The Long Walk first reactions promise an intense, brutal, emotionally impactful Stephen King movie
Last year, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Long Walk (which was, like The Running Man and Thinner, published under the pen name Richard Bachman) went into production, with director Francis Lawrence, whose previous credits include Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Parts 1 and 2, Red Sparrow, Slumberland, and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, at the helm. Lionsgate will be releasing the film on September 12th – and today, we have a batch of first reactions to share with you. They can be seen below, and promise that this is going to be an intense, brutal, and emotionally impactful film.
An adaptation of The Long Walk has been trudging through development hell for decades. At one point, the rights were in the hands of Frank Darabont, who made the King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist. Then the rights passed over to New Line Cinema, where Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark director André Øvredal was hired to direct the film from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt, whose credits include the two most recent Scream movies. While doing the press rounds for his film The Last Voyage of the Demeter last year, Øvredal revealed that he was no longer involved with The Long Walk, and said not making that movie is one of the big regrets of his life.
Strange Darling writer JT Mollner has written the screenplay for the version of The Long Walk that has been made. The novel is set in a future dystopian America ruled over by a militaristic dictator, and the titular event is an annual contest in which 100 teenagers must keep a steady pace of at least four miles an hour under strict rules until only one of them is left alive. The winner receives “The Prize”: anything they want for the rest of their life. The story follows Raymond Garraty, a 16-year-old from Pownal, Maine, as well as a group of other teenagers with good, bad, and mysterious intentions.
Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza), David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus), 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) star in the film alongside Judy Greer (the Halloween and Ant-Man franchises) and Star Wars legend Mark Hamill, who recently worked on another King adaptation called The Life of Chuck.
Lawrence is producing The Long Walk through his company about:blank, alongside Roy Lee, Cameron MacConomy, and Steven Schneider. Meredith Wieck and Erin Jones-Wesley are overseeing for Lionsgate. Filming took place in rural locations throughout the province of Manitoba. The film has been rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, suicide, pervasive language, and sexual references.
Here are some of the first reactions:
Are you looking forward to The Long Walk? What did you think of these first reactions? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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