Rob Savage has made quite the name for himself in a short period of time as a director, as the man behind the low-budget sensation Host. More recently, Savage made his mark on the work of one Mr. Stephen King by adapting The Boogeyman for the big screen. That also went well and it seems that Savage has his sights set on another one of King’s works, specifically The Langoliers, as one of his next projects.
Savage recently spoke with the folks at Comicbook.com and provided a little update on the project. Nothing has been made official but it sounds like the filmmaker is very much trying to make this happen, assuming he and his creative partners can get the rights sorted out. Here’s what he had to say about it:
“There’s a bit of naughtiness when it comes to the rights, but I think hopefully we’ll be able to sort it out. We’ve got such a great idea for developing that one out from the short story. Of all the ones in King’s work that have been adapted, I don’t think it’s ever been done justice to. It plays with ideas that I’ve never seen explored in a horror movie. The idea of time, and decaying time, and these creatures that are eating the time left behind — there’s such a great, cosmic horror movie to be made there that lends itself so well to film. Film is all about stretching and compressing time, and you can do so many great, playful things in that space that go beyond what’s there in the novella. I’m so excited about that one. I think that one stands a good shot of happening.”
For those who may not be familiar, the 1990 novella centers on “a group of travelers on a red-eye flight from California to Maine wake up to discover that most of their fellow passengers have vanished mid-flight, along with the pilots and flight attendants.” It was previously adapted into a miniseries in 1995 that is, to put it kindly, not regarded amongst the best Stephen King adaptations. It is ripe for a modern interpretation by a filmmaker with a passion for the material.
Savage had previously shared his desire to make The Langoliers into a movie. But now it sounds like some actual progress is being made. More than that, he sounds genuinely optimistic about the whole thing. Admittedly, rights issues can be more than a little tricky and much of that is probably out of his hands. But money talks and, if the right people want this to happen, it will happen.
The Boogeyman is streaming now on Hulu.
