Time will tell if 2024 will ultimately be viewed as a busy year for Stephen King fans – but we’re certainly off to an interesting start. Last week, Thomas Jane revealed his vision for a From A Buick 8 miniseries, and in the past seven days, we’ve learned about two exciting upcoming home video releases and been given new reason to speculate about Mike Flanagan’s in-the-works adaptation of The Dark Tower.
Those two bits along with a remembrance of Salem’s Lot star David Soul and a new Recommendation of the Week make up this week’s edition of The King Beat, so let’s dig in!
What If The Dark Tower Was Entirely Cast With Mike Flanagan Regulars? Let’s Think This Out
At present, there is no specific timetable for Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of The Dark Tower. The filmmaker acquired the rights to the Stephen King series in December 2022, and outside of expressed optimism about the project last summer, we haven’t heard much about its development (the writer/director has been busy with his next King adaptation, The Life Of Chuck). Flanagan has preached patience as a virtue, and if it actually happens, the reality is that it may be years before we get to see his vision get executed.
And yet, I can’t stop thinking about it, which brings us to this week’s main King Beat story.
In a recent interview, CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell asked Carla Gugino about the idea of playing a gender-swapped Roland Deschain in Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower adaptation, and while her enthusiasm for the approach is wonderful, the pitch got me thinking about who else in Flanagan’s troupe of regulars would fit for the epic saga’s key roles. Taking into consideration that it may be a while before the project goes into production and the fact that adapting all seven books would take many, many years, here are my picks:
Roland Deschain: Bruce Greenwood (Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, The Fall Of The House Of Usher)
I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it as many times as necessary: Roland Deschain should not be played by an actor younger than 50. Putting aside the fact that he starts developing crippling arthritis in Wolves of the Calla, Roland is written as having lived a long, rough life, with decades of pain and loss turning him into the hard case that he is when we first meet him in The Gunslinger (he shouldn’t just be 10-15 years removed from his time with Susan, for example). Bruce Greenwood is a fit in that regard, but far more important is that can provide the weathered gruffness that the role requires as well as the warmth he develops as he grows closer with his ka-tet.
Randall Flagg: Carla Gugino (Gerald’s Game, The Haunting Of Hill House, The Haunting Of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Fall Of The House Of Usher)
While I don’t totally dismiss the thought of Carla Gugino playing Roland, the reality is that I would much rather see her play the villainous Randall Flagg – and not just because it’s a lot easier to change the character’s gender. Her turn as Verna in The Fall Of The House Of Usher felt like a test run for her as a magical, sinister agent of darkness, so why not let her sprint as the principal antagonist in The Dark Tower? Plus, it would be amazing to witness a dynamic flip from Gerald’s Game with her and Bruce Greenwood.
Eddie Dean: Jacob Tremblay (Before I Wake, Doctor Sleep, The Life Of Chuck)
Jacob Tremblay will only be turning 18 in 2024, which does make him a tad bit young for the role of Eddie Dean, but time is on his side for the reasons mentioned above. I also recognize that Eddie’s attitude is not exactly Tremblay’s brand (audiences have come to love him as wide-eyed ingénue in movies like Room, Wonder, Good Boys and Doctor Sleep), but this is me casting a vote of confidence in his abilities. He’s repeatedly proven himself as a talented child actor, but as he matures into being an adult performer, that means taking on more mature roles, and between the character’s struggles with addiction and blossoming love for Susannah, Eddie would be exactly that.
Odetta Holmes/Detta Walker/Susannah Dean: Kyliegh Curran (Doctor Sleep, The Fall Of The House Of Usher)
Kyliegh Curran was a revelation as Abra Stone in Doctor Sleep and is wonderful as Lenore, the innocent and good heart of The Fall Of The House Of Usher, and she has shown that she has the talent to take on the role of Odetta Holmes/Detta Walker/Susannah Dean. Between the character not having legs and her multiple personalities, it’s an advanced and complicated part, but like Tremblay playing Eddie, it could be a perfect test of Curran’s skills and the mature role that helps define her career as an adult actor.
Jake Chambers: Julian Hilliard (The Haunting Of Hill House)
Ok, I admit that I’m cheating a bit here, as Julian Hilliard has only been in one Mike Flanagan project and therefore can’t necessarily be dubbed a “regular.” That being said, the pool of age-appropriate actors is small, and he also happens to very much fit the bill. For a young performer, he delivers a terrific turn as Young Luke in The Haunting Of Hill House and he’s further proven his skills with his turns in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (in WandaVision and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness) as well as The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
Obviously Mike Flanagan doesn’t specifically have to pick stars he’s previously worked with to fill out the cast of his Dark Tower adaptation, but if any of the picks above become a reality, I will be thrilled.
The Shining Miniseries Is Finally Entering The HD Age, And The 2013 Carrie Remake Is Getting A 4K UHD Upgrade
As a physical media collector with a particular passion for Stephen King adaptations, the last few years have delivered many wonderful gifts. Many classic and cult films have been beautifully restored by passionate boutique labels – with highlights from last year including 4K UHD releases of Carrie, Cujo, Needful Things, Silver Bullet, The Dead Zone, Creepshow, and more. Unfortunately, one era that has been mostly ignored is the run of TV miniseries that were made in the 1990s/early 2000s (with the exceptions of 1990’s IT and 1994’s The Stand). We’re still waiting to see titles like The Langoliers, Storm Of The Century, Rose Red, The Tommyknockers and 2004’s Salem’s Lot enter the HD age… but at the very least, this week we learned that we’ll soon get to check 1997’s The Shining off the list.
Up until recently, the Mick Garris-directed/Stephen King-scripted remake of The Shining has only existed on SD – both on DVD and digitally – but thanks to the efforts of Scream Factory, that will no longer be the case. It was announced this week that a Blu-ray is now in the works, and it will be officially released on March 12. Pre-orders are now open.
As is typical with product announcements from Scream Factory, we don’t yet know the specs of the release, but those will be revealed in the weeks leading up to the Blu-ray arriving in stores. At the very least, we can hope that it will carry over the existing commentary track that is on the DVD and the deleted scenes, but we can keep our fingers crossed for more extras as well.
In similar but less exciting news, Scream Factory has also announced that they are putting together a 4K UHD Collector’s Edition of Kimberley Pierce’s Carrie from 2013. As I’ve previously expressed both here in The King Beat and in my Adapting Stephen King column about the film, I’m not a fan, but as someone who is forever in the process of building the Ultimate Stephen King collection, I have already put in my pre-order.
Remembering David Soul’s Turn In 1979’s Salem’s Lot Following The Actor’s Passing
This past week, the acting community suffered a sad loss, as it was reported on January 4 that David Soul has passed away at the age of 80. Pop culture will largely remember him for his long run playing Detective Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson on the 1970s detective series Starsky & Hutch, but he also has the distinction of being one of the first performers to play the lead in a Stephen King adaptation.
In the late 1970s, director Tobe Hooper cast David Soul to play Ben Mears in the miniseries Salem’s Lot – the second King adaptation ever following Brian DePalma’s Carrie and the first to ever be made for television. A writer who returns to his hometown in Maine with the intention of writing a new book, Mears is a charming character who proves himself brave amid a vampire infestation and is revealed to be haunted by a morbid incident from his childhood. These are all qualities that Soul brings to his performance, and he does his part making Salem’s Lot the classic it’s recognized as.
When the news of Soul’s passing spread at the end of last week, Stephen King personally shared his condolences on Twitter:
Sorry to hear David Soul has passed. He was Ben Mears in the original miniseries of SALEM’S LOT.January 5, 2024
Here at CinemaBlend, our thoughts go out to David Soul’s family, friends, and fans.
Recommendation Of The Week: “Weeds”
To take a quick step outside of the Stephen King Universe, one of the most exciting developments of the past few days within the horror genre is the news that director David Bruckner is set to tackle a new version of The Blob – a series of films for which I gained an immense appreciation during my 2023 Halloween horror movie marathon. I’m excited to see what the talented Bruckner does with the premise, and it got me thinking about the King story that shares a lot of DNA with The Blob: “Weeds.”
“Weeds” has a strange place in the Stephen King canon, as while it’s been popularized thanks to the adaptation featured in George A. Romero’s Creepshow (the segment titled “The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill”), the short story has never been included in any of King’s many omnibuses (the good news is that you can easily find it online). Like The Blob, the horror tale begins when a meteorite crash lands on a farm, and a lonely farmer goes out to investigate it. In “Weeds,” the farmer, Jordy, doesn’t discover pink goo, but instead a rapidly growing plant organism. It doesn’t take long before the situation gets out of control, and by the end, the whole world is in danger because of the alien moss.
That does it for this week’s edition of The King Beat, but you’ll be able to find the next installment of the column here on CinemaBlend next Thursday, and meanwhile, you can learn about the full history of King adaptations with my aforementioned Adapting Stephen King series.
