The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
King fearless for his domeland
As another of his books is adapted for the screen, literary superstar Stephen King is as modest as ever. The spook-master tells Keeley Bolger why he’s not precious about his work – but don’t mention The Simpsons
Stephen King has a great way of dissociating himself with dodgy screen versions of his books.
“Adapting books means maximum deniability for me,” says the literary legend. “If they make something good out of what I’ve done, like The Shawshank Redemption, then I say, ‘That’s based on my work!’
“If it’s something like Firestarter, which wasn’t particularly good, I can say, ‘Well I didn’t have anything to do with that’.”
Luckily 65-year-old King, who also wrote Misery, The Shining and just about every best- selling horror novel going in the last 40 years, has no such fears for theTVadaptation of Under The Dome. Especially with Steven Spielberg as executive producer.
King started writing the novel in 1972, two years before Carrie, the first of his books to be published, was released, but he had “no money and no time” so the project fell by the wayside.
“I snatched time to write at the weekends and I couldn’t do the research,” he says.
However, on a flight to Melbourne, where he was heading for a motorcycle ride across the Outback, King realised that he wanted to revisit his notes and, after some rejigging, Under The Dome was published in 2009.
Thenovel is set in a small New England town that is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an enormous transparent dome.
The inhabitants, who in the 13-part TV adaptation include Blue Valentine actor Mike Vogel as army veteran Dale ‘Barbie’ Barbara, Rachelle Lefevre as journalist Julia Shumway and Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris as James ‘Big Jim’ Rennie, are left questioning what the barrier is, where it came from and if and when it will go away.
“I had this image of people on this row trying to talk to reporters and touch their loved ones’ hands.