ROTTEN TOMATOES: Another Stephen King Flick: This Time It's "Insomnia"

Another Stephen King Flick: This Time It's "Insomnia"

by Scott Weinberg | July 02, 2007

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No relation to the Christopher Nolan crime thriller of the same name.

It's one of Stephen King's most difficult books (and one of my least favorites, frankly), but it looks like "Wrong Turn" director Rob Schmidt will be bringing the author's "Insomnia" to the big screen. Apparently Mr. King was a big fan of "Wrong Turn," which helped the director land the new gig.

For those who've not read the 700+ page novel, it's about a recent widower who can't sleep -- and then begins hallucinating -- and then realizes that he's not actually hallucinating at all. Suffice to say it's a really weird book, but I'm very curious to see what Mr. Schmidt can do to it for the big screen.

Stan Winston has been contracted to deliver some effects work for the project, but that's all we have so far: Schmidt, King, Winston. More on this one as new news becomes available.

Source: Dread Central

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(1-20 of 22 posts) | Reply

JasAce writes:
on Jul 02 2007 09:05 AM

Sounds like one of Christan Bale's best roles from The Machinist. Wonder what came first this book or that movie?

(Reply to this)

miroshima writes:
on Jul 02 2007 09:06 AM

Solid book. Will make for an awful movie. Probably about the caliber of Wrong Turn.

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bluthboy2342 writes:
on Jul 02 2007 09:11 AM

the book came before the movie. im not sure how long ago but i know its been around for a quite awhile.

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bigbrother writes:
on Jul 02 2007 11:04 AM

In reply to this comment (#883208)
Book was published in 1995 I believe. After his initial burst of genius and before the post accident renaissance. Not one of my favorite works of his, but who knows I find the quality of his books doesn't necessarily match up with the quality of the movie they become.

(Reply to this)

Agro writes:
on Jul 02 2007 11:31 AM

I think that book is chill. In the right hands it could be a really neat movie. Philip Baker Hall is perfect for the role of Ralph Roberts.

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Pumpkinking14 writes:
on Jul 02 2007 01:12 PM

[b]If you know the Dark Tower...[/b]
If you're familiar with King's masterwork The Dark Tower, than you know this book is extremely important (and a great tale on its own, as well). If not-- well, you have some reading to do!

(Reply to this)

Boss Fan writes:
on Jul 02 2007 04:29 PM

Wasn't King's 2005 zombie novel "Cell" supposed to be immediately turned into a film by Dimension and released the following October; which would be almost over a year ago now? What happened to that? That sounds like one movie, zombie-ed out as we might be at the moment, that could actually be good. The King novels they keep going to lately ("Dreamcatcher," "Desperation" or "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" anyone?) have become tedious and laughable films. "1408" wasn't great but it was much better than most movies with King's name slapped on them. They need to go to the less overtly horror, more psychologically chilling stuff that has always worked in the past ("The Shining," "The Dead Zone" and "Misery" jump to mind) - imagine what the right director could do with something like "Gerald's Game" - or just do something like "Cell" which would just be a lot of horror/action fun. Every time someone tries to interpret a book like "Insomnia" we end up with, well, "Dreamcatcher," "Desperation," "Nightmares and Dreamscapes," or most any other King adaptation of the last 15 or so years.

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dracus writes:
on Jul 02 2007 05:13 PM

Wicked book! Although I have to say that Insomnia will be a difficult one to turn into a movie. Now, if only someone had the guts to turn Gerald's Game into a movie and insist on keeping it true to the book.

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#six writes:
on Jul 02 2007 05:27 PM

i think that done right this could be a good movie. i liked the book. i hardly remember anything, but i remember liking it. as for cell. wasnt Eli Roth directing it? i think i read someplace that production will start early next year.

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Mr. Kong writes:
on Jul 02 2007 06:37 PM

I'm dissapointed with the choice of director, but Michael Hafstrom ended up surprising me with another King adaption, so I'll keep my hopes up.

And I hope there are still plans for an IT remake.

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PhreazerBurn writes:
on Jul 02 2007 06:55 PM

[b]No surprise[/b]
As usual, they take a good bit of Stephen King's source material and give it to a total hack who will either butcher it or make it completely bland. This trend must end!

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goldmonkee writes:
on Jul 02 2007 07:20 PM

[b]Insomnia[/b]
I'm not a fan of King, but this book was good. The movie will most likely be like, well, "Wrong Turn".

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Exode writes:
on Jul 02 2007 07:47 PM

The process of translating the source material to film is too delicate for this guy to handle, but oh well, he'll be making it either way.

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I Am Remote writes:
on Jul 02 2007 10:55 PM

King adaptations are hit and miss, and for some reasons, the misses stick out the most. Dreamcatcher remains one of the worst movies I've ever seen. But it's easy to forget a lot of the good ones: the green mile, cujo, shawshank, misery, a few others. A lot of the TV stuff was bad. 1408 was decent, but should fall by the misfires in the big picture.

My girlfriend read insomnia and thought that it got too ridiculous with fantastical stuff, which doesn't sound to good to me for a screen adaptation. King's stories work best with simple concepts.

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pembercon writes:
on Jul 02 2007 11:41 PM

[b]Wow! I Agree![/b]
Love Stephen King. Really did (do) not like Insomnia. I agree with Mr. Weinberg. It will be interesting to see what the director can do with this material.

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bigbrother writes:
on Jul 03 2007 12:09 AM

I think the reason King is so hit and miss is because alot of the appeal of his novels is the writing style not necessarily the story and you can't really translate his writing style to the screen unless you do it word for word and shot for shot and that would take 18 hours.

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Boss Fan writes:
on Jul 03 2007 12:32 AM

In reply to this comment (#883221)
No, that is a cop-out. It is poor filmmakers making poor films. It has nothing yt do with the fact that his writting is so superior that filmmakers can't acurately translate it to the silver screen. A few have suceeded. Most have failed.

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miroshima writes:
on Jul 03 2007 07:52 AM

In reply to this comment (#883222)
Agreed. I suppose one could make the translation argument if we were talking about, say, Kurt Vonnegut, but this is freaking Stephen King. I really like a lot of his work, but he's a formulaic writer, not a master wordsmith. All of the books I loved as a teen have made for horrible movies. My Personal favorites being Desperation and Pet Sematary (excluding collections, as Different Seasons and Night Shift blow all else away). Both adaptations were laughably bad.

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Mr. Kong writes:
on Jul 03 2007 08:43 AM

In reply to this comment (#883216)
What about 1408? I mean, its director's resume wasn't very good but he made an excellent thriller out of 1408.

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Prosper761 writes:
on Jul 03 2007 10:14 AM

In reply to this comment (#883212)
Director Eli Roth ("Hostel") is curremtly in pre-production on "Cell."

(Reply to this)