Author Behind Subsequent Stephen King Adaptation Admits He Obtained Despatched To The Principal’s Workplace For Studying Carrie: “I Was Seven”

The screenwriter behind this 12 months’s Stephen King adaptation The Lengthy Stroll remembers how studying Carrie at age seven earned him a visit to the principal’s workplace, but in addition helped form him as a author.

King has certainly been necessary to many a author, and lots of a reader, since rising because the grasp of horror again within the Seventies. Most of King’s necessary works have acquired movie and/or TV variations through the years, typically made by individuals who have been influenced by King’s books as kids.

One exception was The Lengthy Stroll, King’s dystopian novel, revealed in 1979 below his Richard Bachman pseudonym. However that oversight is now being rectified, as 2025 sees the long-awaited launch of a film primarily based on King’s fan-favorite Bachman guide.

Talking to ScreenRant’s Ash Cossan at this 12 months’s SDCC, The Lengthy Stroll’s screenwriter J.T. Mollner talked about his personal private connection to King’s works, detailing how his first expertise with the writer bought him in scorching water at college, but in addition bought him into writing, thanks partially to his understanding mother:

I have been a relentless reader since I used to be somewhat child. I learn Carrie, it was my first grownup novel that I ever learn. Consider it or not, I used to be in second grade, I used to be seven, and I used to be allowed to purchase it off a rack, a used guide rack at a spot known as Bart’s Books in Ojai after I was on trip.

I took it into my classroom and I used to be simply inching my manner by way of it. I did not perceive a whole lot of it, however I used to be obsessive about the quilt, and the way Stephen King’s identify was larger than the title, and the picture that is there. [Chuckles] It was simply iconic. And I bought by way of the guide, however I additionally bought despatched to the principal’s workplace for having it.

And my mother confirmed up and stated, “I do not let my child watch rated-R films or something like that, however I am by no means ever going to inform him to not learn.” In order that was inspiring to me, and I stored studying Stephen King. So, he is been a serious a part of my formative course of as a author. And I discover, even, issues in my type after I write prose, or after I write screenplays, that echo Stephen King’s type. I feel it is simply because I grew up studying how you can write by studying him, so I feel it was a great match.

What This Means For The Lengthy Stroll

Mollner’s Adaptation Is True To The Supply Materials

It must be obvious from Mollner’s story that he has deep respect for King’s works, and due to this, he approached writing The Lengthy Stroll with a way of responsibility to the supply materials, and a need to stay as carefully as potential to the unique guide.

King himself was on-board with making the film as trustworthy as potential to the Bachman novel, one thing that Mollner stated, in the identical interview with ScreenRant from SDCC, made his job quite a bit simpler:

Generally the concept of writing for another person could be nightmarish. This time, it was a dream. He wished to go all the way in which. King wished us to go all the way in which. I knew we could possibly be trustworthy and trustworthy. If this bought into the fingers of the fallacious studio or filmmaker, it might have misplaced it […] it has enamel.

The Lengthy Stroll‘s trailer confirms it’s certainly a brutal story, made all of the extra highly effective as a result of its horrors are inflicted on kids. Reflecting the complete affect of the guide required a author who wouldn’t shrink back from the story’s harder moments, and it appears Mollner was the right particular person to tackle that job.

Our Take On Mollner’s Life-Lengthy King Love

The Lengthy Stroll Was Penned By A True Fan

Many writers and administrators can declare to have been followers of King from childhood, however few of them can say they risked getting in hassle at college simply to learn considered one of his novels. Mollner’s legitimacy as a King fan can’t be questioned, after his revelation that he bought despatched to the principal’s workplace for studying Carrie.

Seven might be too younger to be studying one thing as intense as Carrie, and Mollner admits he didn’t actually perceive a whole lot of it. However the screenwriter was fortunate to have a mom who not solely inspired him to learn, however was keen to stay up for him when that studying bought him into some scorching water.

Mollner’s mother is certainly the actual hero of the story. All these years later, her son will get to pay his favourite writer again by serving to lastly deliver The Lengthy Stroll to life. Those that’ve liked the guide for many years can relaxation assured that the variation was penned by somebody who has been studying King nearly his complete life.