It was published under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman”. IMHO, it’s one of his most compelling works, yet it has never seen film, as far as I can tell. Why not? Many of his lesser works have been turned into movies of dubious quality. Is the translation between the story and a workable script that difficult?
Just wondering …
I LOVE THE LONG WALK. It really IS my favorite of all of King’s stuff.
I think the reason the Long Walk hasn’t been sent to the big screen is the same reason King gave for not making a movie out of Gerald’s Game, another of my favorites. A lot of the story is dependent on what goes on in the mind of the main characters, it would end up being an endless voice over monologue if it were done correctly.
And, also, The Long Walk doesn’t really have the “HOLLYWOOD ENDING” that audiences are often looking for. And I would be livid if they changed it even a smidgen.
jarbaby
Adapting it to a movie - not easy. Voice-over & flashbacks could perhaps convey the story, but you’ll have to expose a bunch of character backgrounds and still keep up to date on the story of the walk itself. Hmm - disrupting a flashback with a “Second warning, number 47!” - perhaps it might work after all?
Nah, the stakes are too high - they’ll screw it up, add some explosions, change the ending and spoil another good book.
S. Norman
I agree that adapting an internal drama for the screen is difficult work, and it would take a skilled writer. However, it hasn’t prevented such works as “The Body” or “Dolores Claiborne” from making the big screen, and to great effect. I guess I’m just suprised that some studio somewhere hasn’t thrown bags of money at King for the movie rights.
“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card was a sci-fi novel that would have made a wonderful, thought-provoking movie. The rights were purchased, but the production company shelved the project (due to creative differences with Card, I believe). Card was intent on protecting the integrity of the story and it’s main character. Perhaps King has similar feelings about this story? or perhaps the rights were purchased, but no concrete plans were ever made.
Just a guess …
I’d say it’s more a filmmaking issue than anything else. You’ve got what basically amounts to a character study for a group of young boys – similar to “Lord of the Flies.” But unlike LOTF, or almost any other type character study, you don’t have tremendous cinematic opportunity. The characters are just walking on a road. And the only real drama, from a visual point of view, is the multiple shootings that occur. Contrast this with, say, “The Body” (filmed as “Stand By Me”), which offers several cinematic moments: the run across the train trestle, the chase by Chopper across the dump, the leeches, finding the body and the stand against Ace and his gang.
I just don’t see a studio finding a movie like “The Long Walk” very bankable. It’d be relatively cheap to shoot, but it would probably be visually unappealing … unless they monkeyed with the plot a bunch. Just works better as a book, I think.
I agree with you, EH, about “Ender’s Game.” I’d LOVE to see the battle room situations in film. Those were my favorite parts of the whole book.
Question is, “why no movie?”
The short answer is, “because nothing blows up.”
As other folks have said, much of the story just ain’t cinematic. There are only a few moments of visual conflict, and the rest is all mental. It’d take one hell of a filmmaking team to pull it off.
The other respondents have touched on the primary issues. Let me wrap everything up.
Strike One. Visually unappealing. The movie would be two hours of people walking. Yes, some movies have limited visual palettes (Kevin Smith’s Clerks comes to mind), but other elements must make up the difference.
Strike Two. Internal conflict. The characters must summon up the will to keep going, must fight down fears, must engage in subtle psychological strategies against the other walkers. Again, not impossible to do, but then I’m one of the few who actually enjoyed The Thin Red Line. Movies are easier to engage with when the conflict is external and visually perceptible.
Strike Three. Grim as all hell. It’s about pain, and fatigue, and paranoia. There’s little or no comic relief, except of the bleakest sort. And the ending is a serious downer. Yes, bleak movies have been made, and can be incredible filmgoing experiences (The Sweet Hereafter), but it is a major issue.
Unsupported speculation: Many of King’s earlier stories got snapped up in package deals by low-budget producers; hence crummy movies like The Mangler. I wouldn’t be surprised if the film rights to The Long Walk had been purchased, but then whoever owns them found that, for the reasons above, making a successful movie out of it would be extraordinarily difficult, so they just stuck the project on a shelf, where it shall remain until the heat death of the universe.
None of the strikes named above, taken individually, would be enough to sink the project. But taken together, you end up with something I fear would be unwatchable.
Oh, on another subject: The Ender’s Game movie is, in fact, still crawling through development hell. Check out this page for details:
http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/endersgame.html
Sauron, you’ll be especially interested in their plans for executing the battle room simulation scenes.