On this week's episode of THE KINGCAST, we were lucky enough to have director Rob Savage stop by to discuss The Boogeyman, the heavily buzzed-about Stephen King adaptation that's hitting theaters this weekend. Savage told us how the production designed the Boogeyman's freaky look, which films inspired his approach to the project, and - in a most unexpected moment - the Stephen King title he'd like to adapt next: The Langoliers.
For those unfamiliar with The Langoliers, it's a novella from King's Four Past Midnight collection, and tells the tale of a group of airline passengers who wake up during their red-eye flight to discover that everyone around them (and, indeed, everyone on the world below) has disappeared. After managing to land their craft at a Maine airport, the survivors realize something deeply sinister is going on ... and that they may not be as alone as they think they are.
The Langoliers was previously adapted by director Tom Holland in 1995, where it took the form of a two-part miniseries that, uh, didn't really do the source material justice. Oh, it's not without its high points (Bronson Pinchot, for instance, is dynamite in the role of sweaty, jittery villain Craig Toomey), but by and large there exists plenty of room for someone else to take a crack at adapting this tale. And as it turns out, The Boogeyman's Rob Savage would like to volunteer for the job.
Savage says:
"[I was recently asked] which Stephen King property I'd like to remake, and I said The Langoliers...
...I can't say too much. I mean, the rights are all tied up. It's one of the ones I mentioned to King that I really wanted to do. After he saw [The Boogeyman], he emailed me saying, 'We should work together again on something!' and immediately I was like, 'I really want to adapt The Langoliers' and he was really enthusiastic about that. But I think the rights are all tied up, so we're trying to [untie] them. I can't say too much and it's certainly not a real thing yet, but I always loved that short story."
Savage elaborated:
"It's so great and so creepy and it's such a brilliant, simple 'Why didn't I think of that?!' set-up with the plane. It's so spooky. I think there's a definitively terrifying version of that [to be made]. As much as I enjoy the TV movie, that's not it."
Asked how his on-screen portrayal of the Langoliers themselves would differ from Holland's version, Savage gets cagey:
"That's ... that's a bit of a spoiler for [my take on the material]. It takes off in a very different direction and has a bit more of a creature feature angle on it, but also leans into the mythology a bit more and ... look, I got something that I'm really excited about for that one."
Very intriguing! While we're not entirely sure what rights issues may be preventing Savage from tackling the material, maybe if we keep our fingers crossed Uncle Stevie will lend a hand in getting them sorted out. We'd love to see more of a "creature feature" version of The Langoliers and hope Savage gets the chance. Only time will tell!
You can listen to Savage's entire interview on THE KINGCAST via this link. Stay tuned for more on this still-hypothetical project if and when further updates become available. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed until then!
