Bag of Bones (Buy it from the CHUD link) is one of my favorite Stephen King stories. It’s emotional, well-defined, and has a better last act than many of the author’s books. It’s always been one of those unfilmed stories of his I’d like a crack at. My name isn’t Mick Garris so I won’t be.
There’s a lot of opinion on Mick Garris when it comes to the work of Stephen King. Folks who don’t know him don’t realize how talented, nice, and on point he is with his vision rip him. What they see is the often disappointing, underfunded, and sometimes miscast (The Shining, anyone?) adaptations of Stephen King’s work. And that’s a fair criticism. Some of the stuff he’s done is not very good. But anyone who has read the works he’s adapting and seen what he’s trying to do know he’s coming from a good place. I still believe that with a real budget and less constraints his The Stand could have been the definitive vision of it. But at the risk of sounding like an apologist, he needs to deliver in a big way with King’s tale of a writer in mourning and the conspiracy he becomes embroiled in when he visits the family lake house filled with memories and history.
Bag of Bones is a strong story. Flawed, long, and not a typical ghost story. It requires subtlety and nuance. I don’t know what Garris will focus on but he’ll have some decent talent to help him along on his way for the A&E 2 day, 4 hour miniseries.
Pierce Brosnan. And Annabeth Gish, whom I used to crush on around her work in The Last Supper. That’s a good start. It’ll be interesting to see who they cast to play the crotchety and infirm old asshole of a man who makes life difficult for everyone.
The boys over at the wonderful Trailers from Hell recently shared a missive from the man himself about the show and I have my fingers crossed this is a winner. It’s such a good little book.