Eli Roth Talks About Adapting Stephen King's 'Cell'
Filed under: Horror, The Weinstein Co.
Now that he's just finishing up with his gruesomely anticipated Hostel: Part 2, professional horror geek Eli Roth is starting to set his sights on that next project we're all so curious about: His adaptation of Stephen King's Cell, which is expected to begin production later this year. He's presently refining the screenplay with the writing team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski -- plus he just got the blessing from King himself to deviate from the source material if he really wants to.Sci Fi Wire shares the words from Mr. Roth: "My first question when I adapted it was, 'Can I deviate from the book?'" ... It's Stephen King. Am I going to piss off Stephen King? He was mad at Stanley Kubrick [who adapted King's The Shining], I don't want him mad at me. And, finally, Stephen King was like, 'Do whatever you want.'" (Personal interjection: I think this is pretty great news, because, as much as I enjoyed Cell, I definitely think it runs out of steam and gets a little scattershot during Act III.) Eli seems to agree with me a little bit: "I love the opening [scene] ... But I also want to keep, ... not necessarily that same chaotic tone, but I want to keep the tension of the opening 40 pages of the book going throughout the whole film and introduce other elements." So wait. He's going to take an established story and actually add his own ideas into the mix? It won't be a slavish and paint-by-numbers adaptation like that Da Vinci flick? Well, cool!
On top of all that, the director also wants to shoot the film in Boston and get Mr. King to pop in for a cameo appearance, and we know how much fun those occasions can be. (And for a whole lot more of the Eli guy and H2, Cell and his outrageous Thanksgiving trailer, stop by FirstShowing.net, because they have a 20-minute audio interview with the guy!)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-27-2007 @ 10:03PM
Matt Wagner said...
this is the second pseudo post-apocolyptic story that makes me excited to see a movie about it. if they can pull off this a World War Z, then thats two pretty darn good thrillers right there. Cell was quite the trip...
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3-29-2007 @ 11:49AM
dewey said...
I hope he doesnt make this movie. Cell was an excellent book, and to me, was more of a sci-fi / adventure story than horror. If Roth makes this, he will take out substance in favor or torture and needless gore, because hes one F*cked up man. King knows how to disturb people through words and suspense. Roth only knows how to disturb through graphic torture and violence.
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4-01-2007 @ 3:48AM
Jared Collett said...
im pretty sure that many people will be ed off at the inaccuracies in the movie when compared to the book. especially the ending.
i also am worried and excited about whether or not the movie perspective will stay only with the characters. like how king didnt go into detail at all about where the signal came from and who set it off. i would love to find out but this added a sence of seclution to this apocoliptic story that few others have.
besides that though, im totally phyched that the next stephen king movie is from such a recent book.
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4-02-2007 @ 4:14PM
Lauren G said...
I'm stoked about this movie. I think its a cool idea to adapt the book instead of copying it straight from the pages. Honestly, the ending disappointed me, but I was totally hooked from the first chapter to the last. Cell is like a badass, more plausable twist of resident evil--and the zombies are simply delightfully evil. There isnt much that you can change from the mood other than making it more thriller/horror instead of the survival/horror it is now. The story rests on the character development more than anything, so I think it would be hard to ruin this book with a movie as long as innocence isnt taken away.
Keep us updated!
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5-02-2007 @ 1:18PM
Sheila Levine said...
There is a rumor going round that author Eric Shawn is really Stephen King starting over in a new personae. Eric Shawn short stories can be found in ALL HALLOWS, a ghost story magazine, and other small publications. Do you know if this is true?
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