Stephen King’s CELL will now ring as TV miniseries

News - Film News

Michael Gingold

Monday, July 13 2009 |11:40 AM
CELLHARRISONNEWSFango’s Tony Timpone just called up from Montreal’s Fantasia film festival with a hot scoop: John Harrison, whose Clive Barker-based feature BOOK OF BLOOD is premiering at the event, is writing a four-hour miniseries based on Stephen King’s CELL. The 2006 novel sees the population of America transformed into mindless, rampaging killers by a signal sent through their cell phones.

Harrison is scripting CELL for the Weinstein Company, which had originally planned to turn the book into a theatrical feature (with Eli Roth attached at one point to direct), but decided to abandon those plans and will be shopping the project to networks instead. Having served as assistant director/composer on the King-scripted CREEPSHOW and helmed TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE (including an adaptation of the author’s “Cat from Hell”), Harrison considers CELL one of King’s best recent books, with opening chapters that will make an incredible first 30 minutes on screen. The filmmaker adds that he doesn’t see this as a zombie story so much as a VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED-esque chiller, and enjoys the fact that the infected populace possesses a hive mentality. While he has been officially contracted to direct, he would certainly like to. BOOK OF BLOOD screens at Fantasia tonight at 7 p.m. (the show is almost sold out as of now); look for exclusive video of Harrison discussing BOOK, CELL and other projects at this site tomorrow!
Comments (21)
  • |2009-10-03 22:12:41 Chris
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    I, personally, kind of like the idea of 'Cell' as a miniseries, rather than a movie. The book was very character oriented, and even though you could definitely pull off the hard hitting violence better in a movie, the characters just wouldn't work in a one and a half hour to two hour movie.
    Reply
  • |2009-08-11 14:38:15 ahandfulofdust
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    i am disturbed that they are making a dark tower movie. of course i'll watch it, but considering that no other movie has ever done any of his books justice, i doubt that this one will. and also considering that these books were pretty much his life's work, i do hope that they don't botch it too badly. however, i remain optimistic simply because it is stephen king.
    Reply
  • |2009-08-06 01:47:07 asylum
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    The Dark Tower is being made.

    http://movies.ign.com/articles/982/982305p1.html
    Reply
  • |2009-07-29 18:33:55 John Dalglish
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    Hi, Well, I think it's splendid news, four hours can do Cell justice IMO, and NO Roth!!! Yay!!!
    Reply
  • |2009-07-20 12:26:47 ahandfuloddust
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    For all of you pining away for a Dark Tower movie, I ask the question, "Really?" Most of his movies are so terrible because you simply can not fit all the nuances of his character development and plot points into a feature length film, or even a mini-series. Cell is far more viable as a movie or series if simply for its simpleness. Also, all of you who are asking for a Dark Tower movie, will be the first ones to denounce the final project if there ever is one.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-19 04:06:30 Selina
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    I agree this as a tv movie will suck..I mean It was his best made for Tv and it could have been scarier being that was by far his scariest book.Tim Curry made that movie bearable. Now as far as this book not being about zombie but village of the damn.Please you obviously haven't read the book because he describes the people affected by the signal as rotting and killing and eating the flesh of the survivors! THAT IS A ZOMBIE!!I guess this director doesn't want anyone thinking he ripped off "THE SIGNAL" which totally ripped King off. Please by god read the book before you go "BLEEP" another of his movies. Please Mr. King save your work!!!""""
    Reply
  • |2009-07-17 08:36:45 ric
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    Reply
  • |2009-07-15 07:32:50 A Normie
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    "Cell" is not in the same league as "The Stand" but it's a good commentary on post-9/11 American culture and politics. The message is that terrorism can turn survivors into monsters. Isn't that exactly what happened? The Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, etc.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-15 07:27:26 A Normie
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    "Cell" isn't in the same league as "The Stand" but it's a good commentary on post-9/11 American culture and politics. The message of the book is that terrorism can turn survivors into monsters. I doubt the mini-series will tackle that theme.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-15 01:22:13 Phegan
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    If anything, King is an excellent character writer, Hence why most of his non horror movies do so well. Honestly, there have been very few horror movies by him I have liked. I digress...
    I like his books (some of them), but honestly I thought Cell was boring. Make a miniseries, fine, whatever, but I can think of far better books to do.
    IE The Running Man, Cycle Of The Wolf, Dark Tower Series (Somehow leaving out the plot ridden Wastelands), and my favorite: The Long Walk. If you haven't read, do.
    Reply
  • |2009-08-03 19:41:53 Mandy  - Ohh... The Long Walk
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    One of my all time favorite books of his is "The Long Walk". I would be pessimistically anxious if they made this book into a movie of a mini-series... mainly becuase it is such a wonderful story. It would be awfully sad if they messed if up by making it into a film.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-14 18:37:22 ahandfulofdust
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    unlike most people, i will wait and reserve my judgement for after i have seen this series. Cell is not in my list of favorite King books, but i do agree that it should make a great movie and would have been better as a feature film though only for the violence factor. However, violence is not the only thing the book was about.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 21:16:15 WeirdArchives
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    On the plus side, Eli Roth will not be screwing this one up. (Let him make his own garbage. I hate to see how he'd do an adaption of anyone's work, even those that tanked.) I was worried that Stephen King would go bug over Roth's 'vision' of one of his books and do something rash. (As long as it's writing rash instead of trashing Roth's car/house/opium dean rash, I'm fine with that.) However, I'm afraid this latest adapt might end up looking like THE SIGNAL or something similar. I wish someone would get to doing some of his Bachman books. Even a reboot of THE RUNNING MAN would be better than CELL.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 20:39:42 griffin
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    Ugh. Cell was a terrible book. It was a shorter, dumbed down, less culturally aware version of The Stand. The mini series, I'm sure, will make it even worse...
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 16:58:55 Stefan
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    I don't really love Eli Roth's movies, but they are very watchable and entertaining. I was actually looking forward to seeing how he handled something he didn't write (and it being a Stephen King adaptation made it more promising). Too bad the Weinsteins jerked him around and wasted his time. They seem to do that to a lot of people--I mean, especially for Hollywood.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 16:23:44 Phil
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    Bring on the damn Dark Tower adaptation.

    I'd have to agree with a poster below that some of the best adaptations have been on TV. The Shining and The Stand for example. I think that the TV series are truer to the books, but I also agree that it sucks not to have the full on fx that an R rated film could have.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 15:53:27 parakeetazz
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    This really sucks because I was looking forward to what Eli could do to it and for it, I will NOT watch it as a tv movie, I love Stephen King and everything but I love my brain more. So far I would say about 80 % of his made for tv movies have sucked big time and to put Cell one of his gorier books on the tv is an insult to not only Stephen but also his fans. Fuck that I will not watch it this way, they suck for lying to us fans about it in the first place :P
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 15:27:03 Tresix
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    I think Garris has done the best adaptations of King so far. In fact, I think the best King adaptations have been on TV as opposed to the big screen. I much prefer the SHINING mini-series over Stanley Kubrick's long-winded film.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 12:43:05 No Eli?
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    No Eli Roth? I guess that means we can expect Mick Garris to destroy this one on ABC like everything else he touches. The guy loves to butcher the works of Stephen King, so this one should be next. ps: Tony Timpone should call up to resign.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 12:41:46 Lyndell
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    this really irritates me. Ive been waiting for the movie version for how long and now this? There HAVE been some great King minseries ala The Stand... but with being on TV that means all the hard-hitting violence that made the first half of CELL so brutal will have to be completely neutered. I remember reading the first chapter in Entertainment Weekly and the violence that erupts in the opening pages had me immediately hooked. Now it will all be offscreen. Wonderful. Just like Desperation, here goes another King book i love down the film shitter.
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 12:07:29 gigerzombie
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    I agree that it might fare better on the big screen, Robert (preferably with George A. Romero, to whom the book is co-credited, directing), but I don't agree that King can't be translated dependably for TV. There have been plenty of stinkers, I'll give you that, but you must have missed the truly scary TV version of Salems' Lot and the brilliant 4 part mini-series version of The Stand....
    Reply
  • |2009-07-13 11:51:32 robert
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    ive been waiting for this to be made into a movie for a lone time and now its goint to TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its gona suck big time ive never seen a king movie that was made for tv that was worth a crap exp it ill give'em that one this should go to the big-screen were it belongs
    Reply
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