7/27/2019 Stephen King interview - Los Angeles Times

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Aru,thot Stcphen King: " Hortor pichnes are traditionauy seen, ond rightly so, as aploilalion aehicles."

Stephen King's Reign ofTerrorANGOR, Me.-Like a creaturefrcm on of his horrcr novels, heI-t h both Stephen KinS and Ste-phen KinB KonB. Each of his 2l novelsrnd three anthologies has been a bestseller. lhere have been l? movies in 13years; et least five more are in theworkg. And even after three film flopsln a row-"Firestarter." "Cat's Eye,""Silver Bullet"-King still had enouShclout thrt he was sllowed to direct

"Muimum Overdrive."KlnS chffies a couch in hi8 offlce,rnd prpores to chat up "Pet Sems-tary," the new fllm he rdapted from hlsl98il novel. lt has Srcaed more thanl2,l milllon since its openlng two weekse8o. lt has led the box-ollice race forthose two week! and enloyd the bi8 'opnint weekend ever for a spnng

By FRANK l,OvllCEthe trappinSs ol a papal attdience -stnct tirne lirnits. nervous handlers andorchestrated rePlies that thankfullydevolve into the kind of spontaneitylhat drives speech writers mad. WhenKrrrg loudly denounces the interviewitsclf as "a Paramount publlcity tam-bit!" the handlers lmk as tf they havejust seen Cujo. or Christine, or lt.'nhe elfect is calculated The'll'year-old KinB is nol the down - homYsnkee bumpkin h often Presentshlmself as, but a mdia'savvy masterofsund biles. "AnYbodY who'e everworked making a horror lllm," he rayc,"knows that the real bogyman ls Jackvalenti." head of the Motion PictureAssn. of America, with which Kitrg hasclashed over the naturc ol fllm horror.( Valcnti's offtce declincd to comment. )later calls fellow borror novel'

himself often labeled "the McDonald'3ol hormr"-ls more rambunctious thanmalevolent. Part ol this is due to thecomlort of hls income: AccordlnB toForbes magazine, he earned 815 millionin 198? alone. But the rest is from 8id-diness over "Pel. SematarY."While King has adapted his own rto-ries before. thls latest script was shotclosest to the source-both literallyand figuratlvely. "Twenty-four mile!from my front door." Kln6 says with s8mile. "Twenty -four'point-two, actu-ally."Thst wsr the dlEtance to Bltle lllll,Me., whlch stood ln lor the fictltioustown of [,udlow, where a Eupernaturalgraveyard brings th dead back tolile -thou8h as an old local { FredCwynoe ) warns a newconltr ( l)aleMrlkiff)' "SometinreE, dea(l ls better'"

7/27/2019 Stephen King interview - Los Angeles Times

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6 Purt Vl,r lltursrl:ry, lvlly 4, lgtl)KINGConlinued lrotn I'ogc Ibe succinctly descrrtlcd as a par-ent's pflmal nightmar.King is pleased. "You get thefeehng a lot of limes that lfilmrnakersl don't want you arorrnd,"hc says, li8hting one rn.a chain ofciSareltes. "lt's kind of lrke,'Youknow how to writc novcls; weknow how to make pictures.'[hey'rc oil and water and they(kJn t mix.' llut with 'Pet Scnratary,'rt was shot up the roil(l and I got toknow Mary l,ambert irn(l it wasgreat! I was able to sit down withher and say, 'k)ok, I don t want tolmessl you up, I don't want to hanSr)ver you. Just lmk on me as Mr.(irxxlwrench.'"King's conception of fix-it was totrsh for "the half-humorous spiritrn the bmks. 'l'here's always been alot ol funny stuff thai's playetl offthe horror, because they're just(lilfereDt aspects 0f th sarneI hrng. "Ilut film rnakers. hc says. "wantlo concentrate on the scare el-rnent. on lhe Bross-out elenrent, onlhe suspense element. There aremoments in'Pet Scmatary' I had tofiSht to keep in, and there arethin8s in the rou8h cut that are not

chair.' But originally, she also said,'And I'm Sonna eat his breakfastcereal cven though it tastes likeb

7/27/2019 Stephen King interview - Los Angeles Times

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llorAnplca Otncrbudgets ol 18 million or lcss.ol the films turned protits-critically castigated "Childrenthe Corn," for instance, had a13 millton and reaped 36 9in domestic rentals-butwere critical and commercialThe only l\it was director Rob"Star'1 By Me" ([t86),frorn King's non-horror"The Body."Still, producers keep comingto Klng, knowing that thename brings in a pre-sold

cult audience.'[he novelist has mxed feelin8sabout that, "ilorror pictures aretra(lilionally seen, antl rightly so, asexploitation vehlcles. They'rc sup-posed to 8o out ihere, make thelarge percentage of whateverthey'll Sross-word used advised-ly-that first weekend. lt's a quick,dirty buck. They're 8r)nna do it on ashostrin8. They're gonna makewhat they can. lt's gonna drop 5O7othe second week. 'Ihree weekslater il.'s gone. Four rnonths later

it's on vldeocassette and we're out.we're home free."Ile doesn't like it, but he undcr -stands it.What KinS understend! less so isthe MPAA and it! ratings board. Afew seconds had to be trimrnedfrom "Pet Sematary" ln order tostave off an X rstin8: A sccnewhere a demonic child chows downon the neck ol a prone victrm."That's, OK, I can undrstand."says Kin8. "But thcy msde us

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KINGContinu.dlrcm Poge 6chan8e the poter.""We had en advertisinS cam-paiSn that the MPAA would not letus ule," says producer RtchardRubirul,ein. "lt was a painting ofthe chlld, coupled with the llne,'Sometlmes, dead iE better.' Wewere told thst this violates the corcol the MPAA code relatlnS 0oportraylnt or connotinS kld8 lnJeopardy-whtch is the core of thispicture." Ttey substituted, 8ay!KinB, an adult charscter "with hirbrains hansin8 out.'I'hat was moreacceptable!"

Bethlyn Hand, vice president ofthe MPAA's Advertising Adminis-tration offlce, says that in theorl8inal poster, "the child's eyeEare rolled up. His mouth ls open.He's standing, but he looks dead."ln the approved one, the man"lmks llke he may have ben hit onthe llde of the head, and there'sdrled blood, but no gore."And," she addr lervently, "say-ing that about a chlld, 'Sometimes,dead iE better.' Whcn? I want toknow. WAaa ls dead better?"Hand lsn't alone ln her feellngs;ABC-TV similarly objected to thenovel "1t," which the network hsdplanned to run as a fall 198?mlnlserles. But as KinS says, accu-

rately enou6h, "The whole book lsabouL kids Settins eaten by mon-sters!" Both "lt" and "The Talis-man," which Steven Spielberg hadat one polnt wanted to dlrect, arebeing developed a8 miniseries else-where."'l'he Stand," King's pet epicabout a futuristic plague, has beenin development aE a film for aboulBlx years. "The book's 8oin8 to hcrelssued next year," he sayo. "UnerpurSated-{0o pages longer. Aslar as the script, I've tried three orlour drafts of lt. lt wasn't workinSfor me." Screenwrlter Rospo Pal-lenberS ("The Emereld Forest") isnow giving lt a shot. The nextdefinite KinS adaptation wlll be theSl{-million "Misery," wlth dlrec-tor/co-producer Rob Reiner roll-ln8 this summer from a WilllamGoldinan ecript.That seems centuries away, onthis spring morninS. King is fidget-in8, anxious to hop into his Blazerand get back to wife Tabitha andkids Owen, Naomi and Joe, to theconverted loft where he doee hiswrltinS, in the two-8tory Victorran

home that ls a Bangor landmark."What can I do?" he pleads nearthe top of his lungs. "l'm in suchdemand, rnrnl" Hls tone i! one ofplayful gmd humor. Like he says,that and horror may be dlJferenttaces of the rame thln8.

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