New essay by Stephen King on "Stand By Me" and Rob Reiner
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sheetsadam1 — 3 months ago(December 17, 2025 06:13 PM)
King can be quite critical of adaptations of his books, so I'm glad he was such a fan of this one, which happens to be my favorite.
Some great directors have tackled King (Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Tobe Hooper, Frank Darabont, Mike Flanagan, etc), but Reiner undoubtedly gave the world two of the very best adaptations, especially this one!
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bitchsurn — 3 months ago(December 17, 2025 09:05 PM)
To deviate, but only momentarily, from the Stand By Me topic, I think I remember reading in King's memoirs (On Writing) that he was not crazy about James Caan in the lead role. (I may have to check on that in a little bit.) I do remember that King wrote that Kathy Bates character and the pig were metaphors for the coke and the booze he used to do, which he wrote were what he once used as a reason to write.
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sheetsadam1 — 3 months ago(December 17, 2025 09:36 PM)
I'll check my copy later and see if he mentions anything like that. According to Wikipedia, Caan was far from the first choice. William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffmann, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford and Warren Beatty all apparently turned it down. I think most of them would have done fine, but may not have complemented Kathy Bates as well as Caan's more understated performance.
The one lead role in a King adaptation he was absolutely not on board with was Jack Nicholson in The Shining. And, if I'm not mistaken, Shelley Duvall got some heat as well. I also seem to remember him saying that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't what he'd envisioned for The Running Man, but he didn't seem particularly upset in that case.
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bitchsurn — 3 months ago(December 17, 2025 10:05 PM)
I am not sure where I read it (maybe in On Writing?), but he absolutely hated that first film adaptation of The Shining, and I do not remember what (or if) he said about Duvall, but personally I thought she was horrific. I think I remember reading somewhere (On Writing maybe?) that after that he never completely gave up control of a film adaptation of something he wrote again because of what Kubrick did with The Shining.
I also think I remember reading in On Writing that he liked what was done with Carrie.
It has been over a couple of decades since I read On Writing, so I admit I may be inaccurate on some of what I think that I remember. -
LorqVonRay1999 — 3 months ago(December 17, 2025 09:25 PM)
I admire King's early works and Stand By Me is my favorite Reiner film.
But King has done some really awful things. In the wake of Kirk's assassination he made the claim Kirk advocated stoning gay people. Evidently, he thought Kirk was Muslim.
Too many liberals were joking about Kirk, openly cheering the assassin. One of the most indelible images of the modern uncaring, hateful and ultra-violent liberal.
They did the same thing with Mangione. Cold blooded murderer.
And the Boston Marathon bombers.
And the Maryland 'father'.
And the drug cartels.
And Hamas.
Liberals elect an A-G who wished death on a Republican's children. His children!
They support Muslims in America who literally shout 'death to America!'.
Trump was shot. Scalise was shot. At Brown the vice president of the Republican club was somehow gunned down by a man who shouted something no one seems to have heard. Gee, I wonder if he's Muslim and he shouted something like 'Allahu akbar!'?
We want to believe somewhere within the liberal soul is even a hint of decency.
I don't see much evidence of that.
This article by King is nice but the actions of liberals are much more convincing.
So great that Reiner got the one that was closest to his heart perfectly right.