Calling King
August 1, 2008 4:55 AM   Subscribe

Director Mathieu Ratthe has created in a scene from Stephen King's The Talisman in the hope of convincing those holding the rights to let him make a full film version. See also his short film Lovefield. More King: 25 episode 'graphic video' adaptation of his short story N.
posted by fearfulsymmetry (23 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
He's a great director, whether you measure in units of dramatic musical stings per second or utterances of "mom" per line of dialogue.
posted by DU at 5:15 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


For better or worse, you may have missed this
posted by poppo at 5:16 AM on August 1, 2008


Interesting...

Was that the Santa Monica Pier in the background?

The amazing thing about these Demo Scenes is the amount of money it costs to make them... When 300 was being pitched to Warner, Snyder and his group produced a short (we're talking a couple of minutes at most) Demo to demonstrate the look... It cost millions to produce..

It would be nice if this got to the screen, it is a good novel.
posted by HuronBob at 5:21 AM on August 1, 2008


I vote no. The Talisman is fantastic source material, and given to a proven world-class director it could end up as the new Shining or Carrie. It would be a shame to waste it on someone who, while showing a great deal of promise, is clearly at the beginning of their creative arc away from cliche. <sting> MOOOOOM</sting>. I'm sure he'll get a career out of this, and then he can check back in a decade or so. (Assuming that mini-series stays in development hell where it belongs. This book should be a movie franchise)
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:23 AM on August 1, 2008


I'd like to here what their reaction was. People I've known who produced unsolicited demo work featuring other peoples treasured intellectual property got a pretty cold reaction.

"DROP THE VIDEO!! STEP AWAY FROM THE LOGO!!"
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:48 AM on August 1, 2008


Say, isn't that Tim Russert's kid playing Jack?
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:12 AM on August 1, 2008


How awesome would it be if the movie got made, the demo scene was put in it as is, but the remainder of the movie (both leading up to that scene and after that scene) was done in Benny Hill-esque "fast motion plus Yakety Sax"?

Personally, I think "pretty damn awesome".
posted by Flunkie at 6:24 AM on August 1, 2008


The musical stings were a bit much and it would have played better as a (mostly) silent scene, but not bad. I loved the book.
posted by ColdChef at 7:10 AM on August 1, 2008


I second the pretty damn awesome. Whomever ends up producing this thing, it better damn well not suck.. awesome book. Stephen King needs to be on board for this one, too.
posted by SilverTail at 7:12 AM on August 1, 2008


The amazing thing about these Demo Scenes is the amount of money it costs to make them... When 300 was being pitched to Warner, Snyder and his group produced a short (we're talking a couple of minutes at most) Demo to demonstrate the look... It cost millions to produce..

The story goes that the Wachowski brothers did this with the Matrix. The first 10 minutes or so with Trinity running from Mr. Smith and the agents was filmed before Warner Bros. greenlit it, and before Keanu Reeves signed on. The execs saw it and were blown away.

This was...okay. When I start directing Hollywood movies, I promise never to have any character, alone, walk slowly around a house or apartment, creeped out or expecting to be creeped out for no apparent reason. It's boring. And I'll also never use musical stings, even if (especially if?) it's a horror movie. This had a tv-movie vibe to it, and that kid was annoying-looking.

BTW, I loved The Talisman as a kid in high school, but read it a few years back and it didn't hold up nearly as well as my memory of it.
posted by zardoz at 7:27 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Whomever ends up producing this thing, it better damn well not suck.. awesome book. Stephen King needs to be on board for this one, too.
You're going to have to pick one of those two sentences, please.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:35 AM on August 1, 2008 [2 favorites]


Mom? What's going on? Mom? Mom? What's going on, Mom? Mom?
posted by EarBucket at 8:50 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


OMIGOD A CROW LANDED ON THE WINDOWSILL I'M SHITTING MY PANTS
posted by shakespeherian at 8:58 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Mom. Mom moooooom mom mom moooom mom? MOM?! Mom mom mom moom mooooom mom! Mooooooom, mom mom mooooom mom. MOM!
posted by owtytrof at 8:59 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Special effects should not instantly be recognizable as special effects. I kept waiting for the image to freeze and a popup window to say "Paused ... rendering."
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:02 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


The idea that only a seasoned director can do quality work is silly. Peter Jackson did a pretty good job with LoTR, and his previous films were fairly low budget. Go back and read the hand-wring by the fanboys who were up in arms over a no-name director getting the job.

And seasoned doesn't = good. As in, nothing Spielberg or Lucas have done in quite some time is worth watching.

And I thought the window effect was pretty cool. With a real budget this could be a decent flick with this director.

This all given, if you don't pull back the covers after poking an unresponsive blob under the covers, you for sure ain't going to open the shower door if it might be your mom in there. That would have been the real horrorshow!
posted by cjorgensen at 9:21 AM on August 1, 2008


Awesome awesome awesome book.

Given, I haven't read one of King's books in years, I always thought is fantasy stuff was top-notch.

Talisman. Dragon's Eyes. The Stand. The Gunslinger Series. Any book with a badguy who had the initials R. F.

Also, we need another short story collection! SK is a master of the art. Anybody know if he's put one out since (the highly enjoyable) Everything's Eventual?

One more thing - the last book I read in the Gunslinger Series was The Wizard and Glass, which I actually liked a lot. People have told me that I shouldn't bother to finish the series. Is this true?
posted by Afroblanco at 11:03 AM on August 1, 2008


Afroblanco, if I were you I'd quit after Wizard and Glass. The series disappeared up its own ass pretty rapidly after that, and the last two were so bad they actually retroactively ruined the first five for me.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 11:12 AM on August 1, 2008


Also, we need another short story collection! SK is a master of the art. Anybody know if he's put one out since

There's a new one coming in November - Just After Sunset - the N link above is part of its promotion.

Oh and even if you don't like the Talisman thing, check out the guys short as I thought it was much better (should perhaps had stressed that in the post), even if there is probably one too many 'scary' crow shots.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 11:36 AM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


FWIW I take hipper-than-thou sniffyness towards either Spielberg or King as a sure sign that the speaker doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.
posted by Artw at 12:47 PM on August 1, 2008


Afroblanco, just weighing in to say I loved the final 3 books of TDT. Loved them. Definitely worth reading and deciding for yourself.
posted by Roach at 1:00 PM on August 1, 2008


I thought that the last four books of Dark Tower were not nearly as good as the first three -- The Wastelands was pretty much the height of the series for me. After that, it sort of lost the mysterious travelogue feel, and became more of a crowded, overtly moralistic Big Story with Important Things Happening. King was trying way too hard, and it shows.

That said, it's definitely worth finishing the series, as there are plenty of moments in each book which as are good as anything in the first three. I've written a bit more about it here (there are no serious spoilers as long as you've finished Wizard and Glass).

As for The Talisman, I'd love to see it made into a movie, but I haven't got particularly high hopes for it. I'm not sure it's the sort of story that would work that way, at least not without watering-down the things that made it great.
posted by vorfeed at 1:38 PM on August 1, 2008


Mom. Mom moooooom mom mom moooom mom? MOM?! Mom mom mom moom mooooom mom! Mooooooom, mom mom mooooom mom. MOM!

owtytrof, I would like to option this for production in 2009. Have your people MeFiMail my people.
posted by nicwolff at 2:05 PM on August 1, 2008


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