Also in Friday afternoon's round-up of news briefs: The estate of author William Faulkner is suing over a quote used in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris; Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi wins a major peace prize; And a preview of the weekend's Specialty Release newcomers.
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Three decades and change after publishing his 1977 classic The Shining (which made its way into horror movie history a few years later courtesy of Stanley Kubrick), Stephen King has set a release date for his Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. "Scribner and Hodder & Stoughton have established September 24, 2013 as the official first publication date," King's official website announced today.
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It's time to ruin prom for a whole new generation of teenagers! EW.com has posted an exclusive photo of a blood-soaked Chloe Moretz from Boys Don't Cry director Kimberly Peirce's remake of Carrie.
Moretz gave me a serious case of deja vu when I saw the photo of her as the title character of Stephen King's classic 1974 horror novel about an alienated teen with telekinetic powers and a seriously wacko mother. Sissy Spacek, who played the original Carrie White was fantastic in the role, but she was also in her mid 20s at the time. At 15, Moretz seems more age-appropriate to play the role of a high schooler. Julianne Moore plays Carrie's mom in a role that Piper Laurie played in the original film..
EW reports that Moore intends for her portrayal to retain some humanity. "This woman has clearly had a psychotic break, perhaps several,” Moore tells the publication. “But what’s sad about it for me is that she’s clearly sick and here’s this poor child in the thrall of this person who is seriously ill." more »
Also in Friday morning's round-up of news briefs, Warner Bros is eyeing Russell Crowe as it considers Stephen King project. Terrence Howard is set to play a hustler in a new pic, while a Game of Thrones star is joining an all-star cast in The Counselor and more.
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Wrap your brain around this: Stephen King's It, the 1986 horror novel that spawned a 1990 miniseries and established Pennywise the clown as one of our most enduring collective nightmares (I still can't pass a rain gutter in the street without wondering) is being adapted into a movie in two parts. By the guy who made Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre! Wait, what?
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The off-Broadway musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie may have outlasted its 1988 stage predecessor by four times the stage run, but it died nonetheless last weekend -- two weeks early! The NYT has the post-mortem: "Several theater producers contacted recently said that Carrie, no matter how well acted and sung, presented far more than the usual share of difficulties, the most insurmountable being that nearly every character is dead at the end....Several reviewers complained about certain songs and a one-note blandness in the high school scenes, but the sharpest criticism was that Carrie had been de-camped to the point of dullness." Chloe Moretz, you're our last hope! [NYT via Movie City News]
Back in January, MGM/Screen Gems tapped director Kimberly Peirce to helm their remake of Stephen King's Carrie, updating the supernatural tale after Brian de Palma's iconic 1976 film adaptation. The current frontrunners to play Carrie White, the sexually repressed telekinetic teen who wreaks bloody revenge on her classmates at the high school prom? Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz and actress Haley Bennett (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Marley & Me), according to Vulture. Can either fill Sissy Spacek's shoes?
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Accepting an award last weekend at George Mason University, novelist Stephen King treated the audience to a reading of a passage from Dr. Sleep, his still-in-progress follow-up to The Shining. Remember little Danny Torrance, running from his deranged father (Jack Nicholson) in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film version? Well, Danny's all grown up now, using his gift to help people die peacefully. And there are vampires, because why not?
Writer Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box, Locke & Key) has sold adaptation rights to his short story Twittering from the Circus of the Dead, a horror tale told from the Tweets of a teenage girl as her road-tripping family runs across a zombie circus. Todd Lincoln (the forthcoming The Apparition) will direct from a script by Chris Borelli; sample Hill's tale, 140 words at a time, by following fictional heroine Blake Teller (@TYME2WASTE) on the Twitter. LOL ZOM (BIE) G! [THR]
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