Stephen King Hated This Adaptation So Much That He Sued to Have His Name Removed
Stephen King has had a prolific career, and like the best of them, there are some duds among an otherwise impeccable record. Pet Sematary, which I always have to check the spelling for, remains one of the scariest books I’ve ever read, and for all its ‘80s posturing, the movie still scares me like no other. And The Shining? Come on! It’s fantastic. I can even handle a little The Langoliers, though that probably has more to do with nostalgia than anything else. Yet, for every certified winner, there’s something like Trucks. Perhaps more infamously, there’s The Lawnmower Man, a movie Stephen King despised so much, that he successfully sued to have his name removed from the film.
Check out a trailer and synopsis below:
Per AppleTV: A simple man is turned into a genius through the application of computer science.
The Lawnmower Man has a curious origin. Rather than directly adapting Stephen King’s original 1975 short story, the producers sought instead to merge elements of King’s source material with a wholly original screenplay titled “CyberGod”. The deviations were so considerable, that King successfully sued to have his name removed. He also received further damages when, despite the lawsuit, his name again appeared on the home video release.
It was the right call because, well, The Lawnmower Man isn’t exactly good. But surprisingly, it was a remarkable box office success. It spawned a sequel, too, with Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, which is a pretty sick title. Sick title or not, however, it wasn’t Stephen King’s story, so he worked tirelessly to have his affiliation removed. While an on-screen credit remained on appeal, King’s name was, in theory, removed from all advertising. New Line Cinema, dabbling in a little contempt of court, didn’t really listen.
While the lawsuit might be The Lawnmower Man’s most conspicuous contemporary claim to fame, it’s still worth seeking out, in part because it’s just so unlike anything we see released today. If you’re interested, you can catch it streaming for free on AppleTV, Starz, and the Roku channel.
What do you think? Any plans to check out The Lawnmower Man? Where does it rank among Stephen King adaptations, whether loose or strict, for you? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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