Throughout his career, Stephen King has never shied away from criticizing film adaptations of his books.
The acclaimed author is arguably one of our generation’s greatest storytellers, procuring a roster of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi novels that have proved to be a fruitful buffet for Hollywood.
From Carrie to It, King‘s stories are a favorite for the silver screen. And yet they’ve unfortunately never been immune to the ‘hit-or-miss’ curse, with some failing to live up to audience’s expectations — and others — to King himself.
King shared he has two favorite movie adaptations of his work. (Jim Spellman/WireImage)
The author has famously criticized Stanley Kubrick’s film adaption of The Shining, citing that it completely overlooked its main character’s (played by Jack Nicholson) arc, and once described it as a ‘big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it.’
Ouch.
But there are film adaptations of King’s books that the author loves and he’s shared which ones are his two favorites.
In a 2016 interview with Deadline, King was asked if he had a personal favorite adaptation of one of his books to which he replied, “Well I have a number that I like, but I love The Shawshank Redemption and I’ve always enjoyed working with Frank [Darabont].”
The Shawshank Redemption is one of King’s favorites. (Castle Rock Entertainment/Getty Images)
“And I love the Rob Reiner thing,” he added. “Stand by Me.”
Considering the colossal success of both The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, it’s no surprise that these two films earned King’s seal of approval. Released in 1994 and 1986 respectively, both Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me went on to receive nominations at the Academy Awards and have arguably gone down in cinema’s hall of fame since their release.
As for which movie adaptations are his least favorite, King also had a few words to say sharing, “Should I even say that? I guess there are a number of pictures that I feel like, a little bit like, yuck.
Stand by Me is King’s second favorite. (Act III Productions/ Columbia Pictures)
“There’s one, Graveyard Shift, that was made in the eighties. Just kind of a quick exploitation picture. I could do without all of the Children of the Corn sequels. I actually like the original pretty well. I thought they did a pretty good job on that.
“Of the smaller pictures, the best one is probably Cujo, with Dee Wallace,” he added.
In other news, one of King’s most loved novels is finally releasing as a film this October on Max (formerly known as HBO Max), and the author has already seemed to give it his nod of approval.
Based on his 1975 novel Salem’s Lot, King shared on Twitter in February: “Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new Salem’s Lot and it’s quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff.”
We’re already so seated.
