At long last, after literally decades of close calls, various filmmakers and different studios involved along the way, Stephen King’s The Long Walk is finally getting the cinematic treatment. For real this time! Late last year, Lionsgate picked up the rights to King’s 1979 novel – which he penned under the name Richard Bachman – with Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games) on board to direct. It turns out the studio wasted precisely zero time as filming is officially underway.
According to the folks at Deadline, production has begun on the feature film adaptation. TJ Mollner penned the screenplay, with Roy Lee, Cameron MacConomy and Steven Schneider producing alongside Lawrence. What’s more, the outlet also reveals that quite a few fresh faces have joined the cast including Garrett Wareing (Ransom Canyon), Tut Nyuot (The Witcher: Blood Origin), Charlie Plummer (Spontaneous), Ben Wang (American Born Chinese), Jordan Gonzalez (Pretty Little Liars: Summer School), Joshua Odjick (Bones of Crows) and Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit). They join previously announced cast members Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) and David Jonsson (Industry).
At present, it’s not clear who is playing who but there are plenty of shoes that need filling. For those who may not be familiar with the source material, The Long Walk takes place in a dystopian future America, which is now a police state. Every year, 100 boys enter an annual contest where the winner is awarded whatever they want for life. The contestants must walk at a steady walking of four miles per hour without stopping. After three warnings, the contestant is shot until only one remains.
It’s not entirely hard to see why the guy who directed The Hunger Games films has been tapped to bring this story to life. The big question right now is just how hard Lionsgate will push the envelope. A faithful adaptation would undoubtedly be R-rated. Lawrence, meanwhile, is known best for his PG-13 work. Is the studio trying to walk a fine line here? Or is Lawrence going to take the gloves off? Time will tell.
At the very least, this brings a decades-long saga to a close. Dating back to the late ‘80s when George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead) was eyed to turn the book into a film, Hollywood has been trying to crack the code on this one for quite some time. Other directors such as Frank Darabont (The Mist) and André Øvredal (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) were attached at various points, but they never managed to get cameras rolling. Here’s hoping it was all worth the wait.
The Long Walk does not currently have a release date but stay tuned. For more, read about William Brent Bell’s scrapped adaptation of Stephen King’s From a Buick 8.
