September start.

Thanks to Ari.

Time to take a Stand again?

Posted: February 1, 2011, 08:48

Warner and CBS are teaming up to make a big screen adaptation of The Stand. People have tried before without sucess so it'll be interesting to see how it goes this time.

Read more here.

Thanks to Alejandro Carmona, Randall Flagg and Louis Sytsma.

More Javier as Roland

Posted: January 27, 2011, 16:48

Here is a comment about Javier as Roland from the moderator of King's official board:

I have the official go-ahead to announce that Ron Howard/Universal has offered Javier Bardem the part of Roland. I do not know if he has accepted the offer but chances are they wouldn't make this announcement if he wasn't considering it. The announcement was made through Deadline Hollywood--here's the link for the full story.

Javier Bardem is Roland

Posted: January 27, 2011, 15:35

Mike Fleming of Deadline Hollywood is reporting that oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem will play Roland Deschain in the upcoming Dark Tower films and television series.

This is also reported by King's official site so it looks like it's the real deal this time.

The contracts have been signed

Posted: January 25, 2011, 11:21

There has been word that the Dark Tower movies/TV series hasn't been green lighted but here is what the moderator of King's official board said about it:

Steve just had a meeting with Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman a couple weeks ago and the contracts have all been signed. I think he would have mentioned if there was a problem but he said the meeting went fine. My understanding is they're planning to start announcing casting choices, possibly this week.

Info on the next book

Posted: January 25, 2011, 11:19

In the interview with Marsha DeFilippo (see news below) she said King planed on revealing info about the next book at the end of the UStream some time ago but due to technical difficulties they didn’t. In the interview Marsha said info would be revealed around the time the next Scribner catalog is released which is in a few months. Don’t know though why they have pushed the revealing of the info a few months…

Interview with Marsha DeFilippo

Posted: January 25, 2011, 09:21

Here is an interview with Marsha DeFilippo from The King Cast.

Next Dollar Baby is...

Posted: January 25, 2011, 09:18

One for the Road is the next Dollar Baby to be made, made by Ricardo Rebelo. Read more here.

Howard talks some more Dark Tower

Posted: January 20, 2011, 16:39

When MTV spoke to Howard during the press day for his comedy "The Dilemma," he talked a bit about his plans for "The Dark Tower" series and how involved he will be.

"Right now what we're talking about is a movie and six or eight hours of television to bridge. My plan is to do most of those TV hours, if not all, and certainly the movies." And, in case you thought the roles of the main characters would be recast for the TV series, Howard confirmed that the actors from the films will indeed reprise their roles on the small screen.

Clip of Brian Grazer

Posted: January 20, 2011, 16:27

Here is a clip of Brian Grazer where he says we'll know who'll play Roland within a week.

And as a vice man told me (yes it was Bev Vincent), getting a big name attached to the movie might give them the 'go' they need...

The Dark Tower no 'go' yet?

Posted: January 20, 2011, 14:17

From an interview with Ron Howard published today (don't really know when it was done though):

How are things progressing with The Dark Tower?
"I'm working on it. We don't know if it's a 'go' but it is picking up a lot of momentum and a lot of creative momentum. I've had fantastic conversations with Stephen King. Akiva Goldsman, who wrote A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and Da Vinci Code, is on it as a writer and also a producer and brought the project to me. We're already gathering this interesting team of people who love these genres - fantasy and horror. For me it's creatively very exciting. The possibilities are rich."

If this interview is done recently the fact that Howard says he don't know if it's a 'go' speaks against that we'll know in a week who'll play Roland...

Thanks to Bev Vincent

A Literary Companion, a new book by Wood

Posted: January 20, 2011, 08:39

I just found out that author Rocky Wood has a new book about King's work released in March. It's called Stephen King: A Literary Companion and it sounds really interesting.

This companion provides a two-part introduction to best-selling author Stephen King, whose enormous popularity over the years has gained him an audience well beyond readers of horror fiction, the genre with which is most often associated. Part I considers the reception of King’s work, the film adaptations that they gave rise to, the fictional worlds in which some of his novels are set, and the more useful approaches to King’s varied corpus. Part II consists of entries for each series, novel, story, screenplay and even poem, including works never published or produced, as well as characters and settings.

Read more about it here.

Dark Tower casting to be revealed soon?

Posted: January 19, 2011, 08:35

Comic Book Movie Fansite had an interesting article about the casting of The Dark Tower today. Apparently MTV caught up with producer Brian Grazer who had the following to say:

"...when we asked if he'd talked to the two actors about the part, he simply laughed and responded, 'Sure.' Grazer did say, however, that a casting announcement is imminent. How imminent? 'Within a week,' he said. Seriously? 'Seriously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Seriously,' he assured us before asking, 'Who do you want?' Honestly, we'll take either of them. 'OK, great,' Grazer concluded."

This sounds a bit early but stranger things have happened. Personally I was hoping for an unknown actor but if it is down to Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen I'm hoping for Bardem.

Thanks to John Haberkorn

Full Dark, No Stars in paperback

Posted: January 19, 2011, 00:03

Full Dark, No Stars will be released as a mass market paperback on July 19, 2011.

Thanks to Bev Vincent

Dark Tower on TV is a six hour special

Posted: January 17, 2011, 00:19

Ron Howard recently spoke to Howard Stern about The Dark Tower and told him that the television portion of the adaptation”is really a six hour special”. Read more about the interview here.

Ron talks Dark Tower

Posted: January 14, 2011, 08:44

Ron Howard briefly mentioned his work on The Dark Tower movies at the end of his Today Show appearance promoting B>The Dilemma today. Check it out here

It's great to hear him speak about it even if he just mentions it briefly.

Thanks to Bev Vincent

The script for A Very Tight Place

Posted: January 14, 2011, 08:40

Got this interesting script yesterday. A Very Tight Place is a favorite of mine so I'm really looking forward to this Dollar Baby.

Lester talks Firestarter

Posted: January 11, 2011, 09:57

Mark L. Lester recently talked about Firestarter:

On Firestarter:

“Originally John Carpenter was gonna direct that,” Lester reveals. “There was a script that was written, I forget who wrote it. Then the budget was way out of line, like $15 million. And the script had no relationship to the book whatsoever. They didn’t want to shoot it for that amount of money so Dino de Laurentiis came to me and said, ‘I read the book. Can you make a treatment out of this?’ So I brought in Stanley Mann, who I knew, and when we wrote the treatment, we styled [it after] the book exactly scene for scene. We gave it Dino De Laurentiis, and he said, ‘Well this just follows the book exactly…’ Well, yeah, of course! You paid a million dollars for the book, I said, ‘Why aren’t you following the book? That’s why this thing can’t get made yet. We’ll just shoot the book.’ And he says, ‘Okaaaaay…’ So within three weeks the script was written, and we had a green light from Universal to make the film just off the script, which was identical to the book.”

Lester confirms that Firestarter has been his most difficult film to date. “That was all practical [effects]. The fireballs you see ... that’s not CGI. Back then, we actually created fireballs that could fly through the air – they were on a wire and could crash into buildings. We had people on fire that were on trampolines that had to flip through the air. It was very dangerous. All the effects were done right on the set – it was a pretty intense thing to do then…” Lester also notes that the film’s epic “farm attack” scene took an entire week to film.

Read the entire interview here.

And more Dollar Babies

Posted: January 10, 2011, 23:48

Here is a site about an upcoming Dollar Baby based on Cain Rose Up and on the site you can see a teaser story board for the movie.

And here are some photos from the Dollar Baby version of A Very Tight Place.

Here is a facebook site for the German Dollar Baby version of Reststop.

And here are more info about Dollar Babies.

New Dollar Baby

Posted: January 10, 2011, 23:46

A new Dollar Baby has surfaced. This one is based on Everything's Eventual and you can find the official website here.

[edit]Sorry, this isn't a Dollar Baby. It's a feature movie. Thanks Ari.

Thanks to Bob LeDrew

Lilja on YouTube

Posted: January 10, 2011, 16:15

I didn't even know I was reviewed on YouTube.com...

It's extra fun that Scott pronounces Lilja almost correct.

Susannah Dean casted?

Posted: January 9, 2011, 01:18

This rumor from The New York Post was reported earlier today:

The New York Post has the rumor, stating quite simply and without attribution: "'Pirates of the Caribbean' beauty Naomie Harris is being considered for the female lead in the Ron Howard's eagerly anticipated 'Dark Tower' trilogy." Without any official confirmation, let's treat Harris' involvement as a rumor for now — but it's certainly a rumor we're excited about.

Who is Roland?

Posted: January 3, 2011, 13:24

Looks like two men are the top contenders for playing Roland in the upcoming filmversion...

Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" has set off a casting frenzy in Hollywood. Agents are tripping over themselves to land their clients coveted roles in what promises to be a blockbuster film and television franchise. Leading the pack for the principal character, Roland Deschain, is Javier Bardem, with Viggo Mortensen a close second, sources tell us. Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman have a deal with Universal that will translate into a TV show and three movies, all using the same cast. Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King. According to reports, they plan to start with an epic movie, then continue the story with the TV series, followed by a second film, and then a second TV season showing gunslinger Deschain as a young man. Then, the third movie will end the saga with Deschain as an older man.

No more EW columns

Posted: January 1, 2011, 01:44

After seven years King has written his last column for Entertainment Weekly. This has been confirmed by the moderator of his message board.

Sorry, it's true. He's done it for quite a few years now and had wanted to stop a year or so ago but they talked him into staying a little longer.

Thanks to Ari

A review of my book

Posted: December 21, 2010, 08:46

Here is a wonderful review of my book by author Wayne C. Rogers.

There are still copies available from several stores if you're interested in getting a copy. And if you want it signed, that can be arranged as well. You'll have to pay postage to Sweden though.

Cemetery Dance
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Barnes and Noble
Borders

LA Times article about The Dark Tower movie

Posted: December 19, 2010, 00:38

Here is an very interesting article about the upcoming Dark Tower adaptation. It mentiones some possible names and also confirms that the plan is movies #1, a TV season, movie #2, a second TV season and then the third movie.

Thanks to Louis Sytsma

King on Ustream

Posted: December 19, 2010, 00:34

Here is the clip of King answering questions from the Ustream.

Thanks to Al and Katherine.

Dark Tower update

Posted: December 14, 2010, 23:18

Here is an update on the upcoming Dark Tower movies from Bloody Disgusting.

Deadline caught up with Rob Howard, who is set to direct the first of three Steven King The Dark Tower adaptations, which will arrive in theaters May 17, 2013 from Universal Pictures. They write that they plan to turn King's masterwork into a film trilogy with a network TV series programmed between films. Howard will direct the first film and the limited run series that will create a bridge to the second feature. "It is going well, and it has been incredibly stimulating to work on," Howard said. "It's dense, a great author's life work is not to be taken lightly. It has been utterly fascinating to explore it, and we are having great creative conversations. I've begun tossing and turning at 3 in the morning over it, so that's a good sign." The books chronicle the mysterious The Gunslinger as he travels across a desolate and vaguely post-apocalyptic landscape in his quest for a black tower. Portals along the way eventually allow contact with our own modern world.

Thanks to Al Mattice

Time to light the fires again

Posted: December 14, 2010, 13:21

More remakes...

Universal is looking to reignite the "Firestarter" flame.

The studio and Dino De Laurentiis Co. have teamed to reboot the 1984 horror pic, with Mark L. Smith onboard to pen the script.

Although there were no sequels to the original feature, based on the Stephen King tome, the studio aims to turn the reboot into a franchise property.

The 1984 pic starred Drew Barrymore as a girl able to start fires at will. It grossed $17 million at the domestic B.O. and was also produced through U and De Laurentiis' Co.

Plot details for the reboot are being kept under wraps. It's expected to be loosely based on the original King book, but the main character is to be reinvented with a little more edge.

De Laurentiis Co. chairman Martha De Laurentiis and prexy of production Lorenzo De Maio will produce through the De Laurentiis Co. along with Steven Schneider through his Room 101 banner.

"We see this as a unique, character-driven thriller with a supernatural edge, based on a timeless concept and enhanced by recent visual effects advances," Martha De Laurentiis said.

Deal for "Firestarter" extends the longstanding relationship between U and De Laurentiis Co. The reboot was among the last projects the prolific Dino De Laurentiis worked on before his death in November at age 91.

"'Firestarter' has a great mythology and with Martha and Lorenzo's vision we believe the franchise can be extended in a new and exciting direction," said Debbie Liebling, U's prexy of production.

De Laurentiis Co. has a slew of projects in various stages of development, including a reboot of the cult classic "Barbarella," a remake of another King adaptation, "Maximum Overdrive" and a new spin on 1980s TV actioner "MacGyver."

Smith is now working on the "Firestarter" script. U hopes to get the pic into production next year, but has yet to take the project out to directors.

Besides the 1984 pic, cabler Syfy fielded a telepic in 2002 dubbed "Firestarter 2: Rekindled."

Thanks to Bev Vincent

Maximum Overdrive...again?

Posted: December 14, 2010, 10:15

It looks like we'll get a remake of King's Maximum Overdrive in the not to distance future. Dread Central had this report today:

Maximum Overdrive Remake Wheels Starting to Spin
Dino De Laurentiis Co. Maximum Overdrive Remakes Stephen King

The year was 1986 and the directorial debut of horror icon Stephen King roared off of the big screen like a big bloody fun behemoth. The AC/DC soundtrack kicked ass, the Green Goblin's head has never been the same, and to this very day we refuse to look at any appliance the same way ever again.

Can a remake of this cult classic capture the same kind of magic? Who knows, but according to Variety Dino De Laurentiis Co. has one waiting in the wings.

The original film focused on what happened when the earth passed through the tail of a mysterious comet and the machines on Earth suddenly came to life and terrorize their human creators.
The original film focused on what happened when the earth passed through the tail of a mysterious comet and the machines on Earth suddenly came to life and terrorize their human creators.

In terms of news regarding this upcoming remake, that's really all there is at the moment. Don't worry though, we'll keep our ears to the ground and if those big-ass semi's start rolling you'll be the first to know about it.

Summary of King's chat

Posted: December 10, 2010, 00:28

Here is a great summary of King's chat yesterday.

King said...

Posted: December 9, 2010, 15:13

While we can't get to the chat from yesterday, here are some of the things King said:

- He said that he applied to the Bangor Police but they wouldn't take him because he had a couple of minor busts.

- He said he's written a screenplay for A Good Marriage and hopes it's made into a film.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Thanks to Marco Lammers

Two covers part 1

Posted: December 8, 2010, 13:36

Here are the covers for issue # 1 and 2 of the new arc of The Stand called No Man's Land. The issues are released January 5th and February 2nd.

Thanks to Marco Lammers

King's top 10 TV shows now online

Posted: December 7, 2010, 00:46

Check out what shows King watches here.

Thanks to Lou_Sytsma

NEWS -

Special feature

King calendar

Latest interviews

Latest reviews

Stephen King The Actor

Author Photo Quiz

King's best book

Report errors