King had said in interviews I believe that the footage of Donald Defreeze during the famous bank robbery was his original inspiration for the walking man.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_DeFreeze#/media/File%3ASLA-DonaldD-Hibernia(300).jpg
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The illustration from the book shows Randall Flagg as white.
Stephen King explained that by “dark” he didn’t mean African-American, he meant obscure with a mostly concealed face.
It was kind of left as an exercise to the reader. I assumed that a different event led to the containment breach and the dead scientists, etc, were killed by the suppression efforts (which, in my thoughts, likely involved some fast-killing gas so nobody could run)…
But Campion fucked this up because he was able to run, beating the closing gates by fewer than 30 seconds. He gathers up his wife and kid(s?) and heads to Texas, they growing progressively more sick until he runs into Bill Hapscomb’s pumps at the Arnette Texaco.
My thoughts exactly, EXCEPT I would have sworn, for all these years since it came out, that the music for the opening scene was Crowded House’s Don’t Dream it’s Over.. To the point that when I hear that song, I *picture *the scenes(pretty accurately too).Was that song featured in some other scene? What a strong, false memory for me.
Also, DFTR was an excellent choice at the time but now it’s been forever tainted with cowbell.
Don’t Dream its Over is used later in the series.
On YT…the series is available. Funny enough, the five hour YT video, has NO music over the opening*. I don’t know if that prevents him from being flagged (heh) or if he pulled it from a DVD that couldnt get the rights.
Just letting you know in case you watch a video with no Blue Oyster Cult and feel like you’re going crazy.
*Which surpisingly works! Just silence while the camera pans over the bodies.
Loach is writing with regards to the casting for Harold and Nadine, but it’s seems applicable to the casting for Nick.
Rob Lowe isn’t just “handsome”, he’s muscular and he also has the body language of a confident person who is used to being well-regarded. Nick needed to be skinny, approaching scarecrow-bodied, and should exhibit a combo of courageous assertiveness and expectation of being BADLY treated. A cautious wariness that Rob Lowe just doesn’t project.
I never thought he meant a black guy although I believe that’s what some of the criticisms were at the time. I got the impression the character was racially ambiguous. Just to pull a name out of a hat let’s say Jesse Williams. But that’s just an impression I got from a book I haven’t read in years.
I would never describe the Rob Lowe of the 80s and 90s as muscular. Most of the time he was pretty scrawny. He’s a lot more muscular now in his 50s than he was then. I think he did very well in the role despite the horrible handicap of being very handsome.
Me too, except for the updated time period (which was hit-and-miss at best).
I liked just about all the cast of the original except the guy who played Randall Flagg. Flagg always seemed cheesy and not nearly scary enough.
Here’s more on the upcoming remake:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand_(upcoming_miniseries)
Yes, agreed. Those are some darkly funny chapters. He also makes mention of The Shop, the supersecret U.S. Government agency responsible for scientific research and related dirty tricks, tying the book in with Firestarter and some other King works: The Shop | Stephen King Wiki | Fandom
I’m re-reading the extended edition for the first time since right after it came out. I must be more discerning now because I don’t remember noticing the terrible job of resetting the time period. It’s all I notice at this point.
Stephen King was once quoted as saying he thought Robert Duvall would have made a splendid Randall Flagg.
I found another youtube upload of the movie in two parts that retains the song in the opening. Part 1 here.
Interesting Rob Lowe/Don’t Fear The Reaper connection–he used Reaper as the theme song for his “unsolved mystery” type show, The Lowe Files.
That’s what I’ve always thought myself.
As for Rob Lowe playing Nick, nowadays they’d use a genuine deaf actor IMHO.
I also don’t understand why Ray Flowers, the talk-show host who told the truth on the air and paid for it with his life, as did several soldiers who refused to order to shoot him, was changed to “Rae Flowers”, although Kathy Bates did a great cameo.
According to the Wikipedia article they are NOT using a deaf actor for Nick. This apparently has caused some controversy, but the defense is that since Nick speaks in Tom’s dreams that it’s acceptable to use a hearing actor and let him play deaf the rest of the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand_(upcoming_miniseries)#Controversy
That certainly would have been interesting and probably amazing.
It’s not just a defense it’s a valid reason. In those scenes he should sound like a hearing actor. That’s the key part of his story.
Dang I wish I could have seen Robert Duvall as the walking dude that would have been truly awesome.
Not much to add except Stu, who is my favorite Stephen King character, was perfectly played by Gary Sinise. And this thread made my bored quarantined day :).
I disagree. Jamey Sheridan played Flagg, and he is introduced to us as a harmless-looking guy. Jeans, demin jacket with a few buttons on it (peace signs, happy faces, etc.). Likely a laborer of some kind, but friendly, and seemingly trustworthy and honest, in spite of a few inexplicable powers. The kind of guy who might help you change a tire, or help shovel your snow. He’s got a bright smile, and a reassuring manner.
Until he doesn’t. Sheridan can take Flagg from good to evil and back again in the blink of an eye; and he does, as it serves Flagg’s purposes. When Sheridan’s Flagg becomes evil, it is it truly scary, because he was just such a nice accommodating and friendly guy a few seconds ago. Recall the scene in the penthouse, when Dana plots to kill him: he basically says, “Hey, you wanna go back to Boulder and tell them what we’re doing here, I’ll make it happen. You can leave anytime,” and he does so in a way that we really believe that Dana will be given well-wishes and an escort out of Las Vegas. Then, just as Dana is leaving the penthouse suite, he pulls a Colombo, and says, “But first, can you tell me…?” before going full-on Satan.
Robert Duvall is an excellent actor, but I doubt that he could have pulled this off the way Sheridan did. Sheridan going from friendly and affable and accommodating, to pure Satanic evil that quickly, is quite the acting accomplishment, IMHO.
Flagg was seen as a black man to the Panthers he manipulated but also seen as a white man to the clan members as they hung their victim. The Walking Dude could become what he needed to be to do his wicked ways.
In the extended Dark Tower canon, Flagg is the son of Maerlyn and the Crimson King’s right hand, and is one of the most powerful wizards to have ever lived, so it makes sense that he’d be a master of illusion.
That being said, I’ve always imagined that he felt most comfortable as a white guy with long wavy brown hair, dressed in denim, with a light Southern accent. It’s a shame that Matthew McConaughey didn’t get to play him in a decent Dark Tower movie.