This week marks a number of Stephen King-related anniversaries. John Harrison’s Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (featuring an adaptation of the short story “The Cat From Hell”) was released 34 years ago on May 4, 1990; Tom McLoughlin's Sometimes They Come Back premiered 33 years ago on May 7, 1991; John Powers' The Tommyknockers first aired 31 year ago on May 9, 1993; and Mick Garris' epic miniseries The Stand has officially turned 30, having hit the airwaves on May 8, 1994. This past Sunday also celebrated four years since the 2020 collection If It Bleeds hit store shelves… but there are far too many other things to discuss in this edition of The King Beat to only focus on all of those titles.
This week’s column features a diverse trio of headlines that dig into multiple facets in the world of Stephen King – including the author’s newest streaming fixation, a shocking revelation from Stephen Colbert, and a fresh update about what’s going on with the upcoming adaptation of The Long Walk. Let’s dig in!
Stephen King Is Into Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, Calling It “Extraordinary” And “Immersive”
Stephen King has been making productive use of his Netflix subscription in the last few months. Back in February, he quickly became hooked on The Tourist starring Jamie Dornan, and at the end of April he was blown away by Baby Reindeer – going as far as to write an article where he calls it “one of the best things” he’s ever seen. Since then, he’s turned his attention to the blockbuster science-fiction series 3 Body Problem, and he is fully absorbed.
To be frank, Stephen King has a bit of a mixed record when it comes to stories about aliens, with The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher counted among his worst novels, but he has a deep affection for the sci-fi genre, and he has loved what he has seen from 3 Body Problem, which is created by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss and Alexander Woo and based on the novel The Three-Body Problem by author Liu Cixin. Based on his reaction on Twitter, King has watched all eight episodes of the show’s first season, and he complements the cerebral writing and scope:
THE 3 BODY PROBLEM (Netflix): Extraordinary science fiction series--sprawling, thought-provoking, immersive. The scenes of "first contact" are chilling and awe-inspiring.
With a cast including The Stand’s Jovan Adepo, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, and Benedict Wong, the complex and fantastical drama executes a narrative that takes place across multiple decades – starting with an astrophysicist working on a secret military base during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and extending to the present with a group of scientists confronted with consequences of communication with an extraterrestrial race. You can watch the show’s trailer below:
It has not yet been confirmed whether or not a 3 Body Problem Season 2 is in the works, but you enjoy Season 1 now with a Netflix account.
Stephen Colbert Has Never Seen The Shawshank Redemption, But I Get His Reason For Waiting At This Point
Every movie fan has at least one hole in their personal viewing history that elicits shock upon mention due to the assumption that everybody in the world has seen it. I, for example, have never seen James Cameron’s Titanic, and I know that I am joined in spirit by people who have never seen The Godfather, Lawrence Of Arabia, Star Wars or The Lion King. These gaps are generally embarrassing to admit, but they are also universal.
That being said, I still found my jaw on the floor this past week when I witnessed Stephen Colbert admitting during an interview on The Late Show that he has never taken the time to watch writer/director Frank Darabont’s beloved epic The Shawshank Redemption.
The May 1, 2024 episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (which is available to stream with a Paramount Plus subscription) includes an in-depth interview with the great Carol Burnett, and there is a point in the conversation when the comic legend mentions her love of The Shawshank Redemption. It was at that point that the host bashfully told her that he has never seen it, and Burnett was visibly shocked – as captured in the still above. Colbert wasn’t stunned by her reaction, but he offered up an interesting explanation as to why he has not yet indulged in the cinematic masterpiece about hope:
I know. I know. That’s the reaction everyone has when I say that. But I want to wait ‘til I can watch it with Tim Robbins or Morgan [Freeman]… I hear good things!
This is not the excuse one would expect, as most of us don’t have the luxury of waiting for the opportunity to watch The Shawshank Redemption alongside Tim Robbins or Morgan Freeman… but let’s not forget that Stephen Colbert is not like most of us. Not only does he have a history interviewing both actors (both on The Late Show and The Colbert Report), but he has the resources of one of network television’s biggest talk shows to help him set up something special like that.
And if Stephen Colbert is serious about fulfilling that goal, an amazing opportunity is coming up in just a few months. To return to the subject of anniversaries, The Shawshank Redemption will be turning 30 years old this coming October, having originally hit theaters on October 14, 1994. It would be pretty cool to see/hear about the talk show host experiencing the film in the best way possible – and perhaps Stephen King can join in on the fun as well, given that he’s done five episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and appeared on two episodes of The Colbert Report.
We’ll have to wait and see if Colbert ends up conjuring something special in the future… but for now, if you’re like the talk show host and have never seen The Shawshank Redemption, that’s an easy issue to resolve. The film is available for digital rental and purchase from all major online outlets, and physical media collectors can purchase it on 4K UHD.
The Long Walk Takes Another Step Toward Becoming A Reality As Lionsgate International Plans To Launch Sales At The Cannes Film Market
The Cannes Film Market worked out some positive results for Stephen King adaptations in 2023. It was around this time last year that word leaked about both Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck and Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey having a presence at the event, and both movies have successfully completed production since then and are now awaiting distribution plans.
With any luck, we’ll be reflecting on similar circumstances next year while talking about director Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk. Per Screen Daily, the developing adaptation is going to be featured later this month in France with Lionsgate International launching sales at Cannes.
As noted in the first edition of King Beat this year, screenwriter JT Mollner has been tapped to adapt The Long Walk – which was a novel originally published with Stephen King’s pseudonym, Richard Bachman. The dystopian fiction follows protagonist Ray Garraty as he competes in the deadly titular game. The last man standing competition in a dystopian future sees 100 teenage boys trek along U.S. Route 1 and continue to walk at a pace above four miles per hour without breaks. Warnings are issued for stoppages, and while these warnings reset after an hour, collecting three of them (or making any attempt to escape) is punished by death.
Should everything go according to plan, the movie will be Francis Lawrence’s follow-up to The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes. It will be the fifth Stephen King adaptation from producer Roy Lee, whose previous credits include IT: Chapter One, IT: Chapter Two, Doctor Sleep, and the 2020 miniseries adaptation of The Stand. Be on the lookout for more updates about The Long Walk in the weeks and months to come here on CinemaBlend, as it’s a project that we’ll be keeping a very close eye on.
Recommendation Of The Week: “Rat”
As noted in my introduction, this week marks the four year anniversary of the novella collection If It Bleeds, and on that note, I think it’s appropriate to highlight the most low-profile story in the book. “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” got an adaptation from director John Lee Hancock in 2022, Mike Flanagan is developing The Life Of Chuck, and the eponymous tale stands out for continuing the adventures of detective Holly Gibney. With those three hogging the spotlight, “Rat” doesn’t get the attention it deserves for being an example of bread-and-butter Stephen King: a freaky, writer-centric tale of terror.
Protagonist Drew Larson is a struggling author who has long dreamed of writing a novel but has settled for the world of academia because of the toll that the creative process takes on him. Finally having an idea he wants to seriously pursue, he makes a trip out to his family’s old, secluded cabin and starts to put words down… but he finds himself mentally blocked, growing sick, and stuck in place due to a terrible storm. Things are bad, but they get much more serious when he starts conversing with a rat that offers him a bargain with fatal consequences.
That brings me to the end of this week’s edition of The King Beat, but I’ll be back next Thursday here on CinemaBlend with a new column – and you can join me counting down the days until the release of Stephen King’s new short story collection You Like It Darker, which will be published on May 21.
