In terms of adapting Stephen King’s work, you possibly can’t please everybody, however if you happen to’ve bought the approval of King himself, that’s a fairly good signal you’re doing one thing proper.
That’s precisely what Edgar Wright achieved along with his upcoming adaptation of The Working Man, a movie that’s already sparking dialog for its wild new ending.
Wright’s model of The Working Man is extra devoted adaptation of King’s 1982 novel than the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However that doesn’t imply Wright and his co-writer Michael Bacall didn’t take inventive dangers. One in all their greatest adjustments is how the story concludes.
With out gifting away spoilers, Wright says that whereas the brand new ending differs from the novel, it nonetheless captures the e book’s uncooked depth and rebellious power.
“What we settled on very early, by way of speaking in regards to the adaptation, is a unique manner of doing it that also has the identical fireplace. It wanted to form of have the identical spirit of the e book, however differently.”
For these unfamiliar, The Working Man is about in a grim, near-future dystopia. It follows Ben Richards (Glen Powell), an unemployed father determined to save lots of his sick daughter. To earn cash, he enters a lethal sport present the place contestants should survive for 30 days whereas being hunted by skilled killers, all for a $1 billion prize.
Now, King completely cherished Wright’s adjustments. The filmmaking continued: “What was very gratifying to me is Stephen King needed to log out on the difference, so there was some extent within the manufacturing the place we needed to ship him the script to get his approval, and he cherished the script, and he mentioned, ‘I feel you probably did an excellent job with the ending.”
For Wright, that form of reward got here with an added weight of accountability. “So for the person himself to say that, we have been like, ‘Okay, nice.’ After which it provides a brand new strain as nicely, as a result of, like, oh, now we’ve got to make it.
“Once you’re making a film, you are all the time making an attempt to reside as much as the model that is in your head, even the model that I considered that I had in my head once I learn it once I was 14.
“However now I additionally should reside as much as what’s in Stephen King’s head as nicely. So I feel then for the remainder of the film, you are nearly making it for an viewers of 1.”
That “viewers of 1” could be all Wright wants. Whether or not followers agree or not, the truth that King himself is on board provides this adaptation a critical edge. I favored the movie, however lots of critics appears to take situation with the ending.
The Working Man hits theaters on November 14.
Supply: GamesRadar+
