All of the Big Stephen King Movie News You Missed In August [Derry Monthly]
Greetings Constant Readers, it’s time for another edition of Derry Monthly with yours truly, the mysterious Lilja, Dread Central’s very own Stephen King correspondent.
As promised last time, I have tales about my recent visit to and official participation in the iconic San Diego Comic-Con last month. You can find the details of that exciting event below, including images from my official Stephen King panel.
But, before all that, let’s look at all the buzzing movie updates from the world of Stephen King that appeared this past month. And there’s a lot to cover. From Warner Bros. troubled ‘Salem’s Lot movie to Osgood Perkin’s The Monkey, there’s been a swell of exciting news in the Kingdom last month, and I’ve rounded it all up for you here.
So let’s dig into it. Welcome to the second volume of Derry Monthy:
The Long Walk
Some of the most exciting news this month is that The Long Walk has finally started filming. The production began at Birds Hill Provincial Park on July 22, and the photos we’ve seen from the set look very promising. The vehicles in the images truly look like they are from the 1970s, a signal that the movie will indeed be set in that era, just as the book was.
The 1970s is a remarkable era visually, and we also won’t need to worry that the characters are using cellphones or other modern gadgets that could potentially complicate the genius, simple plot.
Check out some images from the production here:
The casting for the title has been made known, with Garrett Wareing (Ransom Canyon), Tut Nyuot (The Witcher: Blood Origin), Charlie Plummer (National Anthem), Ben Wang (American Born Chinese), Jordan Gonzalez (Pretty Little Liars: Summer School), Joshua Odjick (Welcome to Derry), and Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) all reportedly taking part in the movie.
We have yet to determine what characters these actors will play, but that should change soon. Interestingly enough, both Judy Greer (Halloween 2018) and Mark Hamill (The Life of Chuck) have been added to the cast, and if Hamill isn’t playing the Major, I would be shocked.
I’d say I would eat my hat, but I remembered I don’t use one…
The Life of Chuck
Speaking of Mark Hamill, he’s also in Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of The Life of Chuck, which will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September. Keep an eye on Dread Central for a review fresh out of the world premiere!
There is no word on when or if it will get its theatrical release, but this one will likely be excellent based on what other stuff Flanagan has delivered. Personally, I really like this King story, so I have extremely high hopes. Please don’t disappoint me, Mr. Flanagan.
Welcome to Derry
In King television adaptation news, Jason Fuchs revealed in early August that Welcome to Derry has wrapped, and HBO’s Max has even released a new teaser stating a release set for next year. No exact date yet, but hopefully, it’ll be early.
Take a peek at the new footage here:
Reports allege that Bill Skarsgård will return as Pennywise, which he once said would not be the case. It should be interesting to see how they use the Pennywise character this time around.
The Institute
Pack your bags, we also got confirmation from actor Ben Barnes that filming of The Institute has begun in Canada when he posted a photo of the script for the pilot on his Instagram. Seems like they were looking for background actors, if you’re a Canadian with big dreams.
The Monkey
Another King movie that now has a premiere date is The Monkey. This one will hit theatres on February 21 next year in the US, and just about a week ago, we got a first teaser, which you can watch above. It’s little more than a list of names of people involved, but still, it’s more than we have had for a long time regarding the long-awaited Salem’s Lot.
This one is is written and directed by Longlegs creator Osgood Perkins for Neon Studios. After Longlegs recently pulled in over $100 million at the box office and became the most successful indie horror film of all time, The Monkey will likely get plenty of studio support.
The Running Man
Oh dear, it seems that yet another adaptation is set to start filming. The good news is that this vision of The Running Man is said to be closer to King’s book than the one we have starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is saying very little since the only thing that one and the book had in common was the title and the main character’s name.
However, the news that worries me is that Glen Powell is playing Ben Richards. It’s not that he is a lousy actor; the issue is that he is way too good-looking. Ben Richards is supposed to live in poverty and have an heir of desperation. You don’t tend to look buff and toned in those circumstances. It feels a bit like when Chloë Grace Moretz played Carrie White in the remake of Carrie from 2013. Before you start throwing rotten eggs at me, let me just say that I do hope that Hollywood will prove me wrong and make Glen look the part…desperate and tired and a man with little to lose.
‘Salem’s Lot
And finally, at long last, Gary Dauberman’s big-budget adaptation of King’s terrifying vampire novel ‘Salem’s Lot received an official first look and release announcement. After three years of sleeping on the Warner Bros. shelves, it’s good to know that Bugs Bunny and friends won’t be scrapping this one for yet another tax write-off like Batgirl. The official images are exciting and moody, as revealed by Vanity Fair. Check them out here or in my X/Twitter post above.
Stephen King and I, at Comic-Con
OK, with all those movies out of my system, it’s time to give you a small recap of San Diego Comic-Con. It’s big, it’s fascinating, it’s cool, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, even if I do know people return. It’s everything I wanted it to be, even more so, EXCEPT that it lacks a better selection Stephen King-related updates and merch. There was some news about adapations, but not a lot.
I did, however, buy a signed copy of Later, a few Pennywise magnets, and a bottle opener that looks like Georgie’s boat from IT, but that’s about it. I got to meet Mark Wolston, who played Bogs in The Shawshank Redemption. We chatted and he told me that he recently had been to Sweden. I also met Jae Lee, who illustrated Wind Through the Keyhole and the first Dark Tower comics. Both were very kind and a joy to speak to.
And the main event, for me, was that I was part of a Comic-Con panel. This was huge. I’ve wanted to go to Comic-Con for over 20 years, and when I did, I got invited by Jesse Lankford to be on his panel “Needful Things: Collecting Stephen King”. What are the odds? It was me, Robert Wiener (president of Donald M Grant Publisher), Tomas Krynsky (owner of SKCollector.com), and David Williamson (owner of Betts Books online), and we were all moderated by Jesse. It was all what I expected it to be and more. And, yes, I got a photo with the Comic-Con logo in the background, and yes, I kept my name sign. Call me a geek if you need to, but I’m proud as hell.
Exiting Derry
Oooph. This month’s column included a ton of movie news, and I hope you enjoyed learning about it all as much as I did. Next time, we’ll hopefully know what to expect from King regarding his new books. I don’t know about you, but I hate not knowing for sure (official word, not guesses and rumors) what’s next.
If you’re in dire need of a King read, I’ve got a bit of a hidden gem suggestion for the dedicated constant reader:
Check out the latest edition of On Writing. It contains a new foreword by King, On Joy. Make sure you get the correct edition, though, which says “With a new foreword On Joy” on the cover. You won’t regret it.
You can also watch this fascinating 25-minute documentary about The Shining on the official Stanley Kubrick YouTube channel. It has very interesting behind-the-scenes footage:
Postscript
Here’s a bonus for the constant readers who made it to the end. When I was finishing this column, I got some news I couldn’t resist adding. A site called The Stunt List has officially posted Glen Mazzara’s script for the scrapped pilot of the Dark Tower TV series he was making for Amazon’s Prime Video.
I have seen the pilot they filmed, yet I suspect it will never be released since Amazon dropped the series instead of ordering a full season, but here is your chance to at least read the script. Take it.
Finally, just as I was about to press send on the email sending this column, I saw a post by King on Twitter/X that interested me.
King wrote, “I feel called.” What’s interesting about that? It was a response to another post saying, “Extremely suspicious of the multiple dark tower posts this week, Sai King. What does it mean? ” So I looked back and found at least five posts by King in the last five days where he referenced The Dark Tower.
Does it mean anything? I have no idea, but something is in the air…
Ouija Up Lilja
If you have any comments, suggestions, friendly words, or other things you want to get off your chest, you can do so by emailing me at DreadCentral@liljas-library.com. You can also find me online at liljas-library.com and on social via @LiljasLibrary.
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