1
00:00:44,147 --> 00:00:46,598
To fight
the virus, Captain Trip,

2
00:00:46,701 --> 00:00:50,222
there is nothing better
than Weinbaum's Laboratory.

3
00:00:57,919 --> 00:00:59,369
News flash.

4
00:00:59,369 --> 00:01:02,062
An explosion at Dairy College
took place this afternoon.

5
00:01:02,165 --> 00:01:03,994
It's believed to be
due to a gas leak.

6
00:01:04,098 --> 00:01:05,927
Four people are reportedly dead.

7
00:01:31,988 --> 00:01:35,888
Inequity, and in sin
my mother conceived me.

8
00:01:35,992 --> 00:01:39,651
Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts

9
00:01:39,754 --> 00:01:45,553
and in the hidden part thou
shalt make me to know wisdom.

10
00:01:45,657 --> 00:01:47,935
Hey, how can I help you?

11
00:01:48,038 --> 00:01:50,248
Can I have a green tea, please?

12
00:01:50,248 --> 00:01:51,525
Sure.

13
00:01:51,628 --> 00:01:52,457
Thanks.

14
00:02:09,681 --> 00:02:11,269
If you're going to Cousin Town,

15
00:02:11,269 --> 00:02:13,685
you should take the shortcut.

16
00:02:13,823 --> 00:02:16,446
It's just the
first exit up I-95.

17
00:02:16,446 --> 00:02:18,621
Once you see the black
house hang a left.

18
00:02:18,621 --> 00:02:20,001
You'll be there in no time.

19
00:02:30,495 --> 00:02:33,153
Breaking news just in.

20
00:02:33,256 --> 00:02:35,810
A state prisoner
escaped this morning.

21
00:02:35,914 --> 00:02:38,019
Maybe with the help of others.

22
00:02:38,123 --> 00:02:41,368
We advise all citizens
to remain vigilant.

23
00:03:41,738 --> 00:03:46,018
Welcome to the Running Man!

24
00:03:54,441 --> 00:03:58,168
Tonight, he's in
Hardin, Tomorrow

25
00:03:58,272 --> 00:04:04,623
in New York, Boise,
Albuquerque, Columbus,

26
00:04:04,761 --> 00:04:08,593
skulking outside your home.

27
00:04:08,696 --> 00:04:13,701
Will you report him?

28
00:04:13,805 --> 00:04:19,466
Run, run, run, run, run,
run, run, run, run, run.

29
00:04:19,604 --> 00:04:21,882
Run for...

30
00:04:23,953 --> 00:04:25,126
Cujo.

31
00:04:57,952 --> 00:04:59,437
How many times do
I have to tell you

32
00:04:59,437 --> 00:05:02,163
you're going to fry your
brain using that thing?

33
00:05:12,173 --> 00:05:15,176
Have you seen the Reverend
George Winston lately?

34
00:05:21,528 --> 00:05:28,707
Ever since his wife died,
he hasn't been the same.

35
00:05:28,845 --> 00:05:33,436
I heard he stayed with
the body for five days

36
00:05:33,540 --> 00:05:35,714
before calling a mortician.

37
00:05:44,965 --> 00:05:46,863
Richie.

38
00:05:46,967 --> 00:05:49,728
I'll have the... a lucky devil.

39
00:05:49,866 --> 00:05:56,114
Did you hear Brenda won
$2,700 last time she played?

40
00:05:56,217 --> 00:06:01,533
And... ooh, give me a...

41
00:06:04,191 --> 00:06:05,537
an American Grain.

42
00:06:15,305 --> 00:06:16,341
Thanks, Richie.

43
00:06:24,660 --> 00:06:27,041
Say hi to Miss Sidley
for me, will you?

44
00:06:27,145 --> 00:06:29,319
Will do, Willy Wilmington.

45
00:06:35,671 --> 00:06:36,810
Hi, Nona.

46
00:06:36,913 --> 00:06:38,777
How can I help you?

47
00:06:38,881 --> 00:06:41,228
It escaped again.

48
00:06:41,331 --> 00:06:43,230
I hope it behaved well.

49
00:06:43,333 --> 00:06:45,646
Picture perfect.

50
00:06:45,750 --> 00:06:46,923
Nice.

51
00:06:47,061 --> 00:06:48,338
Did you take the shortcut?

52
00:06:51,100 --> 00:06:52,791
You've done well.

53
00:06:52,895 --> 00:06:53,792
Take it to the master.

54
00:06:53,896 --> 00:06:54,690
He's in the back.

55
00:07:10,119 --> 00:07:12,121
Everybody who hasn't read
a Stephen King could've still

56
00:07:12,224 --> 00:07:13,640
seen a Stephen King movie.

57
00:07:13,778 --> 00:07:16,574
The Stand, The Dead
Zone or Cujo or...

58
00:07:16,574 --> 00:07:18,403
Shawshank Redemption,
The Green Mile.

59
00:07:18,507 --> 00:07:21,958
I mean, all the Frank Darabont
ones, all the Rob Reiner ones.

60
00:07:22,062 --> 00:07:22,959
Stand by Me...

61
00:07:23,063 --> 00:07:24,098
I thought it was terrific.

62
00:07:24,098 --> 00:07:25,479
Christine was such a good film,

63
00:07:25,617 --> 00:07:27,205
and Carrie was such a good film.

64
00:07:27,308 --> 00:07:29,518
It completely traumatized me.

65
00:07:29,656 --> 00:07:32,072
Cat's Eye and Silver Bullet
are two of my very favorites.

66
00:07:32,072 --> 00:07:33,418
I adored them.

67
00:07:33,418 --> 00:07:36,801
Creepshow had a massive
impact, and it's unique

68
00:07:36,939 --> 00:07:38,009
and it's stylized.

69
00:07:38,112 --> 00:07:40,149
Dolores Claiborne
was really good.

70
00:07:40,252 --> 00:07:41,668
And 1408.

71
00:07:41,806 --> 00:07:43,324
It's just such a descent into
madness that in that movie

72
00:07:43,463 --> 00:07:45,154
almost anything could
happen at any moment.

73
00:07:45,292 --> 00:07:47,225
Mick Garris did The Stand.

74
00:07:47,328 --> 00:07:49,261
Misery is one of my favorites.

75
00:07:49,261 --> 00:07:51,229
Pet Sematary is a great movie.

76
00:07:51,332 --> 00:07:52,748
I love what he does
with characters.

77
00:07:52,851 --> 00:07:56,096
The Dark Half obviously
was one that was successful.

78
00:07:56,199 --> 00:07:58,650
Shining is pretty
hard to get past.

79
00:07:58,754 --> 00:08:01,791
Let's face it.

80
00:08:01,791 --> 00:08:04,587
A lot of people came to his
work because of the movies.

81
00:08:04,691 --> 00:08:06,175
They probably started
with the movies

82
00:08:06,313 --> 00:08:08,488
and then discovered the books.

83
00:08:12,664 --> 00:08:15,011
It all started with Carrie.

84
00:08:16,634 --> 00:08:21,604
It was the movie that really
brought a lot of attention

85
00:08:21,708 --> 00:08:22,709
to Steve's work.

86
00:08:22,812 --> 00:08:24,883
You couldn't miss Carrie, which

87
00:08:25,021 --> 00:08:28,128
I remember seeing the movie
before I had read the book.

88
00:08:28,231 --> 00:08:30,717
The book was not
well known until De

89
00:08:30,820 --> 00:08:33,823
Palma's movie came out,
and the movie blew me away.

90
00:08:33,927 --> 00:08:35,894
It was so great.

91
00:08:36,032 --> 00:08:38,897
I think that's the first
time I became aware of who

92
00:08:39,001 --> 00:08:40,520
he was back in 1976.

93
00:08:40,623 --> 00:08:42,694
I was just struck by the story.

94
00:08:42,694 --> 00:08:46,595
This character's journey and
like what she is going through

95
00:08:46,733 --> 00:08:49,667
with her mom and the bullying
at school and then the powers

96
00:08:49,770 --> 00:08:53,015
that she gets and how it works
as a metaphor for her entrance

97
00:08:53,118 --> 00:08:54,085
into womanhood.

98
00:08:54,188 --> 00:08:56,397
It really does that perfectly.

99
00:08:56,501 --> 00:09:00,643
Watching the whole
transition of Carrie,

100
00:09:00,747 --> 00:09:02,231
it was like Jekyll and Hyde.

101
00:09:02,334 --> 00:09:06,028
King seemed to really bring
that in there too, that ability

102
00:09:06,028 --> 00:09:09,307
people have to just have this
metamorphosis into something

103
00:09:09,410 --> 00:09:11,689
that just wants to harm you.

104
00:09:14,864 --> 00:09:17,936
From the way Brian De
Palma uses the split screen

105
00:09:18,074 --> 00:09:20,939
in the prom, to the car flipping
over when they're trying,

106
00:09:21,043 --> 00:09:23,597
to run her down on the road,
to the whole ending sequence

107
00:09:23,735 --> 00:09:25,772
with the mom and the house
getting kind of crucified

108
00:09:25,910 --> 00:09:28,084
to the door, the knives
thrown in her too,

109
00:09:28,188 --> 00:09:32,088
that final jump scare moment,
which shows that jump scare

110
00:09:32,192 --> 00:09:33,434
isn't always a dirty word.

111
00:09:36,437 --> 00:09:38,543
Carrie wasn't really scary.

112
00:09:38,647 --> 00:09:41,373
You just seeing her burn
everything down at the end.

113
00:09:41,477 --> 00:09:42,892
You're watching it,
and it's thrilling.

114
00:09:42,892 --> 00:09:45,308
I think it's more of a
thriller than a horror picture.

115
00:09:45,412 --> 00:09:48,380
To me, as in much of
Stephen King's work,

116
00:09:48,380 --> 00:09:51,556
Carrie is not just
a horror film.

117
00:09:51,556 --> 00:09:53,869
It's come to be a horror
film because of the way

118
00:09:53,972 --> 00:09:57,493
that it was first treated,
but the way it's written,

119
00:09:57,631 --> 00:10:00,772
it sort of has a string going
through Stephen King's work.

120
00:10:00,876 --> 00:10:03,775
When folks hear Stephen King,
most of the time, especially

121
00:10:03,879 --> 00:10:06,157
those who aren't super
accustomed or knowledgeable

122
00:10:06,295 --> 00:10:11,818
of his work, they think oh, the
horror guy, which is not true.

123
00:10:11,921 --> 00:10:15,269
Stephen King
writes human beings,

124
00:10:15,269 --> 00:10:18,583
and then he puts
them in incredibly

125
00:10:18,687 --> 00:10:22,760
pressured, difficult, sometimes
phantasmagorical situations.

126
00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,279
You know, you're dealing
with characters who are just so

127
00:10:25,383 --> 00:10:26,833
interesting and so fascinating.

128
00:10:26,971 --> 00:10:30,491
Like he really knows how to
explore it through characters

129
00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:31,907
that you give a shit about.

130
00:10:32,010 --> 00:10:34,495
Much of Stephen
King's work seems to be

131
00:10:34,634 --> 00:10:37,464
about how we treat each other.

132
00:10:40,018 --> 00:10:46,197
There was no real horror
genre in movies until Psycho.

133
00:10:46,335 --> 00:10:50,684
Psycho brought that open and
then there were a huge number

134
00:10:50,788 --> 00:10:52,341
of people who followed it.

135
00:10:52,444 --> 00:10:55,862
You know, we went through the
'50s where we had great sci-fi

136
00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,176
horror movies that were all
about the strangeness of things

137
00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:01,419
that could happen to us.

138
00:11:01,522 --> 00:11:03,559
The horror that
existed in the story

139
00:11:03,663 --> 00:11:06,320
was really all about, oh,
that's a great monster

140
00:11:06,424 --> 00:11:08,426
or that's a scary situation.

141
00:11:08,529 --> 00:11:10,704
When Steve came
along in the '70s,

142
00:11:10,808 --> 00:11:14,674
it was all about how people
were affected by what happened,

143
00:11:14,674 --> 00:11:19,057
and I think that he's changed
horror and genre movie

144
00:11:19,161 --> 00:11:21,025
making just by that alone.

145
00:11:25,339 --> 00:11:28,688
He made it real
for so many people

146
00:11:28,791 --> 00:11:31,069
because he put brand names in.

147
00:11:31,173 --> 00:11:33,900
All of a sudden you had people
eating food that you ate

148
00:11:34,038 --> 00:11:37,558
or using detergent that you
used in your dishwasher.

149
00:11:37,697 --> 00:11:41,010
It became very American
and very recognizable.

150
00:11:41,010 --> 00:11:45,981
And he also spread the
word to a huge swath

151
00:11:46,084 --> 00:11:47,741
of the American public.

152
00:11:47,845 --> 00:11:49,536
You could say it's
in the middle class.

153
00:11:49,536 --> 00:11:52,504
And doing it in a way that
is without pretense, that

154
00:11:52,504 --> 00:11:56,301
speaks to the common
people, is for

155
00:11:56,405 --> 00:11:57,509
and about the common people.

156
00:11:57,509 --> 00:11:59,097
He loves common people.

157
00:11:59,201 --> 00:12:02,860
He loves folksy people, and
he's got that dialogue down pat.

158
00:12:02,860 --> 00:12:04,551
He doesn't condescend to them.

159
00:12:04,551 --> 00:12:06,656
He doesn't condescend
to middle Americans.

160
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,382
And I think that's important.

161
00:12:08,382 --> 00:12:10,453
In many ways, he is
a man of the people.

162
00:12:10,557 --> 00:12:13,594
Instead of setting
everything in big cities,

163
00:12:13,733 --> 00:12:17,564
he chooses locations
and environments that

164
00:12:17,667 --> 00:12:19,428
are identifiable for everybody.

165
00:12:19,531 --> 00:12:21,671
You could make
name Pennsylvania,

166
00:12:21,775 --> 00:12:23,950
you could make Maine the
countryside of France,

167
00:12:24,088 --> 00:12:26,780
you could make name a
lot of different places

168
00:12:26,918 --> 00:12:29,438
because we all have
places like that.

169
00:12:29,541 --> 00:12:32,406
We all have small
towns and communities

170
00:12:32,406 --> 00:12:34,926
and it allows the people
and the characters

171
00:12:35,030 --> 00:12:39,137
to emerge as opposed to
being overwhelmed by, say,

172
00:12:39,241 --> 00:12:40,483
a New York City environment.

173
00:12:40,587 --> 00:12:42,313
Stephen King's
identity is wrapped

174
00:12:42,416 --> 00:12:46,558
up in almost small town horror.

175
00:12:46,662 --> 00:12:49,216
It's much more
relatable than, you know,

176
00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,700
castle in Transylvania.

177
00:12:50,804 --> 00:12:52,495
That's not what he does.

178
00:12:52,633 --> 00:12:55,153
That can be scary too but
that's not what he does

179
00:12:55,257 --> 00:12:58,053
and I think the thing about
these small American towns

180
00:12:58,156 --> 00:13:01,642
is so interesting because
it's not what you expect.

181
00:13:01,746 --> 00:13:05,750
I think he is so deeply an
American writer and writing

182
00:13:05,750 --> 00:13:09,167
about America and the
darkness that lurks

183
00:13:09,305 --> 00:13:10,928
within the heart of America.

184
00:13:10,928 --> 00:13:15,346
He just has that gift to
kind of tap into what we all

185
00:13:15,449 --> 00:13:17,313
can relate to and
connect to and it

186
00:13:17,417 --> 00:13:19,281
always feels sort
of present time,

187
00:13:19,281 --> 00:13:20,385
even if it's a period thing.

188
00:13:20,489 --> 00:13:21,731
It always feels like America.

189
00:13:21,835 --> 00:13:25,632
It's very kind of
Norman Rockwell Americana.

190
00:13:25,632 --> 00:13:28,497
It's an idealized
America, but then it's

191
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,258
ripped apart and sent to hell.

192
00:13:31,258 --> 00:13:33,502
No, please no!

193
00:13:33,605 --> 00:13:36,125
It completely traumatized me.

194
00:13:36,125 --> 00:13:38,921
My parents had refused to
let me watch the miniseries,

195
00:13:39,025 --> 00:13:40,820
and so I would watch
it at a friend's house

196
00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:45,859
when I was way too young really
to discover Stephen King.

197
00:13:45,963 --> 00:13:49,035
Hi, Ben.

198
00:13:49,173 --> 00:13:49,932
Want a balloon.

199
00:13:50,036 --> 00:13:51,037
Ben?

200
00:13:51,140 --> 00:13:54,281
It was all over the
airwaves in Australia

201
00:13:54,385 --> 00:13:57,767
when it first came out,
and that just terrified me.

202
00:13:57,871 --> 00:14:00,218
Me and my friends, we
had a video camera.

203
00:14:00,322 --> 00:14:02,151
We'd recreate scenes from It.

204
00:14:02,151 --> 00:14:04,982
It was just an obsession.

205
00:14:04,982 --> 00:14:08,882
One of the first movies that
I ever made with my friends

206
00:14:09,020 --> 00:14:12,541
in the back yard was an
adaptation of It actually.

207
00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:14,715
When I was in seventh grade.

208
00:14:14,819 --> 00:14:16,856
Horror movies in
particular were always

209
00:14:16,856 --> 00:14:20,860
kind of what I was drawn to
and terrified of as a viewer.

210
00:14:20,963 --> 00:14:24,518
When Tim Curry first
appears down in the drain...

211
00:14:24,622 --> 00:14:26,072
Aren't you going to say...

212
00:14:26,175 --> 00:14:31,284
As a 11-year-old boy, there
was nothing more terrifying.

213
00:14:31,387 --> 00:14:34,632
Oh, come on, bucko.

214
00:14:34,735 --> 00:14:36,496
Don't you want a balloon?

215
00:14:36,599 --> 00:14:38,670
Tim Curry's
performance as Pennywise

216
00:14:38,774 --> 00:14:42,467
is the ultimate terrifying
performance because he

217
00:14:42,571 --> 00:14:44,055
plays it like a clown.

218
00:14:44,159 --> 00:14:46,023
He doesn't play
it like a monster.

219
00:14:46,023 --> 00:14:47,748
He plays it like
a birthday clown,

220
00:14:47,887 --> 00:14:49,923
and that is so terrifying to me.

221
00:14:50,027 --> 00:14:53,720
I do have to this day a
fear of clowns and Tim Curry

222
00:14:53,823 --> 00:14:55,446
in It is the reason for that.

223
00:14:55,549 --> 00:14:58,276
Basically every time
Pennywise appears in that movie,

224
00:14:58,380 --> 00:15:01,452
it is truly terrifying to a kid.

225
00:15:01,555 --> 00:15:05,974
I was so traumatized by
trying to watch horror films,

226
00:15:06,112 --> 00:15:10,288
but so interested in horror
that I decided to switch over

227
00:15:10,392 --> 00:15:13,050
to books and the very
first book I picked up

228
00:15:13,153 --> 00:15:18,296
when I was like 10 years old was
It and that was a huge mistake.

229
00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:22,369
I found myself in this really
intense conflicted situation

230
00:15:22,473 --> 00:15:25,062
where I didn't want to
keep reading because I

231
00:15:25,165 --> 00:15:30,136
was so frightened, and because I
was having horrible nightmares.

232
00:15:30,274 --> 00:15:32,483
But I cared so much
about the losers club,

233
00:15:32,586 --> 00:15:35,382
I cared so much about these
beautifully rendered characters

234
00:15:35,486 --> 00:15:36,625
that I had to keep reading.

235
00:15:36,763 --> 00:15:38,558
It's basically piss and shit.

236
00:15:38,558 --> 00:15:39,973
So I'm just telling...

237
00:15:40,077 --> 00:15:44,219
By the end of it, I
realized that he had created

238
00:15:44,322 --> 00:15:48,809
an opportunity for me to
learn how to be braver

239
00:15:48,913 --> 00:15:52,882
in very small increments
just to finish a chapter

240
00:15:52,986 --> 00:15:54,712
or eventually to
finish the book.

241
00:15:54,815 --> 00:15:57,404
And that became a
muscle that I would

242
00:15:57,508 --> 00:15:59,889
try to exercise as I got
older and what I think

243
00:15:59,993 --> 00:16:01,339
really horror is all about.

244
00:16:01,443 --> 00:16:04,170
It's exercise for
courage in the same way

245
00:16:04,308 --> 00:16:07,725
that we'd go to the gym to try
to get stronger physically.

246
00:16:07,828 --> 00:16:10,486
Horror movies and
horror stories can

247
00:16:10,590 --> 00:16:15,491
help us practice being brave
for a very short amount of time

248
00:16:15,629 --> 00:16:17,252
in a completely safe space.

249
00:16:17,355 --> 00:16:21,152
That journey started
with It for me,

250
00:16:21,256 --> 00:16:24,190
but carried me very
quickly through all

251
00:16:24,328 --> 00:16:26,778
of the available
works by Stephen King

252
00:16:26,882 --> 00:16:30,437
and he almost immediately
became my hero.

253
00:16:30,541 --> 00:16:32,439
When I hear stories
about other people talking

254
00:16:32,543 --> 00:16:34,545
about their first
encounter with Stephen King

255
00:16:34,648 --> 00:16:36,167
it was usually in childhood.

256
00:16:36,167 --> 00:16:39,619
Certain works of art that you
experience as a child imprint

257
00:16:39,722 --> 00:16:42,553
on you in a way that
I don't think they

258
00:16:42,691 --> 00:16:46,315
can when you're an adult.
And I am of a very particular

259
00:16:46,315 --> 00:16:49,801
generation, that first
generation of kids that were

260
00:16:49,905 --> 00:16:53,357
exposed to Stephen King
and it unquestionably

261
00:16:53,460 --> 00:16:54,910
left an indelible mark.

262
00:16:55,048 --> 00:16:58,879
Early 1980s, My dad had a
giant library in our house

263
00:16:59,018 --> 00:17:00,571
and on the very
bottom shelf he had

264
00:17:00,674 --> 00:17:02,055
a couple of Stephen King books.

265
00:17:02,159 --> 00:17:04,299
He had the paperbacks of
Carrie, he had the 'Salem's Lot

266
00:17:04,402 --> 00:17:06,991
paperback that had pictures
from the Tobe Hooper miniseries

267
00:17:07,095 --> 00:17:09,062
in the middle, so you
could see Barlow like right

268
00:17:09,166 --> 00:17:10,581
before he was going
to get staked.

269
00:17:10,684 --> 00:17:14,516
And so I knew the logo for
Stephen King's name on books

270
00:17:14,516 --> 00:17:15,827
before I could even read.

271
00:17:15,931 --> 00:17:17,346
Stephen King was a big
part of my childhood

272
00:17:17,346 --> 00:17:19,072
and I think a lot of
people's childhoods

273
00:17:19,176 --> 00:17:20,246
in the 1980s and the 1990s.

274
00:17:20,349 --> 00:17:22,248
I think kids flocked
to Stephen King

275
00:17:22,351 --> 00:17:25,492
because he wrote true,
authentic teenage characters

276
00:17:25,492 --> 00:17:27,046
and kid characters.

277
00:17:27,046 --> 00:17:29,082
And if he got you when you
were young, he had for life.

278
00:17:29,186 --> 00:17:30,877
Tweet, tweet.

279
00:17:30,980 --> 00:17:33,190
He rocks in the
treetop all day long.

280
00:17:33,190 --> 00:17:36,055
Hoppin' and a-boppin'
and a-singing his song.

281
00:17:36,158 --> 00:17:38,919
All the little birds
on Jaybird Street

282
00:17:39,023 --> 00:17:41,577
love to hear the Robin
go tweet, tweet, tweet.

283
00:17:41,681 --> 00:17:43,096
Rockin' robin...

284
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,271
One of the other ones that
really had an impact on me

285
00:17:45,374 --> 00:17:46,548
was Stand by Me.

286
00:17:46,548 --> 00:17:49,102
When I first saw it, I didn't
connect to Stephen King.

287
00:17:49,206 --> 00:17:52,278
I thought it was a wonderful
drama about coming of age

288
00:17:52,416 --> 00:17:55,453
and at the end of the film when
Stephen King's name came up,

289
00:17:55,557 --> 00:17:59,250
I remember being shocked that
someone who I associated so

290
00:17:59,354 --> 00:18:02,529
much with horror was
capable of creating

291
00:18:02,633 --> 00:18:03,530
something so beautiful.

292
00:18:03,634 --> 00:18:05,394
Stand by Me I grew up with.

293
00:18:05,394 --> 00:18:08,087
My best friend, and I
would leave our homes

294
00:18:08,087 --> 00:18:10,296
to go try to go on a
journey to find a dead body

295
00:18:10,434 --> 00:18:11,952
and try to find train
tracks, and we'd

296
00:18:12,091 --> 00:18:14,610
go down ditches all
day and be like we're

297
00:18:14,748 --> 00:18:15,956
going to go find the body.

298
00:18:16,095 --> 00:18:19,408
And, you know, we wished
we were in that movie.

299
00:18:19,408 --> 00:18:22,031
So that was really
a touchstone movie

300
00:18:22,135 --> 00:18:24,033
that to me when I think
about Stephen King,

301
00:18:24,137 --> 00:18:25,828
I don't ever think about horror.

302
00:18:25,966 --> 00:18:28,107
I always think about how
I felt when I read it

303
00:18:28,210 --> 00:18:30,316
or the feelings it gave
me and the characters.

304
00:18:30,454 --> 00:18:32,663
And when I think of my
favorite Stephen King movies,

305
00:18:32,801 --> 00:18:35,528
I think of Stand by Me and
the Shawshank Redemption.

306
00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:46,987
I remember seeing Stand by Me
and was just so taken with it.

307
00:18:47,091 --> 00:18:48,575
I just loved it so much.

308
00:18:48,679 --> 00:18:52,579
In fact, it's because of Stand
by Me that I took Shawshank,

309
00:18:52,683 --> 00:18:56,445
the script, to Castle Rock
because of Stand by Me

310
00:18:56,445 --> 00:18:58,792
I felt that Castle Rock
would really understand

311
00:18:58,792 --> 00:19:01,726
the movie I was trying
to make and happily

312
00:19:01,830 --> 00:19:03,314
that's exactly what happened.

313
00:19:03,418 --> 00:19:05,178
I remember, in fact, being on
the set of Nightmare on Elm

314
00:19:05,316 --> 00:19:08,181
Street 3 one night
going hmm, should I

315
00:19:08,285 --> 00:19:14,360
ask Steve for the rights
to Shawshank or the Mist?

316
00:19:14,463 --> 00:19:16,362
I finally went for
Shawshank because it

317
00:19:16,500 --> 00:19:21,643
was so character based,
and Stephen King said yes.

318
00:19:43,699 --> 00:19:45,322
Shawshank is different.

319
00:19:45,322 --> 00:19:48,808
That's about redemption,
that's about humanity, that's

320
00:19:48,911 --> 00:19:52,191
about a man falsely imprisoned
and trying to learn how to deal

321
00:19:52,294 --> 00:19:53,882
with it and not go crazy.

322
00:19:53,985 --> 00:19:57,057
It's what it makes you
feel for the people,

323
00:19:57,196 --> 00:19:59,405
it's the heart
that it has in it.

324
00:19:59,543 --> 00:20:02,511
You immediately
fall in love with Red.

325
00:20:02,511 --> 00:20:05,411
He's just this awesome
character that you

326
00:20:05,514 --> 00:20:07,723
would love just to
listen to and watch

327
00:20:07,827 --> 00:20:09,104
for the entirety of the film.

328
00:20:09,208 --> 00:20:11,900
And of course, the main
character Andy as well.

329
00:20:12,003 --> 00:20:15,352
Inasmuch as the Shining
means to horror fans,

330
00:20:15,352 --> 00:20:17,388
the Shawshank
Redemption means a lot

331
00:20:17,388 --> 00:20:20,426
to fans that are looking for
some kind of hope in the world,

332
00:20:20,564 --> 00:20:23,843
that their lives can improve
no matter how bad they get.

333
00:20:23,946 --> 00:20:25,914
Well, it took five years for me

334
00:20:26,017 --> 00:20:29,193
to actually get around
to writing the script

335
00:20:29,193 --> 00:20:31,299
after Steve gave me the rights.

336
00:20:31,437 --> 00:20:36,235
I know I had a certain ambition
for the creative aspect of what

337
00:20:36,338 --> 00:20:38,098
I wanted that script to
be and I didn't think

338
00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:40,066
I was a good enough writer yet.

339
00:20:40,066 --> 00:20:42,068
That's another thing I
have to thank Stephen King

340
00:20:42,171 --> 00:20:44,312
for, his patience.

341
00:20:44,415 --> 00:20:46,624
Every once in a while, I would
let him know that I still

342
00:20:46,728 --> 00:20:49,282
wanted to do it and finally,
one day, I felt ready,

343
00:20:49,386 --> 00:20:51,905
and I wrote it in eight
weeks sent it to Castle Rock.

344
00:20:52,009 --> 00:20:53,562
Castle Rock came back to me...

345
00:20:53,562 --> 00:20:57,532
Liz Glotzer who was one of their
key development executives,

346
00:20:57,635 --> 00:21:00,189
she's the first one who
read the script there

347
00:21:00,293 --> 00:21:02,813
and walked into her
boss's office and said,

348
00:21:02,916 --> 00:21:04,435
we have to make this movie.

349
00:21:04,435 --> 00:21:06,575
She slapped it down on the desk
and said if we don't make this,

350
00:21:06,679 --> 00:21:08,094
I quit.

351
00:21:08,094 --> 00:21:12,857
So Liz called me and said
Rob Reiner read the script

352
00:21:12,961 --> 00:21:15,446
and really loves it.

353
00:21:15,550 --> 00:21:17,897
There was a moment when
Rob expressed interest

354
00:21:17,897 --> 00:21:19,312
in directing it himself.

355
00:21:19,450 --> 00:21:22,350
In fact, Tom Cruise
had read the script

356
00:21:22,453 --> 00:21:25,801
and asked Rob if Rob wanted to
direct it and with Tom in it.

357
00:21:25,905 --> 00:21:29,322
Then Rob said, let's offer
Frank a writing position.

358
00:21:29,460 --> 00:21:33,119
Let's offer him a lot of money.

359
00:21:33,222 --> 00:21:35,742
I thought about it
for a day, you know,

360
00:21:35,846 --> 00:21:38,745
but then I called them back
and I said, you know what?

361
00:21:38,849 --> 00:21:40,160
I want to stick with it.

362
00:21:40,264 --> 00:21:43,232
I want to direct it myself
because I really feel

363
00:21:43,336 --> 00:21:45,511
this deep, deep in my marrow.

364
00:21:45,649 --> 00:21:50,067
I feel this story very deeply,
and if not this, then what

365
00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:51,586
and if not now, then when?

366
00:21:51,689 --> 00:21:54,485
When am I going to direct
a movie that matters to me?

367
00:21:57,661 --> 00:21:59,697
If you're remembered
for anything,

368
00:21:59,801 --> 00:22:05,185
it's for the kindness you
show or the art you create.

369
00:22:05,324 --> 00:22:07,291
You're not remembered
for your bank account.

370
00:22:07,291 --> 00:22:08,741
Nobody's impressed by that.

371
00:22:08,844 --> 00:22:10,225
Nobody cares.

372
00:22:10,363 --> 00:22:13,746
So yeah, it was a very handsome
offer, but it was money.

373
00:22:13,849 --> 00:22:15,230
It was just money.

374
00:22:15,334 --> 00:22:18,440
And Rob was such a sweetheart
and such a supporter

375
00:22:18,544 --> 00:22:19,993
and a booster and a mentor.

376
00:22:19,993 --> 00:22:25,378
He took no for an answer very
graciously and gracefully.

377
00:22:25,482 --> 00:22:30,176
Frank is one of the
most consummate directors

378
00:22:30,279 --> 00:22:31,557
I've ever worked with.

379
00:22:31,695 --> 00:22:34,870
He loves movies more than
anything in the world.

380
00:22:34,974 --> 00:22:37,873
Him and Quentin
Tarantino probably...

381
00:22:37,977 --> 00:22:39,288
I don't know who
loves movies more.

382
00:22:39,392 --> 00:22:42,050
Frank really... he
really loves it.

383
00:22:42,188 --> 00:22:44,742
He agonizes over
every single detail,

384
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,054
and it shows in his movies.

385
00:22:46,157 --> 00:22:47,849
I mean, Shawshank
Redemption is probably

386
00:22:47,849 --> 00:22:52,647
one of the greatest American
made movies of our generation.

387
00:22:52,750 --> 00:22:56,513
And my memory is that,
that wasn't the success

388
00:22:56,513 --> 00:22:58,307
but has grown into
people thinking it's

389
00:22:58,411 --> 00:22:59,654
one of the best movies ever.

390
00:22:59,757 --> 00:23:02,346
It's set in prison.

391
00:23:02,450 --> 00:23:06,902
It doesn't have Sylvester
Stallone or Van Damme in it.

392
00:23:07,006 --> 00:23:08,248
It's not an action movie.

393
00:23:08,352 --> 00:23:11,044
Clearly, it's a drama
with Morgan and Tim.

394
00:23:11,044 --> 00:23:14,047
It looks like a
depressing movie.

395
00:23:14,047 --> 00:23:17,119
There's no way you can cut the
trailer together and convince

396
00:23:17,257 --> 00:23:18,983
the audience that it's
going to be something

397
00:23:19,087 --> 00:23:20,709
they love for years to come.

398
00:23:20,709 --> 00:23:23,781
So we had trouble getting
people to show up,

399
00:23:23,885 --> 00:23:28,579
and that was very, very
disappointing, I have to admit.

400
00:23:28,683 --> 00:23:32,618
Shortly thereafter...
I thank Academy.

401
00:23:32,756 --> 00:23:35,310
They nominated us for
seven Academy Awards,

402
00:23:35,448 --> 00:23:40,626
and we were one of the five
Best Picture nominees that year.

403
00:23:40,764 --> 00:23:45,354
The Shawshank Redemption,
Nikki Marvin, producer.

404
00:23:51,878 --> 00:23:54,363
And the Oscar goes to...

405
00:23:54,467 --> 00:23:57,953
We didn't win a single award.

406
00:23:58,091 --> 00:23:58,954
There was Forrest Gump.

407
00:23:59,058 --> 00:24:00,128
Forrest Gump.

408
00:24:02,061 --> 00:24:03,096
It's Forrest Gump's year.

409
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:04,408
They swept everything.

410
00:24:04,408 --> 00:24:06,514
It's a great movie,
so I'm not surprised.

411
00:24:06,652 --> 00:24:09,275
It was that and Pulp Fiction
and Four Weddings and a Funeral

412
00:24:09,378 --> 00:24:12,381
and Quiz Show and Shawshank.

413
00:24:12,485 --> 00:24:14,729
And everybody what is Shawshank?

414
00:24:14,832 --> 00:24:16,731
I remember even
being at the awards

415
00:24:16,834 --> 00:24:19,319
and when Shawshank
was announced, people

416
00:24:19,458 --> 00:24:20,769
who were there would, go?

417
00:24:20,873 --> 00:24:21,632
What movie?

418
00:24:21,736 --> 00:24:23,358
Did we miss this?

419
00:24:23,496 --> 00:24:27,535
So it so brought attention
to the film in a way

420
00:24:27,638 --> 00:24:32,505
that we could not have purchased
by marketing or advertising.

421
00:24:32,643 --> 00:24:34,507
That'll be one of those
movies that people

422
00:24:34,645 --> 00:24:37,165
hold on to it seems and I'm...

423
00:24:37,268 --> 00:24:41,859
boy, I'm so grateful for that.

424
00:24:41,997 --> 00:24:44,586
I think Stephen King likes those

425
00:24:44,690 --> 00:24:48,038
contained situations
where people are

426
00:24:48,141 --> 00:24:50,350
stuck in one specific arena.

427
00:24:50,454 --> 00:24:51,869
It's almost like a theater play.

428
00:24:51,973 --> 00:24:55,321
From the situations comes a
lot of challenging moments

429
00:24:55,424 --> 00:24:56,840
between characters
because they're

430
00:24:56,943 --> 00:25:00,291
forced to challenge themselves
and challenge others.

431
00:25:00,395 --> 00:25:02,535
That's the theme
obviously in The Mist

432
00:25:02,673 --> 00:25:05,400
and The Shining and
1408, and the psychology

433
00:25:05,504 --> 00:25:08,541
in this contained areas is
interesting and a lot of things

434
00:25:08,645 --> 00:25:10,301
are happening, a lot
of things are coming

435
00:25:10,301 --> 00:25:13,857
out because we get stuck.

436
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:15,479
Come on.

437
00:25:15,583 --> 00:25:18,378
That's a situation that King
likes to put his character in

438
00:25:18,517 --> 00:25:21,071
and as we come out
what we have learned

439
00:25:21,174 --> 00:25:22,866
collectively from
months of lockdown

440
00:25:22,969 --> 00:25:25,454
is a challenging situation.

441
00:25:29,735 --> 00:25:34,705
The device he uses being
inside with nowhere to go.

442
00:25:34,809 --> 00:25:37,570
He wants you to focus
on what's happening,

443
00:25:37,674 --> 00:25:42,368
not on what's happening
outside in the world.

444
00:25:42,368 --> 00:25:44,681
And in that environment,
there's no escape.

445
00:25:44,681 --> 00:25:46,510
You really have to
face your demons.

446
00:25:46,510 --> 00:25:48,754
I'm here because
island folk know

447
00:25:48,857 --> 00:25:51,308
how to pull together for the
common good when they need to.

448
00:25:51,411 --> 00:25:52,758
And that's what
these people did.

449
00:25:52,896 --> 00:25:55,001
Trapped on Little Tall in
the storm of the century.

450
00:26:00,075 --> 00:26:02,595
In the case of Rose Red, I
think it's the same thing.

451
00:26:02,699 --> 00:26:04,839
They were trapped within
this controlled environment

452
00:26:04,942 --> 00:26:06,841
where the house was
controlling the characters.

453
00:26:06,944 --> 00:26:09,809
He's so descriptive
of his settings.

454
00:26:09,913 --> 00:26:10,948
OK.

455
00:26:11,052 --> 00:26:12,571
Very funny, but I want
to leave all right?

456
00:26:12,571 --> 00:26:14,365
I think that's what makes
it scary and relatable,

457
00:26:14,469 --> 00:26:16,229
because you could imagine
it happened to you.

458
00:26:16,333 --> 00:26:17,541
What is this?

459
00:26:17,541 --> 00:26:19,474
What is happening to me?

460
00:26:19,612 --> 00:26:22,442
On Nightmares and
Dreamscapes, the autopsy room

461
00:26:22,546 --> 00:26:24,203
too was really fun.

462
00:26:24,203 --> 00:26:27,620
What is going on here?

463
00:26:27,724 --> 00:26:30,036
Snake, why can't you see that?

464
00:26:30,140 --> 00:26:31,797
Please, you can't do this.

465
00:26:31,900 --> 00:26:32,901
You can't cut me up.

466
00:26:33,005 --> 00:26:34,144
Help me.

467
00:26:34,247 --> 00:26:37,803
Don't you realize
I can still feel!

468
00:26:37,941 --> 00:26:43,602
One really clear example
of that dynamic is Misery.

469
00:26:43,705 --> 00:26:45,604
We can all imagine it
could happen to us.

470
00:26:45,707 --> 00:26:48,468
We are all James Caan's
character in that movie

471
00:26:48,572 --> 00:26:51,540
and Kathy Bates is
so freaking scary.

472
00:26:51,644 --> 00:26:54,267
Last night, it came so clear.

473
00:26:54,267 --> 00:26:56,649
I realized you just
need more time.

474
00:26:56,787 --> 00:27:00,826
Eventually you'll come to
accept the idea of being here.

475
00:27:00,929 --> 00:27:02,724
Paul, do you know
about the early days

476
00:27:02,828 --> 00:27:04,761
at the Kimberley Diamond mines?

477
00:27:04,761 --> 00:27:06,935
Do you know what they
did to the native workers

478
00:27:06,935 --> 00:27:08,834
who stole diamonds?

479
00:27:08,937 --> 00:27:11,008
Don't worry, they
didn't kill them.

480
00:27:11,146 --> 00:27:15,357
In the book, Annie Wilkes
cuts his foot off with an ax.

481
00:27:15,495 --> 00:27:16,911
So we sit down in
the first meeting

482
00:27:17,014 --> 00:27:18,809
and Rob goes, we can't
cut his foot off.

483
00:27:18,913 --> 00:27:21,536
There's a myriad
of issues with it.

484
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,989
So they had pitched this
idea of the hobbling.

485
00:27:28,854 --> 00:27:31,097
And they broke for
lunch, and they said,

486
00:27:31,201 --> 00:27:33,306
OK, you guys get everything
rigged up for lunch,

487
00:27:33,306 --> 00:27:34,860
and then when we come
back, we'll film it.

488
00:27:34,963 --> 00:27:36,655
They all came back
from lunch, and they're

489
00:27:36,758 --> 00:27:37,863
like, what are you doing?

490
00:27:38,001 --> 00:27:39,658
Like you're supposed
to be ready.

491
00:27:39,761 --> 00:27:41,729
I'm like well, those
are the fake legs.

492
00:27:41,832 --> 00:27:45,353
So they didn't know because we
had disguised his leg so well.

493
00:27:45,491 --> 00:27:46,837
Annie, for god's...

494
00:27:46,941 --> 00:27:48,114
Shh, darling...

495
00:27:48,218 --> 00:27:49,944
The first screening...

496
00:27:50,047 --> 00:27:51,014
God's sake...

497
00:27:51,117 --> 00:27:53,982
You could feel the
oxygen being sucked out

498
00:27:53,982 --> 00:27:56,053
of the theater when she
raises the sledgehammer

499
00:27:56,157 --> 00:27:58,331
because everybody at
the same time goes...

500
00:27:58,435 --> 00:28:00,713
all at once.

501
00:28:02,853 --> 00:28:04,303
Almost done.

502
00:28:04,406 --> 00:28:05,994
You don't even
see it in close up.

503
00:28:05,994 --> 00:28:07,168
You see it in wide.

504
00:28:07,168 --> 00:28:08,652
You see her lift
the sledgehammer

505
00:28:08,652 --> 00:28:10,723
and it's the real
sledgehammer and it's heavy,

506
00:28:10,827 --> 00:28:14,900
and then when she swings and
she hits it a second time,

507
00:28:15,003 --> 00:28:16,246
you never see it.

508
00:28:16,384 --> 00:28:17,696
And you don't need to see it.

509
00:28:17,799 --> 00:28:19,387
It's so much about
the sound effect.

510
00:28:19,525 --> 00:28:21,009
Cut to the close
up, and she says...

511
00:28:21,009 --> 00:28:23,011
God, I love you.

512
00:28:23,011 --> 00:28:27,913
It's when Stephen gets the
combination of the humanity

513
00:28:28,016 --> 00:28:31,330
along with the situation
was terrifying,

514
00:28:31,330 --> 00:28:33,642
and they can say it's horror.

515
00:28:33,746 --> 00:28:36,645
But I think what Stephen
does and also what I do

516
00:28:36,749 --> 00:28:40,408
and what so many of us
do really is suspense.

517
00:28:40,511 --> 00:28:42,444
Those are people.

518
00:28:42,582 --> 00:28:45,758
I mean, yes, the situation
is one of rising dread.

519
00:28:45,862 --> 00:28:49,382
But you're looking at people.

520
00:28:49,382 --> 00:28:51,764
The secret is in the
casting and I think

521
00:28:51,868 --> 00:28:53,110
that's the same for any role.

522
00:28:53,248 --> 00:28:56,079
John Ford used to say
it's 70% of the job.

523
00:28:56,182 --> 00:28:58,978
You make the right choice and
you're more than halfway there.

524
00:29:04,087 --> 00:29:09,057
And the Oscar goes to
Kathy Bates in Misery.

525
00:29:13,613 --> 00:29:15,374
Kathy Bates is
brilliant actress.

526
00:29:15,477 --> 00:29:17,652
She'd won the Academy
Award for Misery.

527
00:29:17,790 --> 00:29:21,552
I'd like to thank William
Goldman for bringing

528
00:29:21,552 --> 00:29:23,209
the wonderful,
crazy Annie Wilkes

529
00:29:23,313 --> 00:29:26,143
to the screen and
Stephen King for thinking

530
00:29:26,281 --> 00:29:27,489
of her in the first place.

531
00:29:27,627 --> 00:29:29,975
And Misery was a real
Stephen King crazy thing

532
00:29:30,113 --> 00:29:32,253
and Kathy Bates was
great in the role.

533
00:29:32,253 --> 00:29:34,151
Dolores was a very
different role...

534
00:29:34,255 --> 00:29:36,188
strong, tough, but nuanced.

535
00:29:39,122 --> 00:29:43,920
If you want to know somebody's
life, you look at the hands.

536
00:29:46,232 --> 00:29:49,132
The challenge to me and
the thing that was probably

537
00:29:49,235 --> 00:29:51,548
most interesting to
me is that Dolores

538
00:29:51,651 --> 00:29:53,584
Claiborne is a woman's movie.

539
00:29:53,584 --> 00:29:56,311
The three main
characters are women.

540
00:29:56,449 --> 00:29:58,348
The women rule this movie.

541
00:29:58,486 --> 00:30:02,007
Why I go through
20 years of hell?

542
00:30:02,110 --> 00:30:03,284
Why mother?

543
00:30:03,284 --> 00:30:05,631
I have a friend, Larry
Kasdan, who's a great director.

544
00:30:05,734 --> 00:30:07,495
His son and went to Columbia.

545
00:30:07,598 --> 00:30:09,946
During the first semester
back at Christmas,

546
00:30:10,049 --> 00:30:13,190
I happened to run into them
and Larry's son said, you know,

547
00:30:13,294 --> 00:30:15,917
I took this film class and
the teacher was a woman

548
00:30:16,021 --> 00:30:18,817
and was trying to communicate
the fact that there are

549
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,544
no women stories out
there and that you

550
00:30:22,682 --> 00:30:25,030
need to have filmmakers
who understand women.

551
00:30:25,168 --> 00:30:26,928
And she was going
to show Dolores

552
00:30:27,032 --> 00:30:29,655
Claiborne to say
Taylor is often times

553
00:30:29,758 --> 00:30:31,519
used for men or women, right?

554
00:30:31,622 --> 00:30:35,316
And that Taylor Hackford, this
woman who had directed Dolores

555
00:30:35,316 --> 00:30:38,353
Claiborne, really understands
the women in this,

556
00:30:38,457 --> 00:30:39,872
the four women that are here.

557
00:30:39,976 --> 00:30:41,322
It's a brilliant woman's story.

558
00:30:41,322 --> 00:30:45,395
And this... Larry Kasdan's
son sat down and said,

559
00:30:45,533 --> 00:30:49,192
well, I just want to say, I know
Taylor Hackford, he's a man.

560
00:30:49,330 --> 00:30:50,503
No, he's not.

561
00:30:50,607 --> 00:30:53,058
No man could make this story.

562
00:30:53,196 --> 00:30:55,681
Could I have a better
compliment than that?

563
00:30:55,681 --> 00:30:58,166
It was great, but it all
started with Stephen King.

564
00:30:58,166 --> 00:30:59,478
He had the inspiration.

565
00:30:59,581 --> 00:31:02,067
Stephen King created
the characters.

566
00:31:02,170 --> 00:31:03,896
You better sit back
down, Joe, if you

567
00:31:04,034 --> 00:31:06,105
don't want this in your head.

568
00:31:06,209 --> 00:31:07,072
Mommy...

569
00:31:07,175 --> 00:31:08,797
Dolores is heroic.

570
00:31:08,901 --> 00:31:10,972
How does a mother
deal with incest?

571
00:31:11,076 --> 00:31:13,078
A lot of them know it and
just go along with it.

572
00:31:13,216 --> 00:31:15,011
Dolores was not
about to ignore it.

573
00:31:15,011 --> 00:31:17,806
Dolores understood the
horror of what her husband

574
00:31:17,910 --> 00:31:19,256
was putting this child through.

575
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,051
It had to be repaid and she did.

576
00:31:21,155 --> 00:31:23,157
I thought that was Stephen King.
All Stephen King.

577
00:31:23,260 --> 00:31:24,952
The only thing
you're going to get

578
00:31:25,055 --> 00:31:28,645
is a long stretch in Shawshank
prison for child molesting.

579
00:31:28,748 --> 00:31:31,096
God damn bitch.

580
00:31:31,199 --> 00:31:33,753
I think that
Stephen King probably

581
00:31:33,892 --> 00:31:35,272
had a Delores in his life.

582
00:31:35,376 --> 00:31:37,550
The way she was described,
the way all the women

583
00:31:37,654 --> 00:31:40,933
were described was so real.

584
00:31:41,037 --> 00:31:42,797
My mother had a
very difficult life,

585
00:31:42,901 --> 00:31:46,007
and she still provided for
me by working her ass off.

586
00:31:46,111 --> 00:31:48,458
When I wrote him, I
just said, listen, I see

587
00:31:48,561 --> 00:31:49,769
my mother in this character.

588
00:31:49,908 --> 00:31:51,185
Stephen King can write women.

589
00:31:51,288 --> 00:31:52,600
He really can.

590
00:31:52,703 --> 00:31:54,878
Stephen King has
a knack for writing

591
00:31:54,878 --> 00:31:56,915
terrific female
characters and I think

592
00:31:57,018 --> 00:32:00,125
he would credit a lot of
that to his wife Tabitha

593
00:32:00,263 --> 00:32:03,404
and her influence on
him throughout his life.

594
00:32:03,404 --> 00:32:05,958
And a lot of his books,
especially his most personal

595
00:32:06,062 --> 00:32:07,926
with some of the most
fascinating heroines

596
00:32:08,029 --> 00:32:10,411
are dedicated to
Tabitha and her sisters

597
00:32:10,411 --> 00:32:13,828
and other women in his life
who are very powerful figures.

598
00:32:13,966 --> 00:32:17,280
He was raised by a powerful
and strong single woman.

599
00:32:17,383 --> 00:32:20,490
His relationship with his mother
shapes his writing quite a bit,

600
00:32:20,593 --> 00:32:23,148
and he goes into
very moving detail

601
00:32:23,286 --> 00:32:26,323
about that and on writing
and a lot of his interviews.

602
00:32:26,461 --> 00:32:30,327
I think he's a man who
grew up in the presence

603
00:32:30,431 --> 00:32:33,020
and under the influence
of remarkable women

604
00:32:33,158 --> 00:32:37,231
and who married a remarkable
a woman who, in a lot of ways,

605
00:32:37,334 --> 00:32:41,304
is responsible for the
biggest points of inflection

606
00:32:41,407 --> 00:32:43,616
in his career and in
his personal life.

607
00:32:43,616 --> 00:32:46,999
If you listen to him
talk about Tabitha

608
00:32:47,137 --> 00:32:52,522
and you realize that she
pulled the manuscript of Carrie

609
00:32:52,660 --> 00:32:54,282
out of the trash
can when he threw it

610
00:32:54,282 --> 00:32:59,805
in there in complete despair,
when you imagine her being

611
00:32:59,805 --> 00:33:02,842
the first set of eyes
on one of his stories

612
00:33:02,946 --> 00:33:05,259
and giving him that
first critical feedback,

613
00:33:05,362 --> 00:33:08,158
when you imagine some
of the stories he tells

614
00:33:08,262 --> 00:33:10,126
about their marriage
not only kind

615
00:33:10,126 --> 00:33:12,369
of in his fictionalized
versions of it,

616
00:33:12,507 --> 00:33:17,029
but in on writing when he
talks about how she came to him

617
00:33:17,167 --> 00:33:19,204
and made him confront
his addiction,

618
00:33:19,307 --> 00:33:23,173
it's very easy to
see where he gets

619
00:33:23,277 --> 00:33:28,213
a lot of that fortitude
and kind of mettle

620
00:33:28,351 --> 00:33:30,525
that his heroines have.

621
00:33:30,663 --> 00:33:32,700
I think he has that at home.

622
00:33:32,803 --> 00:33:35,634
He came from a
broken home as I did.

623
00:33:35,737 --> 00:33:37,843
His parents split
up early and he

624
00:33:37,843 --> 00:33:41,502
was raised by a single
mother, very blue

625
00:33:41,502 --> 00:33:44,056
collar, real hardscrabble life.

626
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,370
And his work is often
about the fractured family.

627
00:33:47,473 --> 00:33:50,856
Your family is the place where
you're supposed to feel safe.

628
00:33:50,856 --> 00:33:53,928
The outside world is the
other, your family is you.

629
00:33:54,066 --> 00:33:58,243
And if that starts to crumble,
if that starts to present

630
00:33:58,346 --> 00:34:02,005
danger and horrifying
circumstances to you,

631
00:34:02,005 --> 00:34:03,317
you're not safe anywhere.

632
00:34:03,420 --> 00:34:05,733
If you can't be safe
within the family unit,

633
00:34:05,836 --> 00:34:09,254
how can you possibly
expect to survive?

634
00:34:09,357 --> 00:34:12,050
And I think that theme running
through a lot of Stephen King's

635
00:34:12,153 --> 00:34:15,087
work is actually what
adds to the terror

636
00:34:15,225 --> 00:34:18,780
that we feel as we either
witness or read these stories.

637
00:34:18,918 --> 00:34:22,267
Whether it's the
family and Cujo and what

638
00:34:22,370 --> 00:34:25,960
they're going through before
the dog actually shows up

639
00:34:26,098 --> 00:34:31,414
or what's happening in The
Shining between Jack and Wendy.

640
00:34:58,475 --> 00:35:02,272
The first time I
encountered Stephen

641
00:35:02,376 --> 00:35:04,964
King was through The Shining,
the book The Shining.

642
00:35:05,068 --> 00:35:08,416
I read that and I
was just blown away.

643
00:35:08,416 --> 00:35:10,625
I just thought this was
the most amazing thing.

644
00:35:10,763 --> 00:35:12,282
I had to stop reading it.

645
00:35:12,282 --> 00:35:14,974
I think I was in a remote lodge
in the mountains somewhere.

646
00:35:15,078 --> 00:35:17,563
It was very similar to
the Colorado wilderness

647
00:35:17,667 --> 00:35:19,634
that the hotel The Shining's in.

648
00:35:19,738 --> 00:35:21,049
It really creeped me out.

649
00:35:21,153 --> 00:35:26,124
The book club by accident
sent me The Shining.

650
00:35:26,124 --> 00:35:28,816
I was going to send it back
because I didn't have the money

651
00:35:28,919 --> 00:35:31,681
to buy it, but I
opened the book and it

652
00:35:31,784 --> 00:35:33,993
random it was the
paragraph where

653
00:35:34,132 --> 00:35:37,825
the dead woman sits
up in the bathtub,

654
00:35:37,963 --> 00:35:39,067
and I thought, oh, I have to...

655
00:35:39,171 --> 00:35:40,138
I have to read this book.

656
00:35:40,241 --> 00:35:42,001
When I read The Shining, I think

657
00:35:42,105 --> 00:35:45,177
that's the first
time I was enchanted

658
00:35:45,281 --> 00:35:47,110
by the voice of the writer.

659
00:35:47,110 --> 00:35:50,009
When you go inside
Jack Torrance's head,

660
00:35:50,113 --> 00:35:53,806
you connect with him in
this very visceral way.

661
00:35:53,806 --> 00:35:56,292
Stephen had a time
clock in there, which

662
00:35:56,292 --> 00:35:59,157
was the boiler down
in the basement, which

663
00:35:59,260 --> 00:36:00,882
was building and
building and building,

664
00:36:01,020 --> 00:36:02,712
and of course, at
the end, blew up.

665
00:36:02,815 --> 00:36:04,852
The boiler that
eventually blows up,

666
00:36:04,955 --> 00:36:07,199
that is a metaphor
for what's going

667
00:36:07,337 --> 00:36:09,167
on in Jack Torrance's head.

668
00:36:12,549 --> 00:36:15,311
I was hired to direct
Dolan's Cadillac.

669
00:36:15,414 --> 00:36:17,899
The writer and I, we were going
to have a call with Mr. King

670
00:36:18,003 --> 00:36:20,557
and I was just vibrating,
I was so excited.

671
00:36:20,695 --> 00:36:23,353
And I said, what do you
think I should say first?

672
00:36:23,353 --> 00:36:25,666
I think I'm going to tell him
how much I love The Shining.

673
00:36:25,666 --> 00:36:27,875
And he said, I wouldn't
do that, because he thinks

674
00:36:28,013 --> 00:36:29,290
it's a total piece of shit.

675
00:36:36,228 --> 00:36:38,161
It was very well
known that Stephen King

676
00:36:38,161 --> 00:36:40,232
did not like the Kubrick film.

677
00:36:40,336 --> 00:36:44,098
And there are a number of
reasons but one of the foremost

678
00:36:44,202 --> 00:36:46,756
is that this was a really
personal book to him.

679
00:36:46,859 --> 00:36:50,208
It was a book he wrote
while he was still drinking

680
00:36:50,208 --> 00:36:54,384
about the guilt of a father
who, while he's drunk,

681
00:36:54,488 --> 00:36:57,042
has broken his beautiful
little boy's arm.

682
00:36:57,042 --> 00:37:00,390
It's about guilt and
seeking redemption.

683
00:37:00,494 --> 00:37:05,499
He goes to this location that
is completely devoid of people

684
00:37:05,602 --> 00:37:08,122
in the hopes that,
that will help him

685
00:37:08,260 --> 00:37:11,194
stay away from the bottle
and be a responsible

686
00:37:11,194 --> 00:37:12,678
husband and father.

687
00:37:12,782 --> 00:37:16,406
And Kubrick turned it into
something very different.

688
00:37:20,238 --> 00:37:22,274
Now I was at the Chinese Theater

689
00:37:22,412 --> 00:37:26,692
in Hollywood, first day,
first show, to see The Shining

690
00:37:26,796 --> 00:37:30,109
and pretty much everybody
in that huge theater had

691
00:37:30,213 --> 00:37:32,629
read the book, so we're
all going all right,

692
00:37:32,767 --> 00:37:33,630
Kubrick's doing this.

693
00:37:33,734 --> 00:37:34,804
This is going to be great.

694
00:37:34,907 --> 00:37:37,358
And they were booing
and hissing and

695
00:37:37,462 --> 00:37:39,878
everybody was like pissed off.

696
00:37:39,878 --> 00:37:41,431
It wasn't the book.

697
00:37:41,535 --> 00:37:44,952
The creative personalities
of Stanley Kubrick and Stephen

698
00:37:45,090 --> 00:37:47,265
King are very, very different.

699
00:37:47,368 --> 00:37:50,647
King is a very warm and
human and emotional writer

700
00:37:50,751 --> 00:37:58,448
and Kubrick is a very cool and
intellectualized filmmaker.

701
00:37:58,552 --> 00:38:02,487
Scatman Crothers told
me he would do 85 takes

702
00:38:02,625 --> 00:38:05,835
of one shot over and
over and over, and not

703
00:38:05,938 --> 00:38:07,837
necessarily give any direction.

704
00:38:07,975 --> 00:38:11,392
So his calculating
manner is kind

705
00:38:11,496 --> 00:38:15,154
of in contrast to the
emotional warmth of what

706
00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:16,742
King's stories are about.

707
00:38:20,159 --> 00:38:23,128
In his entire
body of work, which

708
00:38:23,128 --> 00:38:25,648
is substantial and
tremendously influential,

709
00:38:25,751 --> 00:38:27,684
Kubrick was never an
emotional filmmaker.

710
00:38:27,788 --> 00:38:29,652
Oh, come on, what do
you mean roll video?

711
00:38:29,790 --> 00:38:30,998
Two seconds...

712
00:38:31,101 --> 00:38:32,137
We're [muted] killing
ourselves out here

713
00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:33,414
and you've got to be ready.

714
00:38:33,518 --> 00:38:34,864
I am too, I'm standing
right by the door.

715
00:38:34,967 --> 00:38:36,521
- Shall we play mood music?
- No, I can't hear it.

716
00:38:36,624 --> 00:38:38,523
But when you came out like
this, you said you just...

717
00:38:38,626 --> 00:38:40,766
because they say,
wait a minute, and then

718
00:38:40,870 --> 00:38:42,285
you say on the radio, go...

719
00:38:42,389 --> 00:38:43,528
When you do it, you've got
to look desperate, Shelley.

720
00:38:43,666 --> 00:38:45,184
You're just wasting
everybody's time now.

721
00:38:45,323 --> 00:38:47,083
I can't even get
this door open...

722
00:38:47,186 --> 00:38:48,705
On the record, I got
such a bollocking

723
00:38:48,809 --> 00:38:53,469
because they said turn over and
they said video rolling and all

724
00:38:53,469 --> 00:38:56,989
that, and I got all ready
and jumped up and down,

725
00:38:57,093 --> 00:38:59,475
and then they said never mind.

726
00:38:59,475 --> 00:39:00,268
Cut it.

727
00:39:00,372 --> 00:39:01,856
He had one emotional scene.

728
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:02,788
One.

729
00:39:02,892 --> 00:39:04,203
Out of all the movies.

730
00:39:04,307 --> 00:39:06,723
And that was the very end
of Paths of Glory, which

731
00:39:06,861 --> 00:39:08,794
will move you to
tears, but never

732
00:39:08,898 --> 00:39:14,662
again did Stanley Kubrick try
to get your emotions involved.

733
00:39:14,662 --> 00:39:17,631
It was always... it's
cinematically stunning,

734
00:39:17,734 --> 00:39:21,151
but it was a very
intellectual chess game...

735
00:39:21,151 --> 00:39:22,360
him telling a story.

736
00:39:22,463 --> 00:39:26,087
I think we should discuss Danny?

737
00:39:26,191 --> 00:39:28,227
It's a really good
Stanley Kubrick movie,

738
00:39:28,331 --> 00:39:30,471
but it's a terrible
Stephen King movie.

739
00:39:30,575 --> 00:39:32,300
Danny!

740
00:39:32,404 --> 00:39:34,233
The problem is Stanley
Kubrick didn't believe

741
00:39:34,372 --> 00:39:36,512
in the supernatural in
any way, shape, or form

742
00:39:36,512 --> 00:39:39,100
and the movie was
dictated on that belief

743
00:39:39,238 --> 00:39:41,240
so it works on his
own logic perfectly.

744
00:39:41,344 --> 00:39:42,897
It's just not
Stephen King's logic.

745
00:39:43,001 --> 00:39:45,244
Kubrick would call him up
in the middle of the night

746
00:39:45,348 --> 00:39:47,902
and ask things like,
do you believe in God?

747
00:39:48,006 --> 00:39:49,732
When I talked to Stephen King, I

748
00:39:49,835 --> 00:39:51,665
asked him a lot of
questions about The Shining

749
00:39:51,768 --> 00:39:54,288
and the shooting of The Shining
and he told me this anecdote.

750
00:39:54,426 --> 00:39:58,948
He said that he was home
sleeping, 2:00 in the morning

751
00:39:59,051 --> 00:40:00,777
or something in
Maine where he lives

752
00:40:00,881 --> 00:40:05,161
and his telephone was ringing,
and it was Stanley Kubrick.

753
00:40:05,264 --> 00:40:07,577
And he said, hi,
Stephen, it's Stanley.

754
00:40:07,681 --> 00:40:08,923
Are you OK?

755
00:40:09,027 --> 00:40:11,754
And Stephen King said, yeah,
no it's 2:00 in the morning,

756
00:40:11,892 --> 00:40:13,376
so I'm sleeping.

757
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:15,136
Oh yeah, sorry, I'm here in
London, we're shooting away

758
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:17,138
and I just have one
question for you

759
00:40:17,276 --> 00:40:19,278
and Stephen King said,
yeah, what is it?

760
00:40:19,417 --> 00:40:22,903
And Kubrick said,
does God exist?

761
00:40:22,903 --> 00:40:28,322
Stephen King said, well, Stanley
that's the very big question,

762
00:40:28,460 --> 00:40:32,291
you know, that really depends
on where you come from,

763
00:40:32,430 --> 00:40:35,640
why you... it's a big discussion.

764
00:40:35,778 --> 00:40:38,194
And Kubrick said, yeah,
yeah, no, that's...

765
00:40:38,297 --> 00:40:39,367
That's all.
Thank you.

766
00:40:39,471 --> 00:40:40,299
Thank you very much.

767
00:40:40,438 --> 00:40:42,301
And he put down the phone.

768
00:41:02,287 --> 00:41:05,670
When we meet Jack
Torrance Nicholson character

769
00:41:05,808 --> 00:41:09,467
in the film, he seems to be
as mad from the first second

770
00:41:09,467 --> 00:41:12,262
we meet him as he is in the
last second we meet him.

771
00:41:12,262 --> 00:41:13,747
His madness lacks an arc.

772
00:41:13,850 --> 00:41:16,439
He seems to be quite unhinged
from the very beginning.

773
00:41:16,543 --> 00:41:19,822
David Cronenberg said to me
once, right after The Shining

774
00:41:19,925 --> 00:41:22,514
came out, that the reason
The Shining doesn't work

775
00:41:22,618 --> 00:41:24,447
is because they cast the ending.

776
00:41:24,447 --> 00:41:26,691
Jack Nicholson's crazy
from the beginning.

777
00:41:26,829 --> 00:41:31,834
That works in Kubrick's world,
but not in King's world.

778
00:41:31,937 --> 00:41:35,320
Will then take the time
to get back to where it was.

779
00:41:35,423 --> 00:41:36,355
You understand?

780
00:41:36,494 --> 00:41:38,496
I know a famous film critic says

781
00:41:38,599 --> 00:41:40,636
that Nicholson's
performance in The Shining

782
00:41:40,636 --> 00:41:43,293
is both his best and
his worst performance,

783
00:41:43,397 --> 00:41:45,986
which is an interesting
thing of putting it.

784
00:41:45,986 --> 00:41:49,541
What you lose, I think, is,
again, the thing that I think

785
00:41:49,645 --> 00:41:54,373
is Stephen's great strength
is the recognizable humanity

786
00:41:54,477 --> 00:41:56,030
in all of these characters.

787
00:41:56,134 --> 00:41:59,068
Why don't you start right now
and get the fuck out of here?

788
00:41:59,206 --> 00:42:01,035
And who could imagine those two

789
00:42:01,139 --> 00:42:02,450
actually ever being married?

790
00:42:02,554 --> 00:42:05,246
You lose the horror
to me of someone

791
00:42:05,384 --> 00:42:07,904
very familiar to you
becoming so other.

792
00:42:08,008 --> 00:42:10,562
That's... to me, that goes
to my heart right now.

793
00:42:10,666 --> 00:42:13,841
I imagine if my wife
and I had... if suddenly

794
00:42:13,841 --> 00:42:18,121
they seemed so different,
how painful and difficult

795
00:42:18,225 --> 00:42:19,157
that would be.

796
00:42:19,157 --> 00:42:20,538
That wasn't in the movie at all.

797
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:28,235
Yet as time has gone
on as, we've all seen,

798
00:42:28,338 --> 00:42:30,064
it has become what...

799
00:42:30,168 --> 00:42:33,758
it has become this iconic
horror movie that based on that.

800
00:42:33,896 --> 00:42:36,899
I guess King never
liked what he did,

801
00:42:37,002 --> 00:42:39,660
but it really was
Kubrick's version of King.

802
00:42:39,764 --> 00:42:43,595
He had to make it his
own like most artists do.

803
00:42:43,699 --> 00:42:47,047
It's always tough to
make those adaptation

804
00:42:47,150 --> 00:42:51,223
so everybody loves it.

805
00:42:53,743 --> 00:42:56,574
Hollywood is a rough
and tumble place.

806
00:42:56,677 --> 00:42:58,886
They call it show business
not show friendly.

807
00:42:58,886 --> 00:43:02,200
And there's betrayal, and
treachery, and disappointment,

808
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:04,098
and all kinds of things.

809
00:43:04,202 --> 00:43:05,583
There's a great joke.

810
00:43:05,686 --> 00:43:07,619
I think it was Ernest Hemingway
who said when you make

811
00:43:07,723 --> 00:43:09,587
a deal with Hollywood,
what you must do

812
00:43:09,587 --> 00:43:12,624
is drive to the Colorado
River, stop on the bridge

813
00:43:12,762 --> 00:43:16,110
halfway across between
Arizona and California

814
00:43:16,248 --> 00:43:18,147
and throw your novel across.

815
00:43:18,285 --> 00:43:19,804
When they throw
the money across,

816
00:43:19,907 --> 00:43:22,600
then you put it in your car,
and you drive back East.

817
00:43:29,779 --> 00:43:32,955
You know, the movie
went on to become iconic.

818
00:43:33,058 --> 00:43:36,337
It's a huge success and
everybody knows here's Johnny,

819
00:43:36,475 --> 00:43:38,650
but Stephen King
wanted the chance to do

820
00:43:38,754 --> 00:43:40,721
something closer to his book.

821
00:43:40,825 --> 00:43:43,621
And he himself wrote
the screenplay,

822
00:43:43,724 --> 00:43:46,934
and he asked me
if I would do it.

823
00:43:46,934 --> 00:43:49,247
Actually the first
question was if Brian

824
00:43:49,350 --> 00:43:52,940
De Palma turns this down,
would you want to direct it?

825
00:43:52,940 --> 00:43:55,736
Well, I don't know if it
ever went to Brian De Palma

826
00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:57,600
but he didn't make it.
- Daddy!

827
00:43:57,600 --> 00:43:58,221
He did.

828
00:43:58,325 --> 00:43:59,153
Hi!

829
00:44:02,156 --> 00:44:03,641
Heya, Danny boy.

830
00:44:08,093 --> 00:44:09,439
Danny.

831
00:44:09,543 --> 00:44:12,442
King asked me to because
we had two very successful

832
00:44:12,442 --> 00:44:14,824
experiences together.

833
00:44:14,928 --> 00:44:16,274
I was very naive.

834
00:44:16,377 --> 00:44:20,692
I thought yeah, I want to
do the Stephen King version.

835
00:44:20,830 --> 00:44:23,039
I was disappointed in
the Kubrick version

836
00:44:23,143 --> 00:44:26,284
because I had loved the book
so much before I saw it.

837
00:44:26,284 --> 00:44:29,114
So I thought, sure, why not?

838
00:44:29,218 --> 00:44:32,324
Well, once people started
hearing that there was

839
00:44:32,324 --> 00:44:35,189
going to be a shining
for television,

840
00:44:35,293 --> 00:44:36,501
oh my god, for television?

841
00:44:36,604 --> 00:44:37,985
How can that be any good?

842
00:44:37,985 --> 00:44:40,505
And being directed by
the guy who directed

843
00:44:40,505 --> 00:44:43,888
Critters 2, how could
that be any good?

844
00:44:43,991 --> 00:44:45,890
Stanley Kubrick
versus Mick Garris...

845
00:44:46,028 --> 00:44:47,615
All the guest
rooms, strong and...

846
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,653
But the script was wonderful.

847
00:44:50,653 --> 00:44:52,793
And I thought,
we're going to make

848
00:44:52,897 --> 00:44:56,348
something on our own, something
special, which we did.

849
00:44:56,348 --> 00:44:58,247
It was an opportunity
to just tell

850
00:44:58,350 --> 00:45:02,389
the story of the book, which
was very, very personal to King.

851
00:45:07,463 --> 00:45:09,983
We ignored the Kubrick film.

852
00:45:10,086 --> 00:45:12,675
There are times when
you can't help it

853
00:45:12,675 --> 00:45:14,608
like the here's Johnny scene.

854
00:45:14,712 --> 00:45:17,542
You still have somebody
breaking through the door in the

855
00:45:17,645 --> 00:45:19,924
bathroom and attacking Wendy.

856
00:45:20,062 --> 00:45:24,100
That's the place where it most
resembles the Kubrick film.

857
00:45:24,204 --> 00:45:26,931
There was another important
differentiation too.

858
00:45:27,034 --> 00:45:29,727
King was drinking
when he wrote the book

859
00:45:29,830 --> 00:45:32,660
and King was dry when
he wrote the screenplay

860
00:45:32,764 --> 00:45:35,802
for the miniseries.

861
00:45:35,905 --> 00:45:39,046
My name is Hartwell, and I'm
an alcoholic with a fondness

862
00:45:39,046 --> 00:45:40,082
for tranquilizers.

863
00:45:41,773 --> 00:45:43,464
Hi, my name is Jack...

864
00:45:43,568 --> 00:45:46,295
So he was able to give
it a new perspective

865
00:45:46,398 --> 00:45:51,093
from outside of being someone
who was abusing substances.

866
00:45:51,196 --> 00:45:52,232
You won't be sorry.

867
00:45:56,201 --> 00:45:59,618
I was talking to Steve
on the phone one day.

868
00:45:59,722 --> 00:46:01,966
I had called him just
to say, how are you?

869
00:46:02,104 --> 00:46:03,381
How's it going?

870
00:46:03,484 --> 00:46:06,660
And he said, oh, I think I might
be about to make the biggest

871
00:46:06,764 --> 00:46:09,628
mistake of my life
because I have this story

872
00:46:09,767 --> 00:46:11,320
that I'm thinking
of writing, and then

873
00:46:11,423 --> 00:46:13,632
publishing it in six volumes.

874
00:46:13,736 --> 00:46:17,498
And he told me the basic
idea, this mentally challenged

875
00:46:17,602 --> 00:46:20,398
black inmate who is
in for apparently

876
00:46:20,501 --> 00:46:21,951
murdering two little
white girls who

877
00:46:22,055 --> 00:46:24,816
turns out to be this
miraculous instrument of God.

878
00:46:24,954 --> 00:46:26,611
Your name is John Coffey?

879
00:46:26,714 --> 00:46:27,992
Yes, sir boss.

880
00:46:28,130 --> 00:46:29,994
It's his relationship
with the guards.

881
00:46:30,132 --> 00:46:31,547
He didn't think I'd be
interested because it

882
00:46:31,650 --> 00:46:32,893
was another prison thing.

883
00:46:32,997 --> 00:46:34,619
And I said, you know,
you're probably right,

884
00:46:34,619 --> 00:46:37,346
but that sounds
intriguing enough to me.

885
00:46:37,449 --> 00:46:38,865
So the next thing
I know is I get

886
00:46:39,003 --> 00:46:42,454
the very first volume of the
six sent to me by his agent.

887
00:46:42,454 --> 00:46:44,180
I read it, and I
did something I've

888
00:46:44,284 --> 00:46:47,908
never done before or since which
is I have to make this movie.

889
00:46:48,012 --> 00:46:49,668
I don't even know what
the rest of it is.

890
00:46:49,772 --> 00:46:51,601
I don't even know
how it ends, but this

891
00:46:51,601 --> 00:46:53,293
is Stephen King at his best.

892
00:46:53,396 --> 00:46:54,881
I just could tell.

893
00:46:55,019 --> 00:46:58,401
I called his office in Maine
and the person I spoke to said,

894
00:46:58,505 --> 00:47:00,300
well he's not here.

895
00:47:00,300 --> 00:47:07,445
He's in Colorado on Mick Garris'
set of The Shining miniseries.

896
00:47:07,445 --> 00:47:08,584
I did know Mick.

897
00:47:08,687 --> 00:47:10,137
He and I were good
friends by then.

898
00:47:10,137 --> 00:47:13,900
We had, sort of, a small circle
of friends in Los Angeles.

899
00:47:14,003 --> 00:47:17,317
All of us involved in the movie
business in some way or other.

900
00:47:17,317 --> 00:47:20,113
Mick's very good friends
with Greg Nicotero and Greg

901
00:47:20,216 --> 00:47:21,977
is very good friends
with this guy,

902
00:47:21,977 --> 00:47:25,221
and that guy and Robert
Rodriguez and Quentin

903
00:47:25,325 --> 00:47:26,636
and so many of those guys.

904
00:47:26,740 --> 00:47:28,811
This was back when I
was single and working

905
00:47:28,811 --> 00:47:32,677
like a crazy machine.

906
00:47:32,780 --> 00:47:34,921
And I would...
sometimes on a weekend,

907
00:47:35,024 --> 00:47:37,751
I would have everybody come
over and just invite... and just

908
00:47:37,855 --> 00:47:40,996
had this huge table and
put like 14 or 16 people

909
00:47:41,099 --> 00:47:44,378
around the table and make this
giant pot of spaghetti and meat

910
00:47:44,482 --> 00:47:46,035
sauce, and we'd
open bottles of wine

911
00:47:46,139 --> 00:47:48,831
and we'd be there til 2:00
or 3:00 in the morning just

912
00:47:48,831 --> 00:47:51,178
around the table just
talking and laughing.

913
00:47:51,178 --> 00:47:54,872
And the rare occasion that he's
actually on the West Coast,

914
00:47:54,975 --> 00:47:57,978
we did have Stephen
King and George Romero

915
00:47:58,082 --> 00:48:00,049
and Mick would be
there quite a lot.

916
00:48:03,673 --> 00:48:05,848
So I flew to Colorado,
and I rented a car

917
00:48:05,952 --> 00:48:08,230
and I drove up the mountain
just like Jack Torrance

918
00:48:08,333 --> 00:48:11,578
in the opening of The Shining
and I arrived at The Stanley,

919
00:48:11,681 --> 00:48:12,924
this incredible hotel.

920
00:48:13,062 --> 00:48:15,789
That was the very
hotel that gave

921
00:48:15,927 --> 00:48:18,102
Stephen King the idea for The
Shining in the first place.

922
00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:20,621
I walked into their ballroom,
and they were in the middle

923
00:48:20,759 --> 00:48:23,107
of filming the big
New Year's Eve scene,

924
00:48:23,210 --> 00:48:25,937
and there were all these extras
dressed as ghosts and ghouls

925
00:48:26,041 --> 00:48:29,182
and Stephen King was up on
the stage as the bandleader

926
00:48:29,285 --> 00:48:32,461
and shaking his butt,
and, you know, it was so

927
00:48:32,599 --> 00:48:33,945
much fun to walk onto that set.

928
00:48:34,083 --> 00:48:36,948
And of course, Mick is
a dear friend, so it was

929
00:48:37,052 --> 00:48:38,708
like a very welcoming arrival.

930
00:48:38,812 --> 00:48:42,747
I really like having
friends show up and do cameos,

931
00:48:42,747 --> 00:48:46,475
and I didn't know that Frank
had an ulterior motive,

932
00:48:46,613 --> 00:48:48,753
but it's the only
time in his life

933
00:48:48,856 --> 00:48:51,238
Frank had ever
shaved off his beard.

934
00:48:51,238 --> 00:48:53,275
So he... I don't...

935
00:48:53,378 --> 00:48:56,209
I didn't ask him to
but he wanted to do it.

936
00:48:56,312 --> 00:48:58,797
And so we had all these
wonderful people there,

937
00:48:58,901 --> 00:49:00,730
especially people
within the genre

938
00:49:00,834 --> 00:49:03,871
where the fans will see
that's Frank Darabont

939
00:49:03,975 --> 00:49:06,081
and you feel like you're
part of a special club

940
00:49:06,081 --> 00:49:08,635
because most people
don't know who Frank

941
00:49:08,738 --> 00:49:12,087
Darabont is but we do, right?

942
00:49:12,087 --> 00:49:14,744
And Steve saw me and he
said, what are you doing here?

943
00:49:14,848 --> 00:49:18,438
And I said, I've come
all this way to tell you

944
00:49:18,438 --> 00:49:20,336
I really want to
do The Green Mile.

945
00:49:20,474 --> 00:49:22,994
He said, great, it's yours.

946
00:49:23,098 --> 00:49:25,307
I said, fantastic, can
I read the rest of it?

947
00:49:25,410 --> 00:49:26,618
He said, no, you can't.

948
00:49:26,618 --> 00:49:29,483
You have to wait just
like everybody else.

949
00:49:29,587 --> 00:49:31,658
And then that's when
he also admitted

950
00:49:31,761 --> 00:49:33,418
that he actually
hadn't even written

951
00:49:33,522 --> 00:49:35,179
the last volume or two of it.

952
00:49:35,317 --> 00:49:39,528
I thought, what a bold,
crazy, high wire act that is.

953
00:49:39,666 --> 00:49:41,116
He's an extraordinary writer.

954
00:49:41,116 --> 00:49:42,807
He's sort of like
the Charles Dickens

955
00:49:42,910 --> 00:49:44,947
of 20th and 21st century.

956
00:49:45,051 --> 00:49:49,434
Literally writing these massive
novels almost in episodes.

957
00:49:49,434 --> 00:49:50,884
What a giant.

958
00:49:51,022 --> 00:49:53,197
The Green Mile was his
attempt to do Dickens, which

959
00:49:53,300 --> 00:49:56,924
is to write an episodic
novel where he could publish

960
00:49:57,028 --> 00:50:00,135
a new chapter every
week or whatever it was,

961
00:50:00,135 --> 00:50:03,828
which is how Dickens came to
write so many of his novels.

962
00:50:03,931 --> 00:50:05,795
That was how they
wrote in the 1800s,

963
00:50:05,795 --> 00:50:07,280
and they were trying
to make a living

964
00:50:07,383 --> 00:50:09,868
and they were paid a penny
a word or whatever it was.

965
00:50:09,972 --> 00:50:11,387
But that was The Green Mile too.

966
00:50:11,525 --> 00:50:14,735
The movie was set during
the Depression at a time,

967
00:50:14,873 --> 00:50:16,634
and certainly in a
place where black people

968
00:50:16,634 --> 00:50:18,877
were not respected at all.

969
00:50:18,981 --> 00:50:22,329
Boy, you under
arrest for murder.

970
00:50:22,329 --> 00:50:25,160
That's what I thought was
so interesting and powerful

971
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:27,852
about the theme of that
story when I read it.

972
00:50:27,955 --> 00:50:29,474
What does the Bible speak of?

973
00:50:29,578 --> 00:50:33,306
It speaks of the least of these,
the least will be the greatest.

974
00:50:33,409 --> 00:50:36,861
You have a man who is not
even really considered a man.

975
00:50:36,861 --> 00:50:39,864
What if that person is
actually a miracle of God?

976
00:50:39,967 --> 00:50:42,246
What if that is the best of us?

977
00:50:42,349 --> 00:50:45,076
And I find that so
moving and so powerful.

978
00:50:45,214 --> 00:50:47,423
And just the basic
theme of don't

979
00:50:47,561 --> 00:50:48,907
judge a book by its cover.

980
00:50:49,011 --> 00:50:50,840
You don't judge a person
by the color of their skin.

981
00:50:50,944 --> 00:50:53,464
You don't judge a person
by their status in life

982
00:50:53,567 --> 00:50:54,775
or in society.

983
00:50:54,879 --> 00:50:56,329
It's like what Martin
Luther King said,

984
00:50:56,432 --> 00:51:00,022
which is judge somebody by the
content of their character,

985
00:51:00,126 --> 00:51:03,543
not the color of their
skin, not by surface things.

986
00:51:03,543 --> 00:51:04,992
Judge them by their actions.

987
00:51:05,096 --> 00:51:06,891
And I'm a big believer
in that sort of thing.

988
00:51:06,994 --> 00:51:10,722
I want it to be
over and done with.

989
00:51:10,826 --> 00:51:11,896
I do.

990
00:51:16,935 --> 00:51:20,249
I'm tired, boss.

991
00:51:20,353 --> 00:51:22,458
I'm tired of being
on the road, lonely

992
00:51:22,562 --> 00:51:25,979
as a sparrow in the rain.

993
00:51:26,083 --> 00:51:28,568
I'm tired of never having
me a buddy to be with,

994
00:51:28,568 --> 00:51:34,436
or to tell me where we's
going to, coming from or why.

995
00:51:34,539 --> 00:51:38,198
Mostly I'm tired of people
being ugly to each other.

996
00:51:38,302 --> 00:51:42,064
My favorite memory
of The Green Mile

997
00:51:42,168 --> 00:51:45,136
is one of my favorite memories
from directing period.

998
00:51:45,240 --> 00:51:48,967
There's the scene in The Green
Mile where Paul, Tom Hanks,

999
00:51:49,071 --> 00:51:51,625
comes into the cell
with John Coffey

1000
00:51:51,729 --> 00:51:55,802
and they've now realized that
he is A, innocent of the crime,

1001
00:51:55,905 --> 00:51:58,322
and B, that he is
this miracle of God.

1002
00:51:58,425 --> 00:52:02,257
It's the scene that I got
Michael the nomination, right?

1003
00:52:02,257 --> 00:52:05,087
Shooting that scene,
this is an example

1004
00:52:05,087 --> 00:52:08,332
of what a generous
actor Tom Hanks is

1005
00:52:08,435 --> 00:52:12,301
and the wisdom of a
truly generous actor

1006
00:52:12,405 --> 00:52:18,135
because since Michael was
the least experienced actor

1007
00:52:18,135 --> 00:52:22,622
on the set when we began, I
would usually start shooting

1008
00:52:22,622 --> 00:52:26,591
a scene with him first
because he would generally

1009
00:52:26,695 --> 00:52:28,593
get there within a few takes.

1010
00:52:28,697 --> 00:52:30,216
The same with every actor.

1011
00:52:30,319 --> 00:52:32,804
They usually have their sweet
spot, whether it takes 1, to 3,

1012
00:52:32,908 --> 00:52:34,323
takes 5 to 6 or whatever.

1013
00:52:34,427 --> 00:52:36,187
As a director, you've got
to just make a note of that

1014
00:52:36,291 --> 00:52:38,155
and make sure you
don't wear them out

1015
00:52:38,258 --> 00:52:39,811
by the time they're on camera.

1016
00:52:39,811 --> 00:52:42,297
And Tom was always very
gracious about that

1017
00:52:42,297 --> 00:52:43,953
and movie stars aren't always.

1018
00:52:43,953 --> 00:52:46,128
They usually want
to start on them,

1019
00:52:46,232 --> 00:52:49,062
but he was very cool about
me starting on Michael.

1020
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:53,480
I remember we started the same
way all on Michael and Tom

1021
00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:58,002
was off camera, but he wasn't
just giving him the lines.

1022
00:52:58,105 --> 00:53:01,488
He was acting his
heart out for Michael.

1023
00:53:01,488 --> 00:53:05,216
I was starting to get nervous,
thinking, I hope Tom still has

1024
00:53:05,354 --> 00:53:07,839
some gas left in the tank
by the time I turn around

1025
00:53:07,839 --> 00:53:10,463
and get the cameras on him
because he's winning an Academy

1026
00:53:10,566 --> 00:53:15,571
Award here off camera, but he
knew to get the performance

1027
00:53:15,709 --> 00:53:19,886
that Michael needed to give, he
had to give Michael everything

1028
00:53:19,989 --> 00:53:22,992
as his scene partner.

1029
00:53:23,096 --> 00:53:27,514
And that wisdom and that
generosity, the risk

1030
00:53:27,514 --> 00:53:31,069
of not having enough
left for yourself,

1031
00:53:31,173 --> 00:53:33,348
but giving it all to the
other actor, so that,

1032
00:53:33,348 --> 00:53:38,422
that actor can shine, that's
the kind of generosity

1033
00:53:38,525 --> 00:53:40,251
that Tom has.

1034
00:53:40,355 --> 00:53:41,839
It's certainly
nothing we discussed.

1035
00:53:41,839 --> 00:53:43,150
It's certainly... he just did it.

1036
00:53:43,254 --> 00:53:45,705
He just knew he had
to do it for Michael.

1037
00:53:45,705 --> 00:53:48,259
He had to be fully there 100%.

1038
00:53:48,363 --> 00:53:52,229
Tom was always on the set,
and he being the movie star,

1039
00:53:52,229 --> 00:53:55,887
we would try to be conscious
of the fact that it's Friday

1040
00:53:55,887 --> 00:53:58,062
night, you have your
weekend coming up,

1041
00:53:58,165 --> 00:54:01,583
I can let you go,
but he's... well, no,

1042
00:54:01,686 --> 00:54:02,929
we're still doing the scene.

1043
00:54:03,032 --> 00:54:05,103
Like yeah, but I've got
all your stuff already.

1044
00:54:05,207 --> 00:54:06,346
I've shot you.

1045
00:54:06,450 --> 00:54:07,968
We can have someone
stand in for you.

1046
00:54:08,072 --> 00:54:10,281
Oh, no, no, no, no, he has to
be there for the other actors.

1047
00:54:10,385 --> 00:54:12,766
So Tom would be there
sometimes till 2 o'clock

1048
00:54:12,870 --> 00:54:13,871
in the morning on a Friday.

1049
00:54:13,974 --> 00:54:15,597
We're now eating
into his weekend.

1050
00:54:15,700 --> 00:54:17,150
He didn't care.

1051
00:54:17,288 --> 00:54:19,256
He had to be there for the
other actors, even off camera.

1052
00:54:19,359 --> 00:54:21,292
Do you know how many
times I've been off camera

1053
00:54:21,396 --> 00:54:22,742
in all the movies I'm in?

1054
00:54:22,845 --> 00:54:24,157
Thousands.

1055
00:54:24,295 --> 00:54:27,643
Tom was one of my choices
for Andy in Shawshank.

1056
00:54:27,747 --> 00:54:32,407
He couldn't consider it because
he was doing Forrest Gump.

1057
00:54:32,407 --> 00:54:35,962
Things turned out great
regardless because Tim Robbins

1058
00:54:36,065 --> 00:54:40,138
is brilliant, and so is Morgan
Freeman so any other thoughts

1059
00:54:40,277 --> 00:54:42,658
we had don't matter.

1060
00:54:42,762 --> 00:54:44,108
We got the right guys for that.

1061
00:54:44,108 --> 00:54:46,317
But because of Shawshank
and because of the way

1062
00:54:46,421 --> 00:54:49,147
the movie turned out, Tom
approached me and said,

1063
00:54:49,251 --> 00:54:50,804
wow, I love the movies you make.

1064
00:54:50,908 --> 00:54:53,945
If you ever want me to
read anything, let me know.

1065
00:54:53,945 --> 00:54:56,154
So the very next thing
was The Green Mile

1066
00:54:56,258 --> 00:54:59,606
so I sent it straight to
Tom and he read it and said,

1067
00:54:59,606 --> 00:55:00,814
great, let's do it.

1068
00:55:00,918 --> 00:55:04,646
And it was the easiest yes
I ever got from an actor

1069
00:55:04,749 --> 00:55:09,996
and he was actually I would
say probably the easiest person

1070
00:55:10,099 --> 00:55:11,998
to work with in my career.

1071
00:55:12,136 --> 00:55:14,966
Michael, Clarke Duncan.

1072
00:55:14,966 --> 00:55:16,243
- Thanks for your time.
- All right.

1073
00:55:16,347 --> 00:55:18,453
I came home one day,
I clicked the messages,

1074
00:55:18,556 --> 00:55:21,214
and there's Bruce Willis on my
answering machine saying, hey,

1075
00:55:21,352 --> 00:55:23,112
I hear you're doing this movie.
I've read the book.

1076
00:55:23,112 --> 00:55:24,424
I really love the book.

1077
00:55:24,528 --> 00:55:25,977
You should read Michael
Clarke Duncan, a guy

1078
00:55:26,081 --> 00:55:27,841
I'm working with on Armageddon.

1079
00:55:27,979 --> 00:55:29,498
He's your guy.

1080
00:55:29,602 --> 00:55:33,364
I'm like, OK, Bruce,
I'll give him a try.

1081
00:55:33,468 --> 00:55:34,676
I'll have him in to read.

1082
00:55:40,854 --> 00:55:44,755
His first audition for
me, you thought, no way.

1083
00:55:44,858 --> 00:55:46,101
No way.

1084
00:55:46,204 --> 00:55:48,862
And then he became the only way.

1085
00:55:48,966 --> 00:55:50,726
Bruce was right,
as it turns out,

1086
00:55:50,864 --> 00:55:55,110
and I've never heard
from Bruce Willis since.

1087
00:55:55,213 --> 00:55:56,387
This is the only time...

1088
00:55:56,525 --> 00:55:58,078
this is one of those
weird surreal moments

1089
00:55:58,216 --> 00:56:00,218
you have sometimes in our
business where you go,

1090
00:56:00,322 --> 00:56:02,048
there's Bruce Willis on
my answering machine.

1091
00:56:02,186 --> 00:56:03,981
That's kind of great.

1092
00:56:03,981 --> 00:56:05,465
That's kind of cool.

1093
00:56:05,569 --> 00:56:07,881
It's pretty funny,
but no, he was right.

1094
00:56:07,985 --> 00:56:09,745
Michael was the guy.

1095
00:56:09,849 --> 00:56:14,025
We had the little girl
bodies that we had made.

1096
00:56:14,025 --> 00:56:19,410
The dummies were sculpted to
make John Coffey look larger.

1097
00:56:19,548 --> 00:56:21,308
He was very tall
actor to begin with,

1098
00:56:21,412 --> 00:56:23,552
but we sort of scaled
them down a little bit.

1099
00:56:23,552 --> 00:56:26,210
And for some reason or another,
the first time they filmed it,

1100
00:56:26,210 --> 00:56:27,901
the dummies weren't
positioned in the way

1101
00:56:28,039 --> 00:56:29,558
that they were sculpted.

1102
00:56:29,662 --> 00:56:33,355
We were editing the movie and
Frank had said there's just one

1103
00:56:33,355 --> 00:56:36,910
thing that I want to
take a second stab at

1104
00:56:37,014 --> 00:56:41,708
and we rebuilt the dummies
of the two little girls,

1105
00:56:41,708 --> 00:56:45,091
and we reshot it on the
backlot at Warner studios.

1106
00:56:45,194 --> 00:56:47,956
And it made a world
of difference.

1107
00:56:48,094 --> 00:56:50,061
People don't realize
what it takes

1108
00:56:50,061 --> 00:56:52,339
to make a movie and
every single element,

1109
00:56:52,443 --> 00:56:54,065
you have to make a decision.

1110
00:56:54,169 --> 00:56:55,239
Do you like that belt?

1111
00:56:55,342 --> 00:56:56,689
What about the
color of that shirt?

1112
00:56:56,792 --> 00:56:58,069
How does the sun look?

1113
00:56:58,069 --> 00:56:59,623
Do we want this
in the background?

1114
00:56:59,761 --> 00:57:02,280
And you have to have
an answer for every one

1115
00:57:02,419 --> 00:57:04,593
of those questions
and you get hit

1116
00:57:04,697 --> 00:57:07,458
as the director from the
second you step on set

1117
00:57:07,562 --> 00:57:08,770
to the second you go home.

1118
00:57:08,873 --> 00:57:11,807
I'm in heaven

1119
00:57:11,945 --> 00:57:18,642
and my heart beats so
that I can hardly speak.

1120
00:57:18,745 --> 00:57:27,133
And I seem to find the happiness
I SEEK When we're out together

1121
00:57:27,236 --> 00:57:29,446
dancing cheek to cheek.

1122
00:57:29,549 --> 00:57:32,552
There was something
about the musicals

1123
00:57:32,656 --> 00:57:34,830
that Hollywood was making
during the Depression

1124
00:57:34,968 --> 00:57:38,455
when the circumstances of
real life were so dire,

1125
00:57:38,558 --> 00:57:40,974
but the musicals
were this glossy sort

1126
00:57:41,078 --> 00:57:43,563
of unattainable
like heaven vision.

1127
00:57:43,667 --> 00:57:47,498
And that particular number
has always struck me

1128
00:57:47,602 --> 00:57:51,295
in such a delightful way because
it's Fred Astaire and Ginger

1129
00:57:51,295 --> 00:57:54,919
Rogers, they're the most
iconic musical performers

1130
00:57:55,023 --> 00:57:56,507
and dancers of that era.

1131
00:57:56,611 --> 00:57:59,476
And they are singing
about heaven.

1132
00:57:59,579 --> 00:58:01,616
It just felt like
the right anchor

1133
00:58:01,616 --> 00:58:04,170
for the movie and
Steve's story, it

1134
00:58:04,273 --> 00:58:07,104
was killer's kiss,
the Richard Widmark

1135
00:58:07,104 --> 00:58:08,519
playing some crazy killer.

1136
00:58:08,657 --> 00:58:11,833
That made our main
character, Paul, think

1137
00:58:11,936 --> 00:58:15,353
of the events of long ago
because that character

1138
00:58:15,492 --> 00:58:17,010
reminded him of Percy.

1139
00:58:17,114 --> 00:58:19,841
It didn't feel like quite
the right thing to me.

1140
00:58:19,944 --> 00:58:24,052
I wanted the contrast, I
think, between the reality

1141
00:58:24,190 --> 00:58:26,641
of that time versus
the dream reality

1142
00:58:26,641 --> 00:58:28,194
that Hollywood was telling us.

1143
00:58:28,297 --> 00:58:30,507
And I wanted it to
remind him of John Coffey

1144
00:58:30,610 --> 00:58:34,062
and not of Percy when he
was watching that clip

1145
00:58:34,200 --> 00:58:35,995
and being transported
by something

1146
00:58:36,098 --> 00:58:37,375
he'd never seen before.

1147
00:58:37,479 --> 00:58:41,241
And they're singing
about being in heaven.

1148
00:58:41,379 --> 00:58:43,830
I thought, OK that seems
really right to me.

1149
00:58:43,830 --> 00:58:47,420
I couldn't quite picture the
scene with John Coffey watching

1150
00:58:47,558 --> 00:58:49,698
Richard Widmark pushing
some lady down the stairs

1151
00:58:49,802 --> 00:58:52,632
in a wheelchair and giggling
because he's murdered her

1152
00:58:52,736 --> 00:58:55,014
and like, I didn't
see that having

1153
00:58:55,014 --> 00:58:56,809
a great effect on John Coffey.

1154
00:58:56,912 --> 00:58:59,639
That's one of those things
that when you're translating

1155
00:58:59,743 --> 00:59:01,676
from one language
to another language,

1156
00:59:01,676 --> 00:59:04,575
from written
storytelling to cinema

1157
00:59:04,713 --> 00:59:07,164
storytelling that
evolve along the way,

1158
00:59:07,164 --> 00:59:08,579
that change along the way.

1159
00:59:08,683 --> 00:59:12,341
It's like what do I want
the audience to feel when

1160
00:59:12,341 --> 00:59:13,757
they're watching this scene?

1161
00:59:25,009 --> 00:59:28,495
Frank and I have been
friends for decades

1162
00:59:28,599 --> 00:59:33,121
and when it came time
to shoot The Green Mile,

1163
00:59:33,224 --> 00:59:36,952
we knew that the
big moment would

1164
00:59:37,056 --> 00:59:41,578
be Del's, death and the
electrocution in the chair.

1165
00:59:41,578 --> 00:59:44,788
And we worked with Darrell
Pritchett who was the special

1166
00:59:44,891 --> 00:59:50,414
effects coordinator, and we
knew that first and foremost,

1167
00:59:50,414 --> 00:59:53,382
whatever we built,
whatever this puppet

1168
00:59:53,382 --> 00:59:55,592
that was going to
be built needed

1169
00:59:55,695 --> 00:59:58,318
to move 100% realistically.

1170
00:59:58,422 --> 01:00:00,769
So we had Michael
Jeter, the actor,

1171
01:00:00,873 --> 01:00:05,878
come to our studio in the chair,
and we filmed his movements.

1172
01:00:05,981 --> 01:00:08,984
We filmed how he would move
and how he would react,

1173
01:00:09,088 --> 01:00:12,298
and we sort of reverse
engineered the puppet

1174
01:00:12,436 --> 01:00:13,989
to match what the
actor had done,

1175
01:00:14,127 --> 01:00:16,923
which traditionally, you
don't usually do it that way.

1176
01:00:16,923 --> 01:00:18,718
The puppet... you just
kind of... the puppet

1177
01:00:18,822 --> 01:00:21,618
does what it's going to do
and what it's built to do.

1178
01:00:21,618 --> 01:00:25,622
But in that particular instance,
it was really, really important

1179
01:00:25,725 --> 01:00:29,487
that it felt 100% real.

1180
01:00:29,591 --> 01:00:31,248
Michael came to the studio.

1181
01:00:31,351 --> 01:00:33,906
We recorded all
of his movements,

1182
01:00:34,009 --> 01:00:37,012
and then at that point,
we did a body cast of him.

1183
01:00:37,150 --> 01:00:41,638
We built a fiberglass body the
puppeteer rods and controls

1184
01:00:41,741 --> 01:00:43,985
and cables went out
the bottom of the chair

1185
01:00:44,088 --> 01:00:45,158
and through the back wall.

1186
01:00:45,262 --> 01:00:46,677
So when we were
shooting the scene,

1187
01:00:46,781 --> 01:00:49,818
all the puppeteers
were behind the wall.

1188
01:00:49,922 --> 01:00:51,958
So we couldn't see
anything, because we

1189
01:00:51,958 --> 01:00:54,927
weren't in the room with Tom
Hanks and all the other actors.

1190
01:00:55,030 --> 01:00:56,514
We were on the other
side of the wall

1191
01:00:56,653 --> 01:00:58,033
so we had a little
monitor there.

1192
01:00:58,171 --> 01:01:00,035
Steve was there when
we shot that sequence.

1193
01:01:00,173 --> 01:01:05,178
We have Stephen King visiting
the set of The Green Mile.

1194
01:01:05,316 --> 01:01:07,698
How are you doing?

1195
01:01:07,836 --> 01:01:09,113
How are you?

1196
01:01:09,113 --> 01:01:09,942
OK.

1197
01:01:09,942 --> 01:01:11,046
Fabulous.

1198
01:01:11,150 --> 01:01:12,945
Is this the mile the
way you pictured it?

1199
01:01:12,945 --> 01:01:14,015
Yeah.

1200
01:01:14,153 --> 01:01:15,361
Sure it is.

1201
01:01:15,464 --> 01:01:16,327
Well, we're about...
we're about to roll.

1202
01:01:16,431 --> 01:01:17,743
- OK.
- Watch the magic.

1203
01:01:20,987 --> 01:01:24,163
Cut.

1204
01:01:24,266 --> 01:01:25,026
Frank, you maniac.

1205
01:01:26,199 --> 01:01:27,062
We're definitely going to...

1206
01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:28,098
There is no better man.

1207
01:01:28,201 --> 01:01:29,547
That's great.

1208
01:01:29,651 --> 01:01:31,135
Let me show you... let me
show you all Sparky, man.

1209
01:01:31,239 --> 01:01:32,171
And we fried the bastard.

1210
01:01:32,171 --> 01:01:33,310
Yeah, I don't blame you.

1211
01:01:33,310 --> 01:01:35,484
I would.

1212
01:01:35,484 --> 01:01:38,453
Check this out, man.

1213
01:01:38,556 --> 01:01:40,213
Is this ever cranky.

1214
01:01:40,351 --> 01:01:41,042
Look at this.

1215
01:01:41,180 --> 01:01:42,146
Check it out.

1216
01:01:42,250 --> 01:01:43,389
And then we strap the ankles.

1217
01:01:43,492 --> 01:01:45,218
Kind of be sort of
like a Houdini thing

1218
01:01:45,322 --> 01:01:48,705
if you could pull it off.

1219
01:01:48,808 --> 01:01:50,361
And that's exactly it.

1220
01:01:50,465 --> 01:01:51,362
Exactly.

1221
01:01:51,466 --> 01:01:52,674
This is a good look for you.

1222
01:01:52,674 --> 01:01:54,296
It's a good look for me.

1223
01:01:54,400 --> 01:01:55,746
Yeah.

1224
01:01:55,884 --> 01:01:57,541
Frank, could I get out now?

1225
01:01:57,644 --> 01:01:59,681
Stephen King
showed up on the set.

1226
01:01:59,681 --> 01:02:01,683
It was his birthday.

1227
01:02:01,787 --> 01:02:04,582
We brought out a cake, we all
sang happy birthday to him.

1228
01:02:04,721 --> 01:02:07,862
We do have a secret evil
plan for Stephen King.

1229
01:02:07,862 --> 01:02:10,002
Since last Monday
was his birthday,

1230
01:02:10,105 --> 01:02:12,867
we're going to spring
a birthday cake on him.

1231
01:02:12,867 --> 01:02:14,213
Oh, god.

1232
01:02:26,604 --> 01:02:28,261
You like me.

1233
01:02:28,399 --> 01:02:30,574
You really, really like me.

1234
01:02:42,206 --> 01:02:44,105
We pulled it off.

1235
01:02:44,208 --> 01:02:45,209
Success.

1236
01:02:45,313 --> 01:02:46,452
I think we really surprised him.

1237
01:02:46,555 --> 01:02:49,248
Eduard Delacroix
you are history.

1238
01:02:53,770 --> 01:02:56,634
Everybody sang happy
birthday in the theater.

1239
01:02:56,738 --> 01:02:57,808
God bless you.

1240
01:02:57,946 --> 01:02:58,878
Thank you.

1241
01:02:58,982 --> 01:03:00,259
Frank, when's your birthday?

1242
01:03:00,362 --> 01:03:01,294
January 28th.

1243
01:03:01,398 --> 01:03:02,606
Good.

1244
01:03:02,709 --> 01:03:03,469
Be prepared.

1245
01:03:04,781 --> 01:03:05,954
People so excited
to have him there.

1246
01:03:06,058 --> 01:03:07,818
- Give my best to everybody.
- All right.

1247
01:03:07,956 --> 01:03:08,474
Take care.

1248
01:03:08,577 --> 01:03:09,993
Bye, bye.

1249
01:03:10,131 --> 01:03:10,994
Bye, everybody.

1250
01:03:11,097 --> 01:03:12,064
Bye, Steve.

1251
01:03:12,167 --> 01:03:14,998
Gosh, it could have
all been taken away.

1252
01:03:15,101 --> 01:03:17,966
In something eerily
familiar from his book,

1253
01:03:18,070 --> 01:03:20,555
Stephen King was
hit by a truck as he

1254
01:03:20,658 --> 01:03:23,972
walked along an empty road.

1255
01:03:24,076 --> 01:03:25,111
He's in Maine.

1256
01:03:25,111 --> 01:03:28,494
He's walking his dog
and then typical Stephen

1257
01:03:28,597 --> 01:03:30,565
King, tragedy strikes.

1258
01:03:30,668 --> 01:03:32,670
He's in this horrible accident.

1259
01:03:32,809 --> 01:03:34,811
We were all afraid
after that accident

1260
01:03:34,914 --> 01:03:36,847
that, that was going to be it.

1261
01:03:36,985 --> 01:03:40,264
It's miraculous that
he came out of it alive,

1262
01:03:40,368 --> 01:03:43,440
and now fully ambulatory.

1263
01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:45,442
That's just amazing to me.

1264
01:03:45,442 --> 01:03:47,824
So thanking God for that.

1265
01:03:50,102 --> 01:03:52,276
That whole accident
is actually very much

1266
01:03:52,380 --> 01:03:55,107
connected to The Green Mile.

1267
01:03:55,210 --> 01:03:58,282
When we had our big premiere
screening in Westwood,

1268
01:03:58,386 --> 01:04:01,182
it was the first time Stephen
King had made an appearance

1269
01:04:01,285 --> 01:04:05,945
in public since his accident
and in a lot of pain

1270
01:04:06,049 --> 01:04:08,914
still, you know, but
he was very invested

1271
01:04:09,017 --> 01:04:11,468
emotionally in the movie, and
he really wanted to be there.

1272
01:04:11,468 --> 01:04:12,779
He really wanted to see it.

1273
01:04:12,883 --> 01:04:16,369
So that was his first
time out after that.

1274
01:04:16,473 --> 01:04:19,545
Appliance that holds the pins,

1275
01:04:19,683 --> 01:04:22,065
that hold the bones together.

1276
01:04:22,168 --> 01:04:23,790
On a home shopping network now,

1277
01:04:23,894 --> 01:04:27,587
operators are
standing by, use Tudi.

1278
01:04:27,691 --> 01:04:29,727
Humor and drugs, the
two things together.

1279
01:04:29,831 --> 01:04:30,659
And bitching.

1280
01:04:31,798 --> 01:04:33,593
A lot of bitching off camera.

1281
01:04:33,697 --> 01:04:36,320
Yeah, big time.

1282
01:04:36,320 --> 01:04:38,081
King is a believer.

1283
01:04:38,184 --> 01:04:40,014
Steve had often
talked about life

1284
01:04:40,014 --> 01:04:43,155
goes on after the story ends.

1285
01:04:43,258 --> 01:04:47,607
I am not a religious person by
any stretch of the imagination,

1286
01:04:47,711 --> 01:04:51,508
but religion and belief
are not the same thing.

1287
01:04:51,611 --> 01:04:56,306
Religion is often used to
control not to give comfort.

1288
01:05:00,103 --> 01:05:01,414
Praise God!

1289
01:05:01,552 --> 01:05:02,795
Praise the Lord!

1290
01:05:02,933 --> 01:05:05,177
King does
touch and use politics,

1291
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:08,180
social issues, cultural
issues, and religion

1292
01:05:08,283 --> 01:05:09,388
in a lot of his work.

1293
01:05:09,491 --> 01:05:10,976
It's woven through.

1294
01:05:11,114 --> 01:05:14,013
It's one of his elements, I
guess we could call it, motifs.

1295
01:05:14,117 --> 01:05:15,808
Children of the Corn
was no different.

1296
01:05:15,912 --> 01:05:19,122
When I saw the script, I
realized that this script is

1297
01:05:19,225 --> 01:05:24,092
based on a exploration of dogma,
how people follow other people,

1298
01:05:24,196 --> 01:05:27,889
how cults work, why belief
systems are what they are

1299
01:05:27,889 --> 01:05:29,787
and how people
manipulate others.

1300
01:05:29,891 --> 01:05:32,376
It's really ingrained
in American culture,

1301
01:05:32,480 --> 01:05:34,758
even if we're not
religious, we've grown up

1302
01:05:34,861 --> 01:05:36,656
with religion from childhood.

1303
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:39,038
Most kids go to church
in their early years,

1304
01:05:39,142 --> 01:05:40,902
and maybe they grow
out of it, or maybe

1305
01:05:40,902 --> 01:05:43,422
they never go,
but it's something

1306
01:05:43,422 --> 01:05:45,251
that's always around you.

1307
01:05:48,841 --> 01:05:51,602
In the late 1980s, my
parents who were Methodist

1308
01:05:51,602 --> 01:05:55,986
at that time, became Southern
Baptists, and all of a sudden,

1309
01:05:56,090 --> 01:05:58,506
a lot of the things that I
had loved were off limits.

1310
01:05:58,644 --> 01:06:03,097
For that intense dddd of time, I
sort of lived in Fahrenheit 451

1311
01:06:03,097 --> 01:06:05,340
in my house.

1312
01:06:05,444 --> 01:06:08,688
I had to hide Stephen King books
under my bed in the box springs

1313
01:06:08,826 --> 01:06:10,932
under my bed, and
they did at one time

1314
01:06:11,036 --> 01:06:13,693
find kind of my stash of
Stephen King books under the bed

1315
01:06:13,831 --> 01:06:15,972
and they burned them
in our fireplace.

1316
01:06:18,319 --> 01:06:21,770
I wrote Stephen King a letter
that my books had been burned.

1317
01:06:21,874 --> 01:06:23,876
I just put Stephen
King, Bangor, Maine

1318
01:06:24,014 --> 01:06:27,431
and I sent him the first
three dark tower books.

1319
01:06:27,535 --> 01:06:29,433
I had read that if you
sent Stephen King a book,

1320
01:06:29,537 --> 01:06:31,332
he'd sign it for you.
I didn't expect anything.

1321
01:06:31,435 --> 01:06:33,196
I wasn't even sure it would get
there, but a couple of weeks

1322
01:06:33,334 --> 01:06:35,577
later, I came home from the
private Christian school

1323
01:06:35,681 --> 01:06:36,923
that I went to every day.

1324
01:06:37,027 --> 01:06:39,823
My dad pulled me aside,
and he was like, Josh,

1325
01:06:39,926 --> 01:06:42,446
there's a box here
from Stephen King.

1326
01:06:42,550 --> 01:06:44,000
I didn't tell your mom.

1327
01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:47,210
King had written me this
beautiful message, kind of,

1328
01:06:47,348 --> 01:06:49,177
in the front cover
of each of the books.

1329
01:06:49,281 --> 01:06:51,835
And it was a continuing letter,
so you'd start reading one,

1330
01:06:51,938 --> 01:06:53,733
and then the next
one would pick up.

1331
01:06:53,871 --> 01:06:56,012
I couldn't imagine
that my mom was burning

1332
01:06:56,115 --> 01:06:57,737
The Stand in our
fireplace because it's

1333
01:06:57,841 --> 01:06:59,981
the most Christian
book he's ever written.

1334
01:06:59,981 --> 01:07:02,018
I was raised by
people who believed

1335
01:07:02,121 --> 01:07:04,227
the Antichrist was
coming at some point,

1336
01:07:04,330 --> 01:07:06,056
that the rapture
was going to happen.

1337
01:07:06,160 --> 01:07:08,231
Stephen King gave
me a counter myth

1338
01:07:08,369 --> 01:07:10,647
that allowed me to look
at some of this stuff

1339
01:07:10,647 --> 01:07:12,062
in a different way.

1340
01:07:12,166 --> 01:07:14,409
I'm seeing a lot of army traffic

1341
01:07:14,547 --> 01:07:18,793
on state 17 westbound in
the direction of Arnett.

1342
01:07:18,896 --> 01:07:20,070
You heard anything about that?

1343
01:07:20,208 --> 01:07:21,865
Just you let the army
mind their business

1344
01:07:21,968 --> 01:07:23,729
and you mind yours unit 16.

1345
01:07:23,832 --> 01:07:25,213
Goodbye.

1346
01:07:25,317 --> 01:07:27,940
Politics is something that
King doesn't shy away from

1347
01:07:28,044 --> 01:07:31,840
and neither do I. The whole
military industrial complex.

1348
01:07:31,840 --> 01:07:33,428
The military thinks
they're right,

1349
01:07:33,532 --> 01:07:36,052
and they can do whatever
the hell they want to do.

1350
01:07:36,155 --> 01:07:38,019
Well, that's not
why they're there.

1351
01:07:38,123 --> 01:07:41,091
They're there for protecting
us, not controlling us.

1352
01:07:41,195 --> 01:07:45,544
The idea that civilization
and society is a very fragile

1353
01:07:45,544 --> 01:07:48,616
construct, and it can fall
apart at the drop of a hat

1354
01:07:48,754 --> 01:07:51,067
is very appealing to
me, because if you

1355
01:07:51,170 --> 01:07:52,758
are a student of
history, you can

1356
01:07:52,861 --> 01:07:54,760
see that, that has
happened many, many times

1357
01:07:54,898 --> 01:07:56,417
in many, many ways.

1358
01:07:56,520 --> 01:08:00,455
Entire nations can go insane and
everything that we depend upon,

1359
01:08:00,593 --> 01:08:04,287
especially more and more
it's so very technological

1360
01:08:04,390 --> 01:08:07,117
that if you pull the
rug out from under us,

1361
01:08:07,255 --> 01:08:09,257
we revert to a very
primitive state.

1362
01:08:09,361 --> 01:08:11,777
You don't seem to understand
the situation here, ma'am.

1363
01:08:11,915 --> 01:08:13,399
Martial law has been declared.

1364
01:08:13,399 --> 01:08:16,264
We don't have to put up with you
and your pinko friends anymore.

1365
01:08:16,368 --> 01:08:19,060
Mike, are you getting all this?

1366
01:08:19,060 --> 01:08:20,958
Get him!

1367
01:08:21,062 --> 01:08:21,959
Get the driver!

1368
01:08:23,892 --> 01:08:25,894
You know, The
Stand shines a light

1369
01:08:25,894 --> 01:08:28,552
on what America is as a nation.

1370
01:08:28,656 --> 01:08:33,937
When all the societal norms
break down, who are they?

1371
01:08:34,040 --> 01:08:36,560
Yeats was right.

1372
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:38,010
Things fall apart.

1373
01:08:38,148 --> 01:08:41,082
And here we are at this
moment seeing societal norms

1374
01:08:41,082 --> 01:08:43,291
break down and it's not pretty.

1375
01:08:43,395 --> 01:08:43,912
It's terrifying.

1376
01:08:43,912 --> 01:08:46,639
Bring out your dead.

1377
01:08:46,777 --> 01:08:48,227
The monster is coming.

1378
01:08:48,331 --> 01:08:49,642
He's coming.

1379
01:08:49,780 --> 01:08:52,335
Bring out your dead.

1380
01:08:52,438 --> 01:08:54,302
Bring out your dead.

1381
01:08:54,406 --> 01:08:56,339
Just the idea of what would you

1382
01:08:56,477 --> 01:08:59,514
do if like everyone
was dead and there was

1383
01:08:59,618 --> 01:09:00,998
just this handful of people?

1384
01:09:01,137 --> 01:09:02,483
I hadn't seen many
stories like that.

1385
01:09:02,586 --> 01:09:05,451
Now it seems like maybe
every story is about that,

1386
01:09:05,451 --> 01:09:07,695
but back then, seeing The
Stand mini series, that

1387
01:09:07,833 --> 01:09:10,767
was the first time I thought,
oh my god, imagine if I survived

1388
01:09:10,870 --> 01:09:13,183
something like that, and you
could go into a supermarket

1389
01:09:13,321 --> 01:09:14,184
and no one was
there, and there's

1390
01:09:14,322 --> 01:09:15,772
a town and everyone's dead.

1391
01:09:15,875 --> 01:09:19,672
Like, it was just so mind
blowing to me as a little kid.

1392
01:09:19,776 --> 01:09:21,916
I really
didn't want to do The Stand

1393
01:09:22,019 --> 01:09:24,263
again linear because
mix series meant

1394
01:09:24,367 --> 01:09:25,713
so much to me when I was a kid.

1395
01:09:25,816 --> 01:09:29,372
I don't know what reason
there is to make that again.

1396
01:09:29,475 --> 01:09:31,167
We had to do some
things too just

1397
01:09:31,270 --> 01:09:33,445
to make it more representative
of all of America

1398
01:09:33,548 --> 01:09:35,136
because if everybody
in the world died,

1399
01:09:35,136 --> 01:09:36,551
you don't just want
to see a poster

1400
01:09:36,689 --> 01:09:38,450
with a bunch of white people
and one old black Lady.

1401
01:09:38,553 --> 01:09:40,693
Because in the book, it
is... everybody's white

1402
01:09:40,831 --> 01:09:42,178
except for mother Abigail.

1403
01:09:42,281 --> 01:09:44,456
It was written 40 years
ago before I was even born.

1404
01:09:44,559 --> 01:09:46,941
So we really did try
to do what we could

1405
01:09:47,044 --> 01:09:48,356
to make it be if
the world ended,

1406
01:09:48,460 --> 01:09:50,531
this is a cross-section
of all the people.

1407
01:09:50,634 --> 01:09:52,533
And then just trying to
structure it in a way

1408
01:09:52,636 --> 01:09:54,811
that would be surprising
to people who were really

1409
01:09:54,914 --> 01:09:56,675
familiar with the
material, who had

1410
01:09:56,675 --> 01:09:58,987
seen the series many
times when they were young

1411
01:09:58,987 --> 01:10:00,541
or read the book.

1412
01:10:00,644 --> 01:10:02,301
We wanted to make sure that
even if you'd read the book,

1413
01:10:02,405 --> 01:10:04,061
you never would quite
know where it was

1414
01:10:04,200 --> 01:10:06,926
going to go next and all that.

1415
01:10:07,064 --> 01:10:09,688
The irony of that
was not lost upon us.

1416
01:10:09,688 --> 01:10:13,174
While we were shooting, we
were at the very last day shut

1417
01:10:13,174 --> 01:10:15,314
down by the COVID pandemic.

1418
01:10:15,418 --> 01:10:18,248
And of course, The
Stand begins with

1419
01:10:18,352 --> 01:10:22,114
a global pandemic that kills 90%
of the population of the world.

1420
01:10:22,218 --> 01:10:25,151
So it was truly unnerving
while we were shooting, seeing

1421
01:10:25,255 --> 01:10:26,567
how the disease was spreading.

1422
01:10:26,705 --> 01:10:27,947
It was strange.

1423
01:10:28,051 --> 01:10:29,708
It was surreal, and
it's still surreal now.

1424
01:10:32,435 --> 01:10:34,609
But I mean, yes, we
absolutely were making

1425
01:10:34,713 --> 01:10:38,061
a show about what is
happening in the world,

1426
01:10:38,164 --> 01:10:41,271
and that was weird.

1427
01:10:41,375 --> 01:10:43,515
That man has had a
crystal ball for a very

1428
01:10:43,618 --> 01:10:44,792
long time on his desk.

1429
01:10:44,930 --> 01:10:46,414
Just like show me the future.

1430
01:10:46,518 --> 01:10:48,382
That's the legend
of Stephen King.

1431
01:10:48,382 --> 01:10:50,625
He's able to see
things in the future

1432
01:10:50,729 --> 01:10:52,524
that the average person can't.

1433
01:10:52,627 --> 01:10:56,252
And then also the
fact that Randall Flagg,

1434
01:10:56,252 --> 01:10:59,738
the villain of The Stand,
has uncomfortable echoes

1435
01:10:59,841 --> 01:11:01,257
of Donald Trump.

1436
01:11:01,360 --> 01:11:05,537
We drown the rats, and
then we burn the witch.

1437
01:11:05,640 --> 01:11:07,815
In the way that he
appeals to the worst

1438
01:11:07,953 --> 01:11:12,129
of the American character and
is a kind of populist leader

1439
01:11:12,268 --> 01:11:14,097
in a world in crisis.

1440
01:11:14,097 --> 01:11:17,618
I really felt, when we were
making that mini series,

1441
01:11:17,721 --> 01:11:21,656
we were holding up a
mirror to the world.

1442
01:11:21,794 --> 01:11:24,556
And when you consider that
Stephen King wrote that book

1443
01:11:24,659 --> 01:11:28,732
sometime in the late '70s,
you, kind of, have to think

1444
01:11:28,836 --> 01:11:29,940
he's a bit of a prophet.

1445
01:11:29,940 --> 01:11:31,494
I think it's that
aspect of his work

1446
01:11:31,632 --> 01:11:33,565
that I like the most
is this deep, sort of,

1447
01:11:33,668 --> 01:11:35,981
resonant understanding
of what the moment are

1448
01:11:36,084 --> 01:11:37,500
that we're living in.

1449
01:11:37,638 --> 01:11:39,674
And in some ways the cell
had some reflections of that.

1450
01:11:39,778 --> 01:11:42,367
There were things in the book
that I felt were prophetic.

1451
01:11:42,470 --> 01:11:45,508
The signal isn't something
that might happen tomorrow.

1452
01:11:45,611 --> 01:11:46,302
It happened already.

1453
01:11:46,405 --> 01:11:47,820
This isn't like it's coming.

1454
01:11:47,924 --> 01:11:49,408
This is about what's here.

1455
01:11:54,620 --> 01:11:56,346
Even in the last
image of the film,

1456
01:11:56,484 --> 01:11:58,348
there's the initials
of Donald Trump.

1457
01:11:58,452 --> 01:12:00,454
Donald Trump was not on
the landscape at that time.

1458
01:12:00,454 --> 01:12:04,354
He's a prophet
of the apocalypse.

1459
01:12:04,458 --> 01:12:06,218
So you saw all this shit coming?

1460
01:12:06,322 --> 01:12:10,153
Craig Stillson in The
Dead Zone are just chilling.

1461
01:12:10,153 --> 01:12:14,191
What he saw coming was
unfortunately, precisely

1462
01:12:14,295 --> 01:12:16,815
accurate, and here we are.

1463
01:12:16,918 --> 01:12:18,023
Bastard!

1464
01:12:18,126 --> 01:12:19,196
You're not the
voice of the people

1465
01:12:19,300 --> 01:12:20,370
I am the voice of the people.

1466
01:12:20,474 --> 01:12:23,200
The people speak
through me, not you.

1467
01:12:23,339 --> 01:12:24,788
Came to me while I slept, Sonny.

1468
01:12:24,788 --> 01:12:26,134
My destiny.

1469
01:12:26,238 --> 01:12:27,550
In the middle of the
night, it came to me.

1470
01:12:27,653 --> 01:12:31,174
I must get up now, right
now and fulfill my destiny.

1471
01:12:31,174 --> 01:12:34,453
The Dead Zone remains my
favorite of all his King's

1472
01:12:34,557 --> 01:12:37,353
movies because Christopher
Walken's character, the love

1473
01:12:37,456 --> 01:12:40,701
story, all that wove
through that thing

1474
01:12:40,804 --> 01:12:42,392
was just incredible to me.

1475
01:12:42,496 --> 01:12:44,429
It really, really captured it.

1476
01:12:44,567 --> 01:12:47,501
When HBO started on television
here, they had five movies,

1477
01:12:47,501 --> 01:12:49,365
and they would play them
over and over again.

1478
01:12:49,468 --> 01:12:51,746
So I watched the dead
zone probably 100 times.

1479
01:12:51,850 --> 01:12:53,576
And I just think it's
one of the great love

1480
01:12:53,679 --> 01:12:55,232
stories, one of the
great performances

1481
01:12:55,336 --> 01:12:57,131
by Christopher Walken.

1482
01:12:57,234 --> 01:12:58,477
It's such a terrific film.

1483
01:12:58,581 --> 01:13:00,341
like to use this as
a shortcut to school.

1484
01:13:00,341 --> 01:13:02,550
And I came to really
feel like Stephen

1485
01:13:02,654 --> 01:13:05,829
King, in a way
like Bob Dylan, is

1486
01:13:05,933 --> 01:13:07,590
a sort of dreamer of America.

1487
01:13:07,728 --> 01:13:10,869
Like he contains
the entirety of it

1488
01:13:10,869 --> 01:13:12,698
and sort of dreams
in the language

1489
01:13:12,698 --> 01:13:15,701
of the chaos of America.

1490
01:13:33,512 --> 01:13:37,620
People, when you apply fear,
turn against one another.

1491
01:13:37,758 --> 01:13:41,934
Paranoia, suspicion,
aggression suddenly happens.

1492
01:13:42,038 --> 01:13:44,178
The veneer of
polite civilization

1493
01:13:44,281 --> 01:13:46,352
gets ripped away very quickly.

1494
01:13:46,456 --> 01:13:48,562
It is his fault. Yes, it is...

1495
01:13:48,665 --> 01:13:49,735
No!

1496
01:13:49,735 --> 01:13:52,048
We're dealing with a lot
of craziness these days,

1497
01:13:52,151 --> 01:13:54,050
and it's actually
only been getting

1498
01:13:54,050 --> 01:13:55,534
worse since I made The Mist.

1499
01:13:55,638 --> 01:13:57,571
People trying to
control an environment

1500
01:13:57,571 --> 01:13:59,711
and trying to
control a population

1501
01:13:59,814 --> 01:14:04,336
and here it's done in a
very claustrophobic sense.

1502
01:14:04,440 --> 01:14:08,029
Everybody is trapped together
in this one store that's

1503
01:14:08,133 --> 01:14:09,721
being invaded by monsters.

1504
01:14:09,824 --> 01:14:13,103
So politics has to go out
the window at one point,

1505
01:14:13,103 --> 01:14:15,278
and it's got the
grimmest ending ever,

1506
01:14:15,278 --> 01:14:17,901
and it's an ending that
Darabont came up with.

1507
01:14:18,005 --> 01:14:21,491
Frank would always send me
an early draft of the script.

1508
01:14:21,629 --> 01:14:22,837
Let me know what you think.

1509
01:14:22,941 --> 01:14:24,287
Let me know what you think.

1510
01:14:24,390 --> 01:14:25,840
He had done it with Shawshank.

1511
01:14:25,978 --> 01:14:26,979
He'd done it with Green Mile.

1512
01:14:27,117 --> 01:14:28,325
He'd done it with Majestic.

1513
01:14:28,429 --> 01:14:29,775
All of his movies, he
always send me one.

1514
01:14:29,775 --> 01:14:32,433
And he sent me The Mist
and I read the script,

1515
01:14:32,433 --> 01:14:34,608
and it got to the
end, and I threw

1516
01:14:34,608 --> 01:14:36,782
the script across the
room, and I called Frank.

1517
01:14:36,782 --> 01:14:38,922
I'm like, dude, really?

1518
01:14:43,513 --> 01:14:45,446
Stephen's a genius when it comes

1519
01:14:45,550 --> 01:14:47,552
to putting you in the
skin of those characters.

1520
01:14:47,655 --> 01:14:50,244
And then when I got to the end
of the story, I went, what?

1521
01:14:50,347 --> 01:14:52,280
There's no ending?

1522
01:14:52,384 --> 01:14:55,352
It was a very ambiguous
kind of non-ending

1523
01:14:55,456 --> 01:14:57,872
and I thought, well,
OK, that's fine.

1524
01:14:58,010 --> 01:15:01,048
He's taken me on this
incredible journey as a writer,

1525
01:15:01,186 --> 01:15:03,533
as a storyteller, fair enough.

1526
01:15:03,671 --> 01:15:07,054
If he doesn't have a
conclusive ending, that's OK.

1527
01:15:07,192 --> 01:15:10,160
But I thought if
it's a movie, I don't

1528
01:15:10,160 --> 01:15:14,233
think that's an ending that's
going to be very satisfactory.

1529
01:15:14,371 --> 01:15:18,134
I don't think it's going
to really land well.

1530
01:15:18,134 --> 01:15:19,963
Movies, I think, need an ending.

1531
01:15:20,067 --> 01:15:22,483
When I wrote the script,
I sent it to Stephen King

1532
01:15:22,483 --> 01:15:26,211
and my note was, Steve,
I gave it an ending,

1533
01:15:26,314 --> 01:15:30,802
and it's definitely a left turn
and I'm leaving this up to you.

1534
01:15:30,905 --> 01:15:33,805
The irony is when we went
to the premiere in New York,

1535
01:15:33,908 --> 01:15:36,532
Steve basically said, I wish
I would have thought of that

1536
01:15:36,532 --> 01:15:39,638
ending for the book because if
I would have thought of that,

1537
01:15:39,742 --> 01:15:41,398
that's how I would
have ended the story.

1538
01:15:41,502 --> 01:15:45,264
It's a unique situation
where the writer looks

1539
01:15:45,368 --> 01:15:48,233
at the body of work
of what that movie was

1540
01:15:48,336 --> 01:15:50,546
and where Frank took
it and was like dang,

1541
01:15:50,649 --> 01:15:52,133
I wish I would have
thought of that.

1542
01:15:52,237 --> 01:15:53,479
That's pretty great.

1543
01:15:53,583 --> 01:15:56,724
And I feel like The Mist
lives in the same world

1544
01:15:56,828 --> 01:15:59,831
as John Carpenter's The
Thing where the movie came

1545
01:15:59,934 --> 01:16:03,938
out right after ET
and people had a very

1546
01:16:04,076 --> 01:16:06,527
unique reaction to The Thing.

1547
01:16:06,631 --> 01:16:11,497
And then the movie has come
to be very well respected.

1548
01:16:11,601 --> 01:16:13,776
I think The Mist
is the same way.

1549
01:16:13,879 --> 01:16:17,089
Upon multiple viewings,
and as that movie ages,

1550
01:16:17,227 --> 01:16:18,746
it's like wine.

1551
01:16:18,746 --> 01:16:22,060
I think people really respect
it and understand it and get

1552
01:16:22,060 --> 01:16:24,165
a much better sense of it.

1553
01:16:24,269 --> 01:16:25,891
Just like being home in LA.

1554
01:16:25,995 --> 01:16:26,754
Yeah!

1555
01:16:26,858 --> 01:16:27,410
Yeah!

1556
01:16:27,513 --> 01:16:28,273
And tug of war!

1557
01:16:29,585 --> 01:16:31,621
When I read The
Mist, Steve's story,

1558
01:16:31,725 --> 01:16:33,519
I thought oh, this
is really cool.

1559
01:16:33,623 --> 01:16:36,488
This is very weird
pressure cooker happening.

1560
01:16:36,592 --> 01:16:38,766
You take all that and
put it into the microcosm

1561
01:16:38,870 --> 01:16:40,803
of a supermarket
as Steve King did

1562
01:16:40,906 --> 01:16:44,047
and you can hold that
mirror up to the audience

1563
01:16:44,151 --> 01:16:45,186
and say boy, look at this.

1564
01:16:45,290 --> 01:16:47,637
This is kind of ugly.

1565
01:16:47,741 --> 01:16:49,881
And I love when
stories can do that.

1566
01:16:49,984 --> 01:16:53,229
I love when a piece of
cinema holds that mirror up,

1567
01:16:53,332 --> 01:16:56,128
whether it's something truly
glorious like Schindler's List,

1568
01:16:56,232 --> 01:16:58,614
which I think is just about
the greatest movie ever made

1569
01:16:58,614 --> 01:17:00,788
or the Night of the Living
Dead on the opposite end

1570
01:17:00,892 --> 01:17:04,136
of the budget spectrum,
that also had a very

1571
01:17:04,240 --> 01:17:06,138
sociological component to it.

1572
01:17:06,242 --> 01:17:07,726
I don' think they
even intended it

1573
01:17:07,830 --> 01:17:09,314
but it showed up in
the movie, and that's

1574
01:17:09,417 --> 01:17:12,662
one of the reasons the movie
is so powerful, and so beloved.

1575
01:17:12,766 --> 01:17:15,803
I mean... well, we could talk
about movies that I love

1576
01:17:15,907 --> 01:17:19,704
for days, but Night of
the Living Dead, that

1577
01:17:19,807 --> 01:17:22,810
was in the '60s and the 1960s
when we were having the Civil

1578
01:17:22,914 --> 01:17:29,230
Rights struggle, which we
seem to be reliving now,

1579
01:17:29,334 --> 01:17:31,198
which is really crazy.

1580
01:17:31,301 --> 01:17:34,511
You would think that we would
have grown up more by now,

1581
01:17:34,615 --> 01:17:37,100
but apparently we don't
learn from the past.

1582
01:17:37,204 --> 01:17:39,378
I believe in 1968 was
when that movie came out.

1583
01:17:39,516 --> 01:17:40,863
The Civil Rights
struggle was going on,

1584
01:17:41,001 --> 01:17:42,968
and the lead of the
movie was a black man

1585
01:17:42,968 --> 01:17:45,522
who was not shy about
standing up for himself.

1586
01:17:45,626 --> 01:17:48,871
It is tough for the kid
that her old man is so stupid.

1587
01:17:48,974 --> 01:17:51,528
Now, you get the hell
down in the cellar.

1588
01:17:51,632 --> 01:17:53,289
You can be the boss down there.

1589
01:17:53,289 --> 01:17:55,947
I'm boss up here.

1590
01:17:56,050 --> 01:17:59,364
To see a black guy slap the
white guy around on screen back

1591
01:17:59,467 --> 01:18:03,195
then was sociologically
earth shattering.

1592
01:18:03,299 --> 01:18:05,508
It was amazing.

1593
01:18:05,508 --> 01:18:08,200
It was like Sidney Poitier
in The Heat of the Night.

1594
01:18:08,304 --> 01:18:12,204
If you really understand what
was going on in the United

1595
01:18:12,308 --> 01:18:15,069
States at the time that Night
of the Living Dead came out,

1596
01:18:15,207 --> 01:18:19,211
you'll realize what a bold
movie that really was.

1597
01:18:19,315 --> 01:18:24,769
George Romero came from a
documentary style background.

1598
01:18:24,872 --> 01:18:28,393
They made Night of the Living
Dead for literally no money.

1599
01:18:28,496 --> 01:18:30,498
At the time, a lot
of the directors

1600
01:18:30,602 --> 01:18:34,813
really had this unique
sort of Renegade spirit.

1601
01:18:34,917 --> 01:18:37,678
Between George and Tobe
Hooper and Wes Craven,

1602
01:18:37,678 --> 01:18:40,060
a lot of the filmmakers
at the time, horror

1603
01:18:40,163 --> 01:18:41,889
was very, very taboo.

1604
01:18:41,993 --> 01:18:44,029
George always
would claim that he

1605
01:18:44,029 --> 01:18:47,584
never really was trying to make
a statement, but he always did.

1606
01:18:47,688 --> 01:18:52,348
He was able to shine the
spotlight on specific elements

1607
01:18:52,451 --> 01:18:54,005
of what was relevant
during the day

1608
01:18:54,108 --> 01:18:57,422
without ever even realizing,
I think, that he had done it.

1609
01:18:57,525 --> 01:18:59,700
He cast Dawand Jones,
an African-American man,

1610
01:18:59,700 --> 01:19:01,633
and George would
always say, oh, he just

1611
01:19:01,737 --> 01:19:05,395
was the best actor which
is probably the case but

1612
01:19:05,395 --> 01:19:09,054
whether or not George meant
it, I always felt that maybe

1613
01:19:09,054 --> 01:19:12,575
in the back of his mind that
there was something there

1614
01:19:12,575 --> 01:19:14,784
because then from all of
his other subsequent movies

1615
01:19:14,888 --> 01:19:18,236
from that point on, there was
a strong African-American lead

1616
01:19:18,339 --> 01:19:20,307
and a female.

1617
01:19:20,445 --> 01:19:22,861
George liked pushing
the boundaries

1618
01:19:22,965 --> 01:19:27,107
and I think that's where
he had a kindred spirit

1619
01:19:27,245 --> 01:19:28,591
with Steve King.

1620
01:19:28,694 --> 01:19:30,075
He and Stephen met.

1621
01:19:30,075 --> 01:19:32,664
Steve being a fan of George's,
wanted to meet George.

1622
01:19:32,802 --> 01:19:36,150
I think it may have been
during Dawn of the Dead

1623
01:19:36,254 --> 01:19:39,464
that Steve and George
struck up a friendship,

1624
01:19:39,567 --> 01:19:40,983
and that carried
through into Knight

1625
01:19:41,086 --> 01:19:44,227
Riders and Knight Riders,
Stephen King has a cameo.

1626
01:19:44,227 --> 01:19:45,504
That's all.

1627
01:19:45,608 --> 01:19:46,643
They're like like
the wrestlers on TV.

1628
01:19:46,747 --> 01:19:47,990
You got the blood bag.

1629
01:19:48,093 --> 01:19:49,785
And I believe that it
was during Knight Riders

1630
01:19:49,888 --> 01:19:51,994
that they started
talking about EC Comics

1631
01:19:52,132 --> 01:19:54,928
and like wanting to
do a movie together

1632
01:19:54,928 --> 01:19:57,654
and it ended up being Creepshow.

1633
01:20:06,146 --> 01:20:09,287
Hey, buddy.

1634
01:20:09,287 --> 01:20:11,185
What the fuck happened?

1635
01:20:11,289 --> 01:20:12,980
Looks like a hit and run.

1636
01:20:13,084 --> 01:20:13,878
Yeah?

1637
01:20:17,260 --> 01:20:18,606
It's like a Black guy, huh?

1638
01:20:18,710 --> 01:20:20,919
The number one most
important thing about Creepshow

1639
01:20:21,023 --> 01:20:24,095
is every story had
a different tone.

1640
01:20:24,198 --> 01:20:25,199
One of them was funny.

1641
01:20:25,337 --> 01:20:27,615
The Jordy Verrill story
that Steve starred in

1642
01:20:27,615 --> 01:20:30,135
was very silly and
very outrageous.

1643
01:20:30,135 --> 01:20:34,691
And then you had the Crate
which was a straight horror.

1644
01:20:34,795 --> 01:20:37,177
And then you had things
like Father's Day.

1645
01:20:37,280 --> 01:20:39,593
I got my cake.

1646
01:20:40,559 --> 01:20:42,596
Every single
story was different.

1647
01:20:42,699 --> 01:20:45,047
So that was one
of the main things

1648
01:20:45,150 --> 01:20:47,394
that I took away from
Creepshow when I was younger

1649
01:20:47,497 --> 01:20:51,743
and what I wanted to instill
in the current iteration

1650
01:20:51,847 --> 01:20:54,815
of Creepshow which is you're
going on a different journey

1651
01:20:54,919 --> 01:20:58,163
every single time and it might
be fun, it might be scary,

1652
01:20:58,163 --> 01:21:00,717
it might be suspenseful,
it might be tense,

1653
01:21:00,821 --> 01:21:02,133
it might be ridiculous.

1654
01:21:02,236 --> 01:21:05,895
But no matter what,
every experience that

1655
01:21:06,033 --> 01:21:08,656
you go on in the
show, you're getting

1656
01:21:08,656 --> 01:21:12,074
a different vibe from it.

1657
01:21:12,177 --> 01:21:14,559
If there was one
of those stories that

1658
01:21:14,662 --> 01:21:16,733
really had a major
impact, it was probably

1659
01:21:16,872 --> 01:21:18,080
They're Creeping Up on You.

1660
01:21:18,218 --> 01:21:21,566
To live with cockroaches
for four or five weeks,

1661
01:21:21,669 --> 01:21:23,879
was a life changing experience.

1662
01:21:23,982 --> 01:21:27,227
We would find them on us
all the time no matter

1663
01:21:27,330 --> 01:21:30,678
how much we tried
to wrap ourselves up

1664
01:21:30,678 --> 01:21:32,784
and not take them home with us.

1665
01:21:32,922 --> 01:21:34,855
The roach wranglers...
that's what we called them,

1666
01:21:34,959 --> 01:21:38,894
roach wranglers... promised
us that they could actually

1667
01:21:38,997 --> 01:21:41,931
control the behavior
of the roaches

1668
01:21:42,035 --> 01:21:47,040
with certain Skinnerian
or Pavlovian tricks.

1669
01:21:47,040 --> 01:21:48,834
It's like no.

1670
01:21:48,938 --> 01:21:52,666
A roach does not take
direction, right?

1671
01:21:52,769 --> 01:21:54,944
So we had the big dump.

1672
01:21:55,048 --> 01:21:57,222
We had to dump all
the roaches and they

1673
01:21:57,222 --> 01:21:58,465
would scatter everywhere.

1674
01:21:58,603 --> 01:22:00,605
And if you've seen the movie,
you know that it's when

1675
01:22:00,743 --> 01:22:02,952
E.G. Marshall finally gets his.

1676
01:22:03,056 --> 01:22:05,886
So they said, well, how are
we going to prevent them

1677
01:22:05,990 --> 01:22:11,305
from getting out of here because
the set lights and no ceiling?

1678
01:22:11,443 --> 01:22:12,824
Oh, no, don't worry about it.

1679
01:22:12,962 --> 01:22:15,654
What we'll do is we'll put
Vaseline all around the top

1680
01:22:15,758 --> 01:22:18,209
of the set so that
when they scatter,

1681
01:22:18,312 --> 01:22:21,005
because they hate light,
they'll go up the walls,

1682
01:22:21,108 --> 01:22:24,387
they'll hit the Vaseline,
and they'll fall back down.

1683
01:22:24,387 --> 01:22:25,595
OK.

1684
01:22:25,699 --> 01:22:27,149
We'll take your word for it.

1685
01:22:27,252 --> 01:22:32,154
So the day comes, Vaseline
all around the top of the set,

1686
01:22:32,292 --> 01:22:36,020
dump the roaches into the
set and off they go right up

1687
01:22:36,158 --> 01:22:39,955
the wall over the Vaseline and
out into the rest of the world.

1688
01:22:43,337 --> 01:22:45,167
The Vaseline didn't work.

1689
01:22:45,270 --> 01:22:46,996
I don't know how
I came up with it.

1690
01:22:47,100 --> 01:22:50,896
There are times when I
wish I hadn't like now.

1691
01:22:51,000 --> 01:22:53,520
I'm sure some people
in the surrounding area

1692
01:22:53,658 --> 01:22:56,937
woke up with certain roaches
that they'd never seen before.

1693
01:22:56,937 --> 01:23:00,182
These were big fat
Trinidadian roaches,

1694
01:23:00,285 --> 01:23:03,979
and I think there are a few new
species in Western Pennsylvania

1695
01:23:04,082 --> 01:23:05,635
now.

1696
01:23:05,739 --> 01:23:06,843
It was an accident.

1697
01:23:06,982 --> 01:23:09,846
A legitimate accident.

1698
01:23:09,985 --> 01:23:12,263
So why should I fuck
up my life right?

1699
01:23:14,679 --> 01:23:17,406
How are you doing lady?

1700
01:23:17,509 --> 01:23:18,890
Thanks for the ride.

1701
01:23:18,994 --> 01:23:21,858
One of the things that
both Steve and George had

1702
01:23:21,962 --> 01:23:24,965
is the ability to mix the
humor with the horror.

1703
01:23:25,069 --> 01:23:27,209
Now of course Creepshow is
the perfect example of that.

1704
01:23:27,312 --> 01:23:31,109
That was kind of the beginning
of their working relationship,

1705
01:23:31,213 --> 01:23:35,734
and it was a very unique one
because King trusted George.

1706
01:23:35,838 --> 01:23:39,221
He trusted him
implicitly, and that

1707
01:23:39,324 --> 01:23:42,983
was something that back in the
day was very hard to come by.

1708
01:23:43,087 --> 01:23:47,401
So George was set to direct
Pet Sematary at one point,

1709
01:23:47,539 --> 01:23:49,403
and then of course,
George did the Dark Half

1710
01:23:49,541 --> 01:23:51,888
an he's collaborated with
Stephen King probably

1711
01:23:51,992 --> 01:23:55,237
as many times as Rob
Reiner or Frank Darabont

1712
01:23:55,375 --> 01:23:57,756
they had really very
successful collaborations.

1713
01:23:57,894 --> 01:24:00,138
But George always
was ahead of his time

1714
01:24:00,242 --> 01:24:02,209
very much like
Steve's writing was.

1715
01:24:04,867 --> 01:24:07,249
I think everybody
loves to be scared.

1716
01:24:07,352 --> 01:24:09,320
I think it's a way of
working things out.

1717
01:24:09,423 --> 01:24:13,255
I mean, after all, horror is
as ancient as human beings.

1718
01:24:13,358 --> 01:24:15,705
In all storytelling
and all cultures,

1719
01:24:15,809 --> 01:24:17,259
there is horror story.

1720
01:24:17,362 --> 01:24:21,263
Fairy tales were a way for
people to teach their children

1721
01:24:21,366 --> 01:24:23,679
about the real
world, but I think

1722
01:24:23,782 --> 01:24:28,822
a good horror movie allows us
to put some order to the chaos.

1723
01:24:35,070 --> 01:24:38,452
I'm interested in
fear because all my life

1724
01:24:38,590 --> 01:24:40,937
I've been a fearful person.

1725
01:24:41,076 --> 01:24:43,837
I've wasted so much
of my life being

1726
01:24:43,940 --> 01:24:45,459
afraid of imaginary things.

1727
01:24:45,563 --> 01:24:48,531
Afraid of not going to get that
job, afraid I'll lose the job I

1728
01:24:48,635 --> 01:24:50,878
have, afraid that I'm not
going to meet the girl

1729
01:24:50,982 --> 01:24:53,640
I love or she's going to
leave me once I do find her.

1730
01:24:53,778 --> 01:24:57,471
All those fears, none of them
has ever come true in my life,

1731
01:24:57,575 --> 01:24:58,955
but I had them anyway.

1732
01:24:59,059 --> 01:25:02,027
So I felt that's a
really interesting topic.

1733
01:25:02,131 --> 01:25:04,651
And that's what
this story in Cujo

1734
01:25:04,754 --> 01:25:06,722
gives me an opportunity to tell.

1735
01:25:06,825 --> 01:25:12,279
The dog becomes the metaphor for
the insanity that fear people.

1736
01:25:16,490 --> 01:25:19,976
You know, obviously, a
lot of it's about mortality.

1737
01:25:20,080 --> 01:25:21,495
A lot of it's about death.

1738
01:25:21,633 --> 01:25:25,154
A lot of it's about questions
of existence and meaning.

1739
01:25:25,292 --> 01:25:29,262
So undercover of
almost silliness,

1740
01:25:29,365 --> 01:25:32,334
you can tangle with some pretty
deep existential questions,

1741
01:25:32,437 --> 01:25:33,266
I think.

1742
01:25:33,266 --> 01:25:34,474
It's one of the
reasons, I think,

1743
01:25:34,577 --> 01:25:36,441
horror is super interesting.

1744
01:26:11,718 --> 01:26:15,549
I mean, on the one hand,
he's just incredibly creative

1745
01:26:15,653 --> 01:26:16,826
and has great concepts.

1746
01:26:16,826 --> 01:26:18,207
He can take something
like a killer car

1747
01:26:18,311 --> 01:26:19,967
and make it a very scary story.

1748
01:26:20,071 --> 01:26:22,038
But I think the thing that's
scarier about something

1749
01:26:22,177 --> 01:26:24,627
like Christine is the
journey that Arnie

1750
01:26:24,731 --> 01:26:26,077
Cunningham is going through.

1751
01:26:26,181 --> 01:26:27,734
You care more about that
car than you care about me.

1752
01:26:27,872 --> 01:26:32,394
Where really the car is just
a metaphor for the change.

1753
01:26:32,532 --> 01:26:34,396
He's going through being
bullied in high school

1754
01:26:34,499 --> 01:26:36,052
and, kind of, being
an outcast and then

1755
01:26:36,191 --> 01:26:37,571
trying to find his voice.

1756
01:26:37,675 --> 01:26:39,573
And I would say that's the
thing, for me, that makes

1757
01:26:39,677 --> 01:26:42,921
his work, so memorable, that
these stories don't leave

1758
01:26:43,025 --> 01:26:45,234
my brain is because
the people in them

1759
01:26:45,338 --> 01:26:47,063
and the journeys they
go through is always,

1760
01:26:47,167 --> 01:26:48,651
for me, more visceral
and stronger.

1761
01:26:48,755 --> 01:26:51,033
For me, that is always
more powerful than even

1762
01:26:51,136 --> 01:26:54,726
like supernatural aspects of it.

1763
01:26:54,830 --> 01:26:59,662
Decided to wake up and see
what home looks like, huh?

1764
01:26:59,766 --> 01:27:03,010
In our opinion, Pet Sematary
is one of the scariest things

1765
01:27:03,010 --> 01:27:03,839
he's ever done.

1766
01:27:03,839 --> 01:27:05,220
Ellie be careful.

1767
01:27:05,323 --> 01:27:06,911
Ellie.

1768
01:27:07,049 --> 01:27:09,948
Daddy!

1769
01:27:10,052 --> 01:27:11,743
He himself wrote
the book and then

1770
01:27:11,847 --> 01:27:14,090
was so disturbed by what he
did, he put it in a drawer

1771
01:27:14,194 --> 01:27:15,402
for like a year.

1772
01:27:15,506 --> 01:27:16,576
He knew he tapped into
something because he

1773
01:27:16,679 --> 01:27:17,646
had kids at that time.

1774
01:27:17,749 --> 01:27:18,509
You got it.

1775
01:27:18,612 --> 01:27:19,441
Gage is flying it.

1776
01:27:19,579 --> 01:27:20,545
You got it?

1777
01:27:20,545 --> 01:27:21,995
Can I fly it now?

1778
01:27:22,098 --> 01:27:22,996
In a minute, honey...

1779
01:27:23,099 --> 01:27:25,136
And I have a son now.

1780
01:27:25,240 --> 01:27:27,276
And so to me the thought of
anything happening to him

1781
01:27:27,380 --> 01:27:29,589
is the scariest thing I
could possibly imagine.

1782
01:27:32,281 --> 01:27:34,525
Don't let him go
on the road, Louise!

1783
01:27:34,628 --> 01:27:35,871
Get him, Louis!

1784
01:27:35,871 --> 01:27:37,666
Get the baby!

1785
01:27:37,769 --> 01:27:39,219
Get the baby!

1786
01:27:44,983 --> 01:27:47,296
More heart rendering
than parents who want

1787
01:27:47,434 --> 01:27:50,126
to bring their dead child back.

1788
01:27:50,230 --> 01:27:53,302
I should never have
shown you that place.

1789
01:27:53,406 --> 01:27:56,409
Your child is not the only
thing that will come back.

1790
01:27:56,409 --> 01:27:58,756
One of the great
themes of horror,

1791
01:27:58,756 --> 01:28:00,792
be careful what you wish for.

1792
01:28:03,864 --> 01:28:04,865
Did you weigh yourself?

1793
01:28:04,969 --> 01:28:05,901
297.

1794
01:28:05,901 --> 01:28:07,627
Billy, you were 297 last week.

1795
01:28:07,730 --> 01:28:09,836
It'll take some time
for these diets to work.

1796
01:28:09,974 --> 01:28:12,632
For Billy Hallock,
life is sweet.

1797
01:28:12,735 --> 01:28:15,600
I thought Thinner was a
terrific character study.

1798
01:28:15,600 --> 01:28:19,639
I thought it was elevated
from being pure horror.

1799
01:28:19,742 --> 01:28:22,504
I thought there was something
very human and very universal

1800
01:28:22,642 --> 01:28:26,128
about a fat man who wanted
desperately to lose weight

1801
01:28:26,231 --> 01:28:27,992
and finally had
his wish answered.

1802
01:28:28,130 --> 01:28:29,959
It's a universal theme.

1803
01:28:29,959 --> 01:28:31,823
If everybody isn't
trying to lose weight,

1804
01:28:31,927 --> 01:28:33,342
they know somebody who is.

1805
01:28:33,480 --> 01:28:37,139
Nobody is ever too
thin or too rich.

1806
01:28:37,139 --> 01:28:40,763
I cast Stephen in it, and
he was very good actually.

1807
01:28:40,867 --> 01:28:44,146
And he was sitting on
set waiting to be called

1808
01:28:44,249 --> 01:28:47,287
and he was reading
the Bangor newspaper.

1809
01:28:47,391 --> 01:28:51,256
And I looked over his shoulder
to see what he was reading

1810
01:28:51,360 --> 01:28:54,950
and Stephen King was
reading the obituaries

1811
01:28:55,053 --> 01:28:58,747
and which I thought
was very telling.

1812
01:29:02,337 --> 01:29:04,442
I think you'd better come
along with me, Reverend.

1813
01:29:04,546 --> 01:29:07,342
King is always
after deeper things.

1814
01:29:07,445 --> 01:29:10,034
He's willing to look
into the darkness

1815
01:29:10,172 --> 01:29:13,796
completely and
allow what emerges

1816
01:29:13,900 --> 01:29:18,145
and he's not interested
in shutting anything out.

1817
01:29:21,528 --> 01:29:25,152
It's an ass kicker, isn't it?

1818
01:29:25,152 --> 01:29:26,326
Is that for me?

1819
01:29:26,326 --> 01:29:27,879
I found some of
those original scripts

1820
01:29:27,983 --> 01:29:30,192
that he wrote for movies
back then that people, sort

1821
01:29:30,295 --> 01:29:31,573
of, crapped on at the time.

1822
01:29:31,711 --> 01:29:33,575
I think Silver Bullet's
actually really beautiful

1823
01:29:33,713 --> 01:29:36,371
and is a really great love story
about a brother and a sister

1824
01:29:36,371 --> 01:29:39,063
and a family and one of the
best uncles you could ever meet.

1825
01:29:39,166 --> 01:29:41,997
And a kid who's in a really
interesting situation where he

1826
01:29:41,997 --> 01:29:43,585
gave him almost a superpower.

1827
01:29:43,688 --> 01:29:46,933
He gave an identity and a voice
to people who had problems

1828
01:29:47,036 --> 01:29:48,693
that most fiction
would never touch,

1829
01:29:48,693 --> 01:29:50,902
for people with
disabilities, for people

1830
01:29:51,006 --> 01:29:52,594
with mental health issues.

1831
01:29:52,697 --> 01:29:55,079
I just think all that stuff,
he's been so brilliant at.

1832
01:29:55,182 --> 01:29:56,667
And some people look
back now, and it

1833
01:29:56,770 --> 01:29:59,601
might be dated but he broke new
ground really in a lot of ways.

1834
01:29:59,739 --> 01:30:01,534
He did it over the whole
course of his career

1835
01:30:01,534 --> 01:30:04,295
from African-Americans
back then who would never

1836
01:30:04,399 --> 01:30:06,608
be featured in a book in
that way where he had balls

1837
01:30:06,711 --> 01:30:07,436
and he did it.

1838
01:30:07,574 --> 01:30:09,438
He has empathy for everyone.

1839
01:30:09,542 --> 01:30:14,409
What I interpreted the film to
be about is about woundedness.

1840
01:30:14,512 --> 01:30:17,412
We all as human beings
carry some sort of wound.

1841
01:30:17,412 --> 01:30:24,108
What we are called upon to do
is to accept life, to embrace it

1842
01:30:24,211 --> 01:30:27,076
and to go forward.

1843
01:30:27,076 --> 01:30:29,113
And Corey just was a
kid who just seemed

1844
01:30:29,216 --> 01:30:30,425
like nothing could bother.

1845
01:30:33,807 --> 01:30:37,432
So I thought the werewolf was
a beautiful metaphor for what

1846
01:30:37,535 --> 01:30:39,399
human beings can
become if they can't

1847
01:30:39,399 --> 01:30:41,297
embrace their full nature.

1848
01:30:41,436 --> 01:30:44,473
But it's not my fault!

1849
01:30:44,577 --> 01:30:48,201
The reverend, he had
lustful impulses, for example.

1850
01:30:48,304 --> 01:30:49,720
Instead of being
able to accept them,

1851
01:30:49,823 --> 01:30:51,825
he suppressed them so
far below the surface

1852
01:30:51,929 --> 01:30:54,310
that they came out in
these monstrous ways.

1853
01:30:59,488 --> 01:31:02,422
Every single time Stephen
King created characters

1854
01:31:02,422 --> 01:31:04,010
that I could relate to.

1855
01:31:04,148 --> 01:31:06,322
He taps into his subconscious
and gets a truth that are not

1856
01:31:06,461 --> 01:31:08,635
necessarily apparent
to everybody

1857
01:31:08,739 --> 01:31:12,501
else, about where we are
as a country and a culture.

1858
01:31:12,639 --> 01:31:17,195
Stephen King has such
an incalculable reach

1859
01:31:17,299 --> 01:31:20,129
on popular culture in
ways that I don't think

1860
01:31:20,233 --> 01:31:21,614
can ever be measured.

1861
01:31:21,614 --> 01:31:24,444
He's the guy who married
American pop culture to horror.

1862
01:31:24,444 --> 01:31:27,999
Great stories translate
from page to celluloid

1863
01:31:28,103 --> 01:31:29,380
and there's so many references.

1864
01:31:29,518 --> 01:31:31,520
Everywhere you look there's
Stephen King references.

1865
01:31:31,624 --> 01:31:35,524
Have gun will
travel reads the card of a man.

1866
01:31:35,628 --> 01:31:39,770
I've heard people refer
to big dogs as Cujo.

1867
01:31:39,873 --> 01:31:41,047
Down, Cujo.

1868
01:31:41,185 --> 01:31:45,189
So it's fun to have worked
on a film, the title of which

1869
01:31:45,292 --> 01:31:50,608
has entered the language
as big dangerous dog.

1870
01:31:50,712 --> 01:31:52,679
He's been such a
mirror for pop culture,

1871
01:31:52,783 --> 01:31:55,682
but now he is his
own pop culture.

1872
01:31:55,786 --> 01:32:00,722
Stephen King helped
define so many of what

1873
01:32:00,825 --> 01:32:04,864
now are cliches and tropes
of the cinematic world.

1874
01:32:04,967 --> 01:32:06,486
You see it parodied even.

1875
01:32:06,590 --> 01:32:08,902
That's when you, kind of, know
you've done something special

1876
01:32:09,040 --> 01:32:11,560
whether in literature
or in filmmaking or both

1877
01:32:11,698 --> 01:32:14,529
in this case with Stephen
King and adaptations.

1878
01:32:20,880 --> 01:32:22,226
Oh, come on.

1879
01:32:22,329 --> 01:32:25,298
Films like Shawshank
Redemption, that classic

1880
01:32:25,401 --> 01:32:27,403
narration by Morgan Freeman.

1881
01:32:27,542 --> 01:32:29,613
It is used as a trope
now, as a cliche.

1882
01:32:29,751 --> 01:32:32,685
It did feel like a prison, and
that meant only one thing made

1883
01:32:32,685 --> 01:32:35,446
sense conceptually,
we had to break out

1884
01:32:35,550 --> 01:32:37,379
and someone with the
gravitas of Morgan Freeman

1885
01:32:37,482 --> 01:32:38,725
had to narrate it.

1886
01:32:38,829 --> 01:32:40,209
The same thing can be
said for The Shining.

1887
01:32:40,209 --> 01:32:42,660
Like that film in itself
is now like almost

1888
01:32:42,764 --> 01:32:44,282
in its entirety as a trope.

1889
01:32:44,386 --> 01:32:47,665
I had a couple of people that
actually worked on The Shining

1890
01:32:47,769 --> 01:32:50,841
working 1408 and both films
being about writers in hotel

1891
01:32:50,944 --> 01:32:54,707
rooms and so on, which was to
me kind of cool and inspiring

1892
01:32:54,707 --> 01:32:57,917
being at the same studio
where the great Kubrick shot

1893
01:32:58,020 --> 01:32:59,297
this great movie.

1894
01:32:59,435 --> 01:33:02,542
In the end of the film,
the hotel room is on fire.

1895
01:33:02,542 --> 01:33:05,787
The fire guys is coming
to break down the door

1896
01:33:05,925 --> 01:33:08,583
and to get Ensline
out of the room.

1897
01:33:08,583 --> 01:33:11,896
And the prop guy came up to me
just before we shot the scene

1898
01:33:11,896 --> 01:33:13,933
and said I worked on
The Shining as well.

1899
01:33:14,036 --> 01:33:17,246
And, this is actually the ax
that we used in The Shining.

1900
01:33:17,246 --> 01:33:19,628
The famous ax that
Jack Nicholson

1901
01:33:19,732 --> 01:33:21,285
have when he breaks
down the door.

1902
01:33:21,388 --> 01:33:25,151
And I was thinking maybe you
want to use it for this scene,

1903
01:33:25,289 --> 01:33:27,947
and I was like
fantastic, absolutely.

1904
01:33:28,050 --> 01:33:31,467
So I gave the ax to the fire
guy who breaks down the door

1905
01:33:31,606 --> 01:33:34,988
and helps out Enslin
from the hotel room.

1906
01:33:35,092 --> 01:33:36,300
And nobody knows that obviously.

1907
01:33:36,438 --> 01:33:38,578
Now you know it
but it's a secret,

1908
01:33:38,682 --> 01:33:42,375
but that's Nicholson's ax, and
to me, that was a cool detail.

1909
01:33:42,478 --> 01:33:44,998
You can see The Shining in just

1910
01:33:45,102 --> 01:33:49,451
about every successful horror
film made in the last 25 years.

1911
01:33:49,554 --> 01:33:51,626
And sometimes in the
tiniest little ways.

1912
01:33:51,729 --> 01:33:57,010
But I think we filmmakers
want to express our love

1913
01:33:57,114 --> 01:34:00,013
for that material and
so it feeds itself,

1914
01:34:00,117 --> 01:34:03,638
and then that becomes this
kind of self-perpetuating cycle

1915
01:34:03,741 --> 01:34:10,334
of references, homage
and celebration.

1916
01:34:10,437 --> 01:34:13,199
When I read Doctor
Sleep as a fan of Kubrick

1917
01:34:13,302 --> 01:34:19,343
and as a fan of King, I was
fascinated by the tug of war

1918
01:34:19,481 --> 01:34:21,310
that was happening internally.

1919
01:34:21,310 --> 01:34:25,521
I'm reading this great story,
but all of the visual language

1920
01:34:25,660 --> 01:34:28,179
in my brain is Kubrick's.

1921
01:34:28,283 --> 01:34:30,078
It just is.

1922
01:34:30,181 --> 01:34:32,011
Danny!

1923
01:34:32,149 --> 01:34:33,150
Danny boy!

1924
01:34:36,463 --> 01:34:37,533
No, doc.

1925
01:34:37,672 --> 01:34:39,225
You can put things
from the overlook

1926
01:34:39,363 --> 01:34:42,884
away in boxes, but not memories.

1927
01:34:42,987 --> 01:34:44,679
Never those.

1928
01:34:44,782 --> 01:34:46,128
They are the real ghosts.

1929
01:34:50,754 --> 01:34:53,860
I had a fateful meeting with
John Berg at Warner Brothers

1930
01:34:53,964 --> 01:34:56,069
and he was a Stephen
King fan and I

1931
01:34:56,173 --> 01:34:58,693
had just finished Gerald's Game
and no one had seen it yet.

1932
01:34:58,693 --> 01:35:01,557
And he asked how it went and he
was like, that's a crazy one.

1933
01:35:01,696 --> 01:35:03,042
Hard one to crack.

1934
01:35:03,145 --> 01:35:05,700
And I said, yep, it was
really it was really difficult

1935
01:35:05,803 --> 01:35:07,736
but I think we
might have done it.

1936
01:35:07,874 --> 01:35:10,152
And he said, we have one
that's really hard to crack.

1937
01:35:10,256 --> 01:35:11,395
Have you ever read Doctor Sleep?

1938
01:35:11,498 --> 01:35:12,914
And I was like, yes.

1939
01:35:13,052 --> 01:35:15,571
And he said out of curiosity,
what would you recommend?

1940
01:35:15,710 --> 01:35:16,918
And the pitch I gave him was...

1941
01:35:17,056 --> 01:35:18,851
I was like I think what
you do is you stay as

1942
01:35:18,851 --> 01:35:21,508
close to the book as you
can for the first two thirds

1943
01:35:21,508 --> 01:35:23,200
but you have to
assume that story

1944
01:35:23,200 --> 01:35:26,997
takes place in the established
Kubrick cinematic universe.

1945
01:35:27,100 --> 01:35:28,170
It's too well known.

1946
01:35:28,170 --> 01:35:29,551
It's too iconic.

1947
01:35:29,551 --> 01:35:31,277
If you try to come off
of it, it'll backfire.

1948
01:35:31,380 --> 01:35:35,764
Mike Flanagan really had to
walk the tightrope because he

1949
01:35:35,868 --> 01:35:38,940
knew that King was not a
fan of the Kubrick film,

1950
01:35:39,043 --> 01:35:41,770
but he also knew
that most audiences

1951
01:35:41,908 --> 01:35:44,255
know The Shining
from the Kubrick film

1952
01:35:44,393 --> 01:35:45,843
and not from the book.

1953
01:35:45,947 --> 01:35:48,294
What if you could take Stephen
King's Shining and Stanley

1954
01:35:48,397 --> 01:35:51,435
Kubrick's Shining and what if
you could just kind of Parent

1955
01:35:51,538 --> 01:35:53,092
Trap them back together?

1956
01:35:53,195 --> 01:35:54,921
Is it possible?

1957
01:35:55,025 --> 01:35:58,028
I decided, going
into it, that if King

1958
01:35:58,131 --> 01:36:00,340
didn't like anything
that was up to,

1959
01:36:00,444 --> 01:36:01,894
that I wouldn't do the movie.

1960
01:36:01,894 --> 01:36:05,173
His initial answer to the idea
of using the Kubrick canon

1961
01:36:05,276 --> 01:36:06,622
was no.

1962
01:36:06,726 --> 01:36:09,246
He didn't want to do
it, but wanted to have

1963
01:36:09,246 --> 01:36:11,973
a creative conversation.

1964
01:36:12,111 --> 01:36:14,872
The pitch that I made
was all about one scene.

1965
01:36:14,976 --> 01:36:17,772
I said, if you can just
imagine Dan goes back

1966
01:36:17,875 --> 01:36:20,567
into the condemned overlook
and it's all dormant,

1967
01:36:20,671 --> 01:36:23,674
it's all asleep, and
he has to wake it up

1968
01:36:23,812 --> 01:36:29,576
and he makes it to the
gold room, and at the bar

1969
01:36:29,680 --> 01:36:32,717
is a glass waiting for
him, because Dan is eight

1970
01:36:32,821 --> 01:36:35,065
years sober at that point.

1971
01:36:35,168 --> 01:36:40,864
There's a man in the familiar
Kubrick red tuxedo pouring

1972
01:36:41,002 --> 01:36:45,696
the whiskey for Dan and imagine
that, that man is his father,

1973
01:36:45,800 --> 01:36:51,426
and the two of them have a
conversation about alcohol.

1974
01:36:51,426 --> 01:36:53,117
That was what turned him around.

1975
01:36:53,117 --> 01:36:56,155
This is the medicine.

1976
01:36:58,882 --> 01:37:04,577
So tell me, pup, are you
going to take your medicine?

1977
01:37:07,166 --> 01:37:08,167
I'm not.

1978
01:37:10,963 --> 01:37:14,863
Adaptation is
complicated, because very

1979
01:37:15,001 --> 01:37:16,796
bold choices have to be made.

1980
01:37:16,900 --> 01:37:21,559
There's no way you can
translate 600 pages of a book

1981
01:37:21,663 --> 01:37:23,976
into a screenplay
and keep everything.

1982
01:37:23,976 --> 01:37:27,220
Rewrite Stephen King,
it really doesn't make

1983
01:37:27,324 --> 01:37:29,705
sense when you think about it.

1984
01:37:29,809 --> 01:37:31,535
Why do a Stephen
King movie and not

1985
01:37:31,673 --> 01:37:33,054
to have Stephen King's story?

1986
01:37:33,192 --> 01:37:35,228
Why buy a book if you're
not going to follow it?

1987
01:37:35,332 --> 01:37:38,404
It's always about what you
don't do, what you can't do.

1988
01:37:38,542 --> 01:37:41,338
You have to have a
strategy about what

1989
01:37:41,441 --> 01:37:42,511
you're not going to do.

1990
01:37:42,511 --> 01:37:45,031
So I come to it
as a reader, and I

1991
01:37:45,135 --> 01:37:47,068
want to recreate the
experience that the reader

1992
01:37:47,171 --> 01:37:49,794
has, the emotional experience,
not the plot detail.

1993
01:37:49,898 --> 01:37:52,970
Stephen had a very cool
phrase when people would

1994
01:37:53,074 --> 01:37:54,627
say, well, what do
you think of what

1995
01:37:54,730 --> 01:37:55,973
they've done to your books?

1996
01:37:56,077 --> 01:37:57,872
And he'd say, well, what
do you mean what have

1997
01:37:57,975 --> 01:37:59,735
they done to you to my books?

1998
01:37:59,874 --> 01:38:02,255
Well, look at the bookshelf.

1999
01:38:02,359 --> 01:38:03,429
My books are all there.

2000
01:38:03,567 --> 01:38:05,189
Nobody's done
anything to my books.

2001
01:38:05,189 --> 01:38:08,813
So I think he has a really
great attitude about how

2002
01:38:08,917 --> 01:38:09,884
his books are adapted.

2003
01:38:09,987 --> 01:38:12,507
A novel is not a film.

2004
01:38:12,507 --> 01:38:14,233
It isn't.

2005
01:38:14,336 --> 01:38:16,752
Sometimes it's working with
the dialogue in the head

2006
01:38:16,891 --> 01:38:18,409
or narration or all the things.

2007
01:38:18,513 --> 01:38:22,448
You've got to make a film that
an audience can look at, find

2008
01:38:22,551 --> 01:38:24,691
themselves in and
at the same time,

2009
01:38:24,691 --> 01:38:26,831
be true to the original story.

2010
01:38:26,935 --> 01:38:31,112
That calls for the
actual term adaptation.

2011
01:38:31,250 --> 01:38:37,463
And I think that you have to
be bold in the sense of staying

2012
01:38:37,566 --> 01:38:41,260
true to material, but also
being bold about adapting it

2013
01:38:41,363 --> 01:38:44,021
so that it fits on the
screen not on the page.

2014
01:38:44,125 --> 01:38:46,368
Movies are what you
see and what you hear,

2015
01:38:46,472 --> 01:38:49,406
but as Hitchcock said, they're
called moving pictures,

2016
01:38:49,509 --> 01:38:51,615
not talking pictures.

2017
01:38:51,753 --> 01:38:53,479
Movies are still
a visual medium.

2018
01:38:53,582 --> 01:38:57,552
Writing a screenplay is
a very interesting process.

2019
01:38:57,655 --> 01:39:00,555
It's half mechanics
and half poetry.

2020
01:39:00,658 --> 01:39:03,420
When you're adapting
a great author,

2021
01:39:03,420 --> 01:39:06,009
if the story is excellent,
what you're trying to do

2022
01:39:06,147 --> 01:39:10,634
is capture the essence of it,
if you're changing certain facts

2023
01:39:10,737 --> 01:39:14,086
and you moving the
plugs around and sawing

2024
01:39:14,086 --> 01:39:15,742
the wood a little
bit differently,

2025
01:39:15,742 --> 01:39:19,091
it still feels like
they experienced

2026
01:39:19,091 --> 01:39:22,404
the same emotions and the
same story by the end of it.

2027
01:39:22,508 --> 01:39:25,166
Everybody has their own
way to approach material,

2028
01:39:25,304 --> 01:39:28,272
but it doesn't matter whether
it's Stephen King or not,

2029
01:39:28,272 --> 01:39:30,826
but the thing about Stephen
King it usually works

2030
01:39:30,965 --> 01:39:32,311
really well for the screen.

2031
01:39:32,414 --> 01:39:35,659
The reason any filmmaker
wants to adapt Stephen King

2032
01:39:35,762 --> 01:39:37,764
is the material is so good.

2033
01:39:37,868 --> 01:39:40,250
He's all about character,
all about story

2034
01:39:40,353 --> 01:39:44,461
and where he keeps coming up
with these, I have no idea.

2035
01:39:44,461 --> 01:39:46,049
The man is so prolific.

2036
01:39:46,187 --> 01:39:52,745
I can't believe how much he's
written, how much he's produced

2037
01:39:52,848 --> 01:39:54,609
and how good it is.

2038
01:39:54,712 --> 01:39:56,300
I don't know where
that comes from.

2039
01:39:56,300 --> 01:39:58,923
Nobody does otherwise they'd
bottle it up and sell it.

2040
01:39:59,027 --> 01:40:02,651
He believes that these
stories already exist.

2041
01:40:02,651 --> 01:40:04,136
They're already
out there, and he

2042
01:40:04,136 --> 01:40:06,759
says it all the time because
people think he's joking.

2043
01:40:06,862 --> 01:40:08,381
He's not joking.

2044
01:40:08,485 --> 01:40:10,107
This is what he believes that
the stories are just out there

2045
01:40:10,211 --> 01:40:12,144
and he's just like an
archaeologist just digging

2046
01:40:12,144 --> 01:40:14,077
around until he finds
something, and then

2047
01:40:14,215 --> 01:40:17,390
he just starts excavating
it, extracting it and pulling

2048
01:40:17,528 --> 01:40:19,668
from it and revealing it.

2049
01:40:19,668 --> 01:40:22,016
Michelangelo the
great sculptor he

2050
01:40:22,016 --> 01:40:25,053
said something extremely similar
that every block of marble

2051
01:40:25,191 --> 01:40:26,537
has the masterpiece in it.

2052
01:40:26,641 --> 01:40:28,643
He takes a big idea, and
he turns it and he turns it,

2053
01:40:28,746 --> 01:40:31,128
and he turns it, and that's why
the book keeps going and going

2054
01:40:31,232 --> 01:40:33,130
and going because he keeps
taking this one idea,

2055
01:40:33,234 --> 01:40:36,064
and he doesn't stick with
what it meant on chapter 1.

2056
01:40:36,168 --> 01:40:39,688
Stephen also has a
great look which helps.

2057
01:40:39,792 --> 01:40:42,415
To look like who you are.

2058
01:40:42,519 --> 01:40:46,074
I think that he looks
like who he is and a lot.

2059
01:40:46,178 --> 01:40:48,904
So the second you see
him, he could only be him.

2060
01:40:49,043 --> 01:40:51,631
It's a very admirable
quality, I think,

2061
01:40:51,735 --> 01:40:53,185
to look like who you are.

2062
01:41:03,160 --> 01:41:07,095
I wouldn't go out
there if I were you.

2063
01:41:07,199 --> 01:41:09,063
I think I'll be all right.

2064
01:41:26,563 --> 01:41:28,082
Told you.

2065
01:41:31,119 --> 01:41:32,845
They never listen.

2066
01:41:34,398 --> 01:41:37,781
But of course, It Chapter
Two, Doctor Sleep, The Stand.

2067
01:41:37,884 --> 01:41:40,370
The Outsider on HBO
starts in January.

2068
01:41:40,473 --> 01:41:42,958
And then you're working on
something with J.J. Abrams too.

2069
01:41:43,097 --> 01:41:44,270
No, wait, I'm not done.

2070
01:41:45,651 --> 01:41:48,964
I would guess that he's
as shocked as everybody

2071
01:41:49,103 --> 01:41:50,414
else about this resurgence.

2072
01:41:50,414 --> 01:41:53,072
Mr. Mercedes starts
tonight on DirecTV.

2073
01:41:56,213 --> 01:41:57,973
I'm not really
sure what happened,

2074
01:41:58,112 --> 01:41:59,975
but there we were
just smack bang

2075
01:42:00,079 --> 01:42:02,392
in the middle of the... as I
call it, the King nascent.

2076
01:42:02,495 --> 01:42:05,395
Like it was an explosion and
then the rest is history.

2077
01:42:05,498 --> 01:42:08,294
Suddenly every studio
that had a Stephen

2078
01:42:08,398 --> 01:42:09,916
King property sitting
on their shelf,

2079
01:42:09,916 --> 01:42:11,849
they wanted to get it made.

2080
01:42:11,953 --> 01:42:15,301
We sort of like tentatively
raised our hand.

2081
01:42:15,405 --> 01:42:17,303
A movie that we would
have done for free.

2082
01:42:17,407 --> 01:42:19,478
It was just something
indelible in our childhood.

2083
01:42:19,581 --> 01:42:24,655
Some of the series have
been inspired by his work.

2084
01:42:24,759 --> 01:42:27,486
Stranger Things, which kind
of sounds like Needful Things.

2085
01:42:27,589 --> 01:42:32,180
Certainly you have to give
Stephen a big nod of thanks

2086
01:42:32,284 --> 01:42:34,527
for, sort of,
inventing the weird

2087
01:42:34,665 --> 01:42:39,118
'80s supernatural adventure
story that often stars kids.

2088
01:42:39,222 --> 01:42:44,779
The way digital technology has
improved over the last decade

2089
01:42:44,882 --> 01:42:46,953
has made it easier
and easier for people

2090
01:42:47,057 --> 01:42:50,474
to realize, in a fairly
realistic way, some

2091
01:42:50,474 --> 01:42:52,752
of the more spectacular
things that Stephen

2092
01:42:52,856 --> 01:42:54,029
King has been writing about.

2093
01:42:54,168 --> 01:42:56,480
I love that he'll go
out and do anything.

2094
01:42:56,480 --> 01:42:58,344
As I said, you could
give him an orange

2095
01:42:58,448 --> 01:42:59,932
and he could write
a novel about it.

2096
01:43:00,035 --> 01:43:01,727
He wrote about the
Kennedy assassination

2097
01:43:01,865 --> 01:43:04,833
and time travel and basically
anything he wants to.

2098
01:43:04,937 --> 01:43:07,284
He's a writer that
knows no bounds.

2099
01:43:07,388 --> 01:43:10,080
Cable and streaming have
really helped that along.

2100
01:43:10,184 --> 01:43:13,911
TV matured to the point
where TV can be novelistic.

2101
01:43:14,049 --> 01:43:15,465
Sitting down in front
of the television

2102
01:43:15,568 --> 01:43:20,539
and being able to watch 10
or 12 hours of a great story.

2103
01:43:20,642 --> 01:43:21,712
It's wonderful.

2104
01:43:21,816 --> 01:43:24,474
It didn't exist
not that long ago.

2105
01:43:24,577 --> 01:43:27,201
I think the other reason that
he's timeless is because he's

2106
01:43:27,304 --> 01:43:28,754
also completely contemporary.

2107
01:43:28,857 --> 01:43:30,583
He's not a novelist who takes
10 years to write a book.

2108
01:43:30,687 --> 01:43:32,999
He's writing, he's writing,
he's writing, he's writing,

2109
01:43:32,999 --> 01:43:34,863
and speed, I think,
gives him this...

2110
01:43:34,967 --> 01:43:36,002
he's alive in the moment.

2111
01:43:36,002 --> 01:43:37,659
Different generation
of directors

2112
01:43:37,763 --> 01:43:41,801
and different approaches but
still the essence of Stephen

2113
01:43:41,905 --> 01:43:44,079
King's work is in there.

2114
01:43:44,183 --> 01:43:49,188
He shows us a mirror of
where we are as people.

2115
01:43:49,292 --> 01:43:52,226
And even though the symptoms
of how we behave change

2116
01:43:52,329 --> 01:43:54,573
as the ages change
and the years go by,

2117
01:43:54,676 --> 01:43:58,059
he keeps his basic
humanity in his stories.

2118
01:43:58,162 --> 01:43:59,612
His stuff doesn't really age.

2119
01:43:59,716 --> 01:44:02,339
Like he was writing
about the darkness that

2120
01:44:02,443 --> 01:44:05,618
lurks in the heart of
America, and that darkness

2121
01:44:05,722 --> 01:44:07,102
sadly has not dissipated.

2122
01:44:07,241 --> 01:44:09,967
His stories are about
the human condition.

2123
01:44:10,071 --> 01:44:13,039
So it doesn't matter
whether you're my age,

2124
01:44:13,143 --> 01:44:16,629
those themes resonate
and every generation

2125
01:44:16,733 --> 01:44:17,906
can find those themes.

2126
01:44:17,906 --> 01:44:20,392
And within that
we find deep truths

2127
01:44:20,392 --> 01:44:22,808
that we didn't see
before that are

2128
01:44:22,911 --> 01:44:26,570
things we need to know about
what's happening right now.

2129
01:44:26,570 --> 01:44:27,951
I think that's his genius.

2130
01:44:28,054 --> 01:44:31,403
Stephen King is just one of
the rare careers I don't think

2131
01:44:31,403 --> 01:44:33,163
anyone's going to
ever come along

2132
01:44:33,301 --> 01:44:37,305
again that has this kind of
body of work and still continue.

2133
01:44:37,409 --> 01:44:39,583
I think he's like a clown car.

2134
01:44:39,583 --> 01:44:40,895
This is your 61st book.

2135
01:44:40,998 --> 01:44:42,655
Do you have a target number
of books you're going for?

2136
01:44:42,793 --> 01:44:46,418
Is there a certain point
at which you will stop?

2137
01:44:46,418 --> 01:44:49,317
Is retirement in any
way an option for you?

2138
01:44:49,421 --> 01:44:51,457
God will tell me when to retire.

2139
01:44:51,457 --> 01:44:55,979
He'll say get out of the game,
hang up your jock, you're done.