The Kingcast's Scott Wampler and Eric Vespe sat down with returning guest Bryan Fuller, for their 98th episode to discuss Stephen King's novel The Talisman. Those tuning in were treated to an update on Bryan Fuller's current project, as conversation veered towards Fuller's adaptation of King's killer car novel, Christine.
If you're now just finding out the news, yes, Christine is the latest of King's works to get a new film adaptation, and yes, it will be more faithful to the source material, according to Bryan Fuller who had this to say about the script. "I feel like it's a very faithful adaptation of the book and the book was in front of me the entire time I was writing the script, even when there have been minor departures or the Spanx-ing of a nearly 600-page book into a 100-page script," says the Pushing Daisies creator.
With a finished script awaiting Stephen King's approval, Bryan Fuller was happy to share his experience while writing Christine, juggling producer notes and a need to stay faithful to the book saying, "Initially, I wrote a 122-page script and Blumhouse was like 'Get it in under 100,' and I was like 'I will rise to that challenge.' It was a lot of fun. I think it made it a better script, a tighter script, and now hopefully Stephen King will see how fidelitous it is as an adaptation and sign off, and then we will move forward."
Bryan Fuller's adaptation of Stephen King's novel will be the second ride for the horror author's killer car, with Christine having received the John Carpenter treatment shortly after the 526 page novel hit bookshelves. While Carpenter did a good job with the film, a lot of the plot from the novel was changed or left out all together. It was comforting to hear that Bryan Fuller was giving his treatment of Christine the attention it deserves.
"There's so many layers [in the book]. I feel like Carpenter's movie is a cookie, and the Stephen King book is a tiramisu, so it has more layers of cream and chocolate and cakey goodness," says Fuller. "The cookie's still delicious, but it's a different kind of dessert experience. I feel like this [version] is much more beholden to the concept of the Overlook on wheels, or the vampiric relationship between the car and Arnie, and certainly Roland LeBay has a lot to do in the story, and he wasn't even a character in the John Carpenter movie. So I think all of those things, for me, were rationale and why we needed a new adaptation of Christine, because so much of the book never made it in previously."
Back in December of 2020, the Hannibal showrunner first sat down with The Kingcast hosts to discuss the novel Christine, and the John Carpenter film that followed. Bryan Fuller credits that episode of The Kingcast with helping to get his adaptation off the ground. It was shortly after that episode when Cube director Vincenzo Natali, would get in touch with Fuller, and from there the rest will be history.
Bryan Fuller's Christine is still in the early stages of production and any news I come across will be found here on Horror Junket.
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