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Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Salem's Lot Has Been Cited As Inspiration For Sinners, But It Weirdly Shares A Lot More In Common With A Different Stephen King Book
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Like a lot of genre fans in the last few days, my brain is very much locked in to Ryan Coogler's Sinners right now. As I wrote in my five-star review for CinemaBlend, it's difficult to decide whether it's a better crime movie or horror movie, it's a stunning work of art to look at, and Michael B. Jordan delivers the best dual performance of 2025 thus far (and there's been a surprising number of them). I've been thinking about it in many different ways, but one particular thing I've been hooked on is its connection to the world of Stephen King. This contemplation is the lead story of this week's edition of The King Beat, but it's one of two headlines thanks to the fact that a funny development regarding one of the worst Stephen King adaptations was discussed in the last few days. There's a lot to go over, so let's dig in! Ryan Coogler is a filmmaker whose impressive body of work means that I will anticipate every new project he develops, but in the specific case of Sinners, the movie truly piqued my interest a couple months ago. Discussing his inspirations for the Prohibition era horror story, the writer/director namedropped some of my favorite modern filmmakers – including Joel and Ethan Coen and John Carpenter – but he also made a special note of influence from Stephen King's Salem's Lot. Having now seen Sinners, I can most definitely see how all of those ingredients came together with Ryan Coogler's unique sensibilities to create what is an extraordinary film… but me being a Stephen King fan, a funny angle on it won't stop rattling around my brain. Anyone can plainly see where Salem's Lot plays into the mix (hint: it starts with the letter 'V') – but I can't help but also recognize parallels to a particular part of the beloved epic IT, and what makes the comparison more interesting is that the movie has arrived in theaters the same year that the upcoming King TV series IT: Welcome To Derry is set to have its premiere on HBO. Allow me to present a quick logline: In 1930s America, a collection of Black characters rebel against the racist communities in which they live by establishing a juke joint where victims of segregationist attitudes can gather, eat, listen to live music, and dance. The good times are good, but they are short lived, as the party gets violently interrupted, and what should be a night of fun becomes a night of death and tragedy. If you're not picking up what I'm saying here, that is a description of both what happens in Sinners and what happens in the tale told about the Black Spot in IT – a story that Mike Hanlon learns about at the bedside of his dying father. There are key differences between them – including the location (Mississippi vs. Maine), backgrounds of the organizers (gangsters vs. soldiers), and the fact that there aren't any vampires in the latter (instead, it's a KKK-adjacent group called the Maine Legion of White Decency) – but the similarities stand out. At present, the only people who are going to see Sinners and make the connection to IT are Stephen King fans who have read the book, but what makes this comparison more significant is the fact that the story of the Black Spot is getting a big spotlight in just a few months' time. Produced by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, IT: Welcome To Derry is an HBO prequel series set in the same canon as 2017's IT and 2019's IT: Chapter Two, and it is treating the flashback about the Black Spot as its main source material. The setting will be shifted to the year 1962 as a means of adjusting to the timeline change that was made in the aforementioned blockbuster horror films, but the expectation is that that core details will remain. Is this a problem? The folks behind the release of both Sinners and IT: Welcome To Derry don't seem to think so, as it's noteworthy that both are productions of Warner Bros. Discovery. I will, however, say that the new HBO series is going to be arriving on air at a disadvantage. When the Stephen King show does air, comparisons to the Ryan Coogler film are inevitable, and that's a tough boat to sail given that Sinners is one of the best movies we've seen so far on the big screen in 2025. I can already envision social media posts with a still of Michael B. Jordan playing Smoke and Stack with a caption reading, 'I'm gonna tell my kids that this was IT: Welcome To Derry.' But if I'm being more optimistic, the two works could co-exist perfectly fine. The tale of the Black Spot is going to be a principal narrative on IT: Welcome To Derry, but because this is a TV show we're talking about, it won't be the exclusive storyline, and those other stories may provide unique material for audiences. There is also the shifting setting to consider (the 1930s and 1960s were considerably different eras), and the fact that protagonists will be in the military will obviously have an impact on the way things play out as well. Also, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it will establish a canon crossover with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining/Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep. We'll find out soon. Sinners is now playing in theaters everywhere (arriving as a big hit in its opening weekend at the box office), but IT: Welcome To Derry isn't expected to arrive on HBO until spooky season (an official date has not yet been announced). Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Taylour Page, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, and Bill Skarsgård (reprising his role as Pennywise The Dancing Clown) are starring in the horror series, and you can be sure that you'll find all of the biggest updates about it here on CinemaBlend in the months and weeks leading up to its arrival. I'm an individual who can appreciate the goofiness of Maximum Overdrive (The Green Goblin truck! The ATM calling Stephen King an asshole! The kid getting steamrolled!), but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a good movie. Giancarlo Esposito may have appreciated the talents of King as a first-time writer/director, but the film's story is a mess, and the characters are shockingly shallow. Regardless, it has managed to successfully create a cult following in the decades since its arrival in theaters in 1986, which is why I'm not actually all that surprised to learn that Emilio Estevez recently tried to get a Maximum Overdrive 2 made. Fans of the original film will remember that Estevez starred as Bill Robinson, a line cook at a truck stop diner that finds its patrons under siege as machines around the world become sentient and turn on humanity. The actor didn't have any kind of hand in the writing of Maximum Overdrive's script, and the movie isn't remembered by the majority of his fans as one of his career highlights, but in the summer of 2023 when Hollywood was shut down in the midst of dual labor strikes, he found inspiration to start writing a sequel. Recently a guest on the HappySadConfused podcast, he revealed, In truth, and with the advent of more computer technology and A.I. and all of that, I started to imagine what a sequel to Maximum Overdrive would look like. And during the strike I wrote one... I don't have the rights to any of this. These were just sort of... I started it. I started page one; I started an idea, and like now I'm on page 10. I'm on page 20. Now it's 50 pages, and I can't stop. The rights to Maximum Overdrive – based on the Stephen King short story 'Trucks' – belong to the company founded by producer Dino De Laurentiis, but Emilio Estevez apparently wasn't letting that little detail get in the way of inspiration. He wrote a screenplay on spec, but he knew that it would need to get approved to move forward. Long story short, Estevez wasn't able to garner any interest in his script for Maximum Overdrive 2… but what's nice is that let him be a bit more open in the interview about his ideas. Per the actor/screenwriter, the story would have caught up with Bill Robinson decades after the rise of the machines and still found him working in the food service industry – albeit with a much better job: I created an insane world that takes place in a diner. So Bill, if you remember the movie – and if you do, I'm sorry, it's a terrible movie. But he was a short order cook. So now in the movie, it opens with, he's got his own diner, he's got a young daughter, he's got his crew, his people. And Guy Fieri is coming to do Diners Drive-Ins and Dives on the day the world falls apart and machines turn. And it was a cool idea. It's a bitchin' script. And De Laurentiis was like, 'Nope, we have the right to this. We're not interested. We're gonna pursue our own thing.' I was like, 'Ok.' While I don't necessarily think that the world ever needs to see a Maximum Overdrive 2 move into production (one with or without the green light from De Laurentiis Entertainment Group), I will admit that I would love to get a gander and Emilio Estevez's script out of pure, unadulterated curiosity. I have many, many questions to which I would love to get answers. That wraps up this week's edition of The King Beat, but that just means we're seven days away from the next one! You can find my roundups of all the big developments in the world of Stephen King here on CinemaBlend every Thursday – and with the list of upcoming movies and shows including The Life Of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Running Man, IT: Welcome To Derry and The Institute, one expects no shortage of exciting things to discuss.
Express Tribune
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Michael B Jordan takes up dual role in 'Sinners'
Actor Michael B Jordan says he needed no convincing to tackle two lead roles in supernatural action thriller Sinners, which reunites him with Creed and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler. Set in Mississippi in 1932, Sinners sees identical twins Smoke and Stack (Jordan) return to their rural hometown after a seven-year stint in Chicago. Equipped with cash, guns and liquor, the entrepreneurial duo sets out to open a juke joint in an old sawmill, swiftly hiring old acquaintances as its workers. Their talented cousin Sammie, played by newcomer Miles Caton, is tasked with performing for the patrons. But when unexpected visitors turn up at the club's doors, the hedonistic opening night party turns into a bloodbath. "Ryan wanted me to step outside my comfort zone and he challenged me a little bit. When he told me the roles and the storyline, it was an easy yes for me, even though I don't really watch horrors like that," Jordan said at the film's London premiere. "We had a twin double that I would work opposite, and I would walk him through a lot of my choices or what I was going to do when I became the other brother and then we just went from there," Jordan said. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Coogler, who wrote, directed and produced the movie, drew inspiration from Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot and films including Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn and the Swedish horror Let the Right One In. But the spark for the story came from his blues-loving uncle James Emerson, who passed away in 2015. "After he passed, I found myself listening to the blues records that I would listen to with him, as a way of processing. That transformative power of that music and the ritual of listening to music to trigger nostalgia for a loved one, was what gave me the idea for this movie," Coogler said. Sinners began its global cinematic rollout on April 16. Reuters
Washington Post
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Something's got a hold on Ryan Coogler
CHICAGO — 'I got the movie,' exclaimed Ryan Coogler while doing the dishes. For months, the director had been trying to weave together several threads that had been loose in his mind since wrapping 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.' There were multiple conversations carrying on in his head at once. The murder of rapper Young Dolph. Cotton. The Stephen King novel 'Salem's Lot.' Grunge. The memory of his late Uncle James. Grief. Love.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tom Hiddleston's Epic 7-Minute Dance Number Teased in Emotional Trailer for 'The Life of Chuck'
Tom Hiddleston is showing off his rhythm in The Life of Chuck. A full trailer for Mike Flanagan's upcoming sci-fi drama from Neon, based on the 2020 Stephen King novella of the same name, dropped on Tuesday, April 15, and teased a portion of the epic 7-minute dance sequence that Hiddleston, 44, previously chatted with PEOPLE about. The actor is joined by costar Annalise Basso for the scene, which is shown briefly in the new trailer as Hiddleston's titular Charles "Chuck" Krantz smiles wide and spins her character, Janice Halliday. The duo are surrounded by onlookers on the street as they clearly have the time of their lives. Another moment in the preview depicts the moment Chuck allows his inner dancer inhibitions to take over as he spins around — before Janice joins him and the crowd gathers, when it's just himself alone with the musician on the street. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Related: PEOPLE Picks the Best Stephen King Film and TV Adaptations — Is Your Favorite on the List? Chuck is also shown as a child (played by Benjamin Pajak, one of several actors stepping in as the character throughout his younger years), learning how to dance for the first time from his grandmother Sarah (Mia Sara) in their kitchen. Scenes from Chuck's childhood and young adulthood — when he is also played by the director's real-life son, Cody Flanagan, and Jacob Tremblay — are interspersed throughout, including appearances from fellow cast members Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Lillard and more. Kate Siegel, Flanagan's wife and frequent collaborator, also appears in the emotional trailer, where she tells a young Chuck, "Everything you've ever loved, everything you see, every year that you live — that world will get bigger and brighter." "And more detailed and complex," continues Siegel, 42, who plays a young Chuck's teacher, Miss Richards. "You fill the whole thing. It'll be a universe." King, 77, expressed his excitement for The Life of Chuck's screen adaptation on X, writing in a post on Tuesday as he shared the trailer, "I love this movie. Hope you will, too." The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! Related: Salem's Lot Cast Reveal Their Favorite Stephen King Books Ahead of Long-Awaited Movie Adaptation (Exclusive) The Life of Chuck had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024 and follows Hiddleston's protagonist at different stages of his life, including a moment where he is "in town for a convention to speak to other accountants about accountancy things and he hears the beat of a drum," the actor told PEOPLE that month. "It's an infectious beat that infuses his whole body," Hiddleston continued. "Suddenly, he finds himself moving his hips. And across the way is a young woman who seems to be enjoying it too." "It's completely spontaneous and joyful," he added of the scene, also sharing that the dancing comprises 7 minutes of it. "And I hope the audience finds it as spontaneous and joyful as we did." Basso, 26, also told PEOPLE that "Tom's lead was the easiest and the most fun to follow." "I've been dancing for most of my life and Tom made me feel like Ginger Rogers," she joked, before clarifying, "I'm not saying that I am!" The Life of Chuck is in select theaters June 6, and everywhere June 13. Read the original article on People
Reuters
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Michael B. Jordan steps out of his comfort zone for 'Sinners' dual role
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Actor Michael B. Jordan says he needed no convincing to tackle two lead roles in supernatural action thriller "Sinners", which reunites him with "Creed" and "Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler. Set in Mississippi in 1932, "Sinners" sees identical twins Smoke and Stack (Jordan), return to their rural hometown after a seven-year stint in Chicago. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. Equipped with cash, guns and liquor, the entrepreneurial duo sets out to open a juke joint in an old sawmill, swiftly hiring old acquaintances as its workers. Their talented cousin Sammie, played by newcomer Miles Caton, is tasked with performing for the patrons. But when unexpected visitors turn up at the club's doors, the hedonistic opening night party turns into a bloodbath. "Ryan wanted me to step outside my comfort zone and he challenged me a little bit. When he told me the roles and the storyline, it was an easy yes for me, even though I don't really watch horrors like that," Jordan said at the film's London premiere on Monday. "We had a twin double that I would work opposite, and I would walk him through a lot of my choices or what I was going to do when I became the other brother and then we just went from there," Jordan said. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Coogler, who wrote, directed and produced the movie, drew inspiration from Stephen King's novel "Salem's Lot" and films including Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn" and the Swedish horror "Let the Right One In". But the spark for the story came from his blues-loving uncle James Emerson, who passed away in 2015. "After he passed, I found myself listening to the blues records that I would listen to with him, as a way of processing. That transformative power of that music and the ritual of listening to music to trigger nostalgia for a loved one, was what gave me the idea for this movie," Coogler said. The film's themes of community and roots resonated with its cast, including actress Hailee Steinfeld, whose grandfather was half Black and half Filipino. "For me personally, this brought me closer to my family history. It started such a wonderful conversation for me and my family and I feel like it can be that for so many people, a conversation starter," said Steinfeld, who plays one of the twins' love interests, Mary. "Sinners" begins its global cinematic rollout on April 16.
