A few Stephen King alums are getting back together to bring King’s novel Cell to the big screen. John Cusak and Samuel L Jackson, who previously worked together in 1408, another Stephen King adaptation, will be reuniting for the post-apocalyptic story adapted by Adam Alleca (The Last House on the Left) and King himself.
While the premise for the film is much like Wes Craven’s 2006 digital thriller Pulse, Cell the novel was released first. The movie will center around a struggling artist (Cusak) who lands a graphic novel deal when a signal broadcast over the world turns cell phone users into mindless, zombie-like killers. Taking up directing duties will be rising horror filmmaker Tod Williams (Paranormal Activity 2). One of the producers, Richard Saperstein, also worked on the adaptation for Stephen King’s The Mist and 1408.
With It: Part 2 still in development, Cell might mark the first time Stephen King worked on the actual screenplay for one of his own novel adaptations. King has always been a big fan of cinema, so much so that he used to offer the rights to any of his works for a dollar. As of March 2011, online magazine Slate had the number of Stephen King adaptations at 127 which is more than the numbers based off of works by Ernest Hemingway and sci-fi favorite Phillip K. Dick put together.
Leave a Comment