The screenwriter behind this yr’s Stephen King adaptation The Lengthy Stroll recollects how studying Carrie at age seven earned him a visit to the principal’s workplace, but in addition helped form him as a author.
King has certainly been essential to many a author, and lots of a reader, since rising because the grasp of horror again within the Nineteen Seventies. Most of King’s essential works have obtained movie and/or TV diversifications over time, typically made by individuals who have been influenced by King’s books as kids.
One exception was The Lengthy Stroll, King’s dystopian novel, printed in 1979 beneath his Richard Bachman pseudonym. However that oversight is now being rectified, as 2025 sees the long-awaited launch of a film primarily based on King’s fan-favorite Bachman e book.
Chatting with ScreenRant’s Ash Cossan at this yr’s SDCC, The Lengthy Stroll’s screenwriter J.T. Mollner talked about his personal private connection to King’s works, detailing how his first expertise with the creator obtained him in scorching water in school, but in addition obtained him into writing, thanks partly to his understanding mother:
I have been a relentless reader since I used to be slightly child. I learn Carrie, it was my first grownup novel that I ever learn. Imagine it or not, I used to be in second grade, I used to be seven, and I used to be allowed to purchase it off a rack, a used e book rack at a spot referred to as Bart’s Books in Ojai after I was on trip.
I took it into my classroom and I used to be simply inching my method via it. I did not perceive a variety of it, however I used to be obsessive about the quilt, and the way Stephen King’s identify was greater than the title, and the picture that is there. [Chuckles] It was simply iconic. And I obtained via the e book, however I additionally obtained despatched to the principal’s workplace for having it.
And my mother confirmed up and stated, “I don’t let my kid watch rated-R movies or anything like that, but I’m never ever going to tell him not to read.” In order that was inspiring to me, and I saved studying Stephen King. So, he is been a significant a part of my formative course of as a author. And I discover, even, issues in my type after I write prose, or after I write screenplays, that echo Stephen King’s type. I believe it is simply because I grew up studying how one can write by studying him, so I believe it was a superb match.
What This Means For The Lengthy Stroll
Mollner’s Adaptation Is True To The Supply Materials
It needs to be obvious from Mollner’s story that he has deep respect for King’s works, and due to this, he approached writing The Lengthy Stroll with a way of responsibility to the supply materials, and a want to stay as intently as attainable to the unique e book.
George Romero was initially approached to adapt The Lengthy Stroll method again in 1988.
King himself was on-board with making the film as devoted as attainable to the Bachman novel, one thing that Mollner stated, in the identical interview with ScreenRant from SDCC, made his job rather a lot simpler:
Generally the thought of writing for another person will be nightmarish. This time, it was a dream. He needed to go all the best way. King needed us to go all the best way. I knew we could possibly be sincere and devoted. If this obtained into the fingers of the unsuitable studio or filmmaker, it might have misplaced it […] it has tooth.
The Lengthy Stroll’s trailer confirms it’s certainly a brutal story, made all of the extra highly effective as a result of its horrors are inflicted on kids. Reflecting the total affect of the e book required a author who wouldn’t draw back from the story’s harder moments, and it appears Mollner was the proper particular person to tackle that job.
Our Take On Mollner’s Life-Lengthy King Love
The Lengthy Stroll Was Penned By A True Fan
Customized picture by Yailin Chacon
Many writers and administrators can declare to have been followers of King from childhood, however few of them can say they risked getting in bother in school simply to learn considered one of his novels. Mollner’s legitimacy as a King fan can’t be questioned, after his revelation that he obtained despatched to the principal’s workplace for studying Carrie.
Seven might be too younger to be studying one thing as intense as Carrie, and Mollner admits he didn’t actually perceive a variety of it. However the screenwriter was fortunate to have a mom who not solely inspired him to learn, however was keen to stay up for him when that studying obtained him into some scorching water.
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Mollner’s mother is certainly the true hero of the story. All these years later, her son will get to pay his favourite creator again by serving to lastly carry The Lengthy Stroll to life. Those that’ve liked the e book for many years can relaxation assured that the difference was penned by somebody who has been studying King virtually his complete life.
The Lengthy Stroll
Launch Date
September 11, 2025
Director
Francis Lawrence
Writers
JT Mollner
Producers
Roy Lee, Steven Schneider
Cooper Hoffman
Raymond Garraty / #47
Garrett Wareing
Stebbins / #38
Tut Nyuot
Arthur Baker / #6
