Mark Hamill Reveals Stephen King's Key Involvement in 'The Long Walk' Actorsvaultpro

Dystopian horror film The Long Walk arrives in theaters this weekend, courtesy of Lionsgate, director Francis Lawrence, and writer JT Mollner. The Stephen King adaptation that spent decades in development hell is finally here, featuring Star Wars icon Mark Hamill as a merciless villain. Behind the camera, however, he’s still kind enough to answer a few questions about the film, including those about the author’s involvement.

Is it too gory? Does anyone make it to the end? Is the film like other sci-fi teen dystopias? All those inquiries will be answered when you see The Long Walk, but for now, Hamill has revealed exactly how involved King was in the adaptation. Authors often don’t have a ton of say where projects like this are concerned, but as it turns out, one of King’s points of approval was the film’s casting.

This all came up when Hamill spoke with GamesRadar+ about playing the Major, a military leader in a totalitarian government who’s in charge of overseeing the contest known as the Long Walk. Young teenagers are enticed to participate in the annual competition with dreams of emerging victorious, but if they ever stop walking, or go over the three-warning system, they’re killed. Only one may survive.

Hamill commented on King’s involvement in the movie, and admitted that he didn’t know at first if the author had any say. However, after they both interacted during a screening, he realized he only got the role because King approved:

“When I met him, I got to sit next to him at the Toronto Film Festival. And when I went in to sit down, he looked up at me, he says, ‘The Major.’ And I thought, ‘How does he know? How does he know that I’m playing the Major?’ And later, they told me. They said, [it was] because he had casting approval, and he approved. That was motivation and validation for me, that he knew that I was going to play it, and it was okay with him. That was a thrill.”

Is ‘The Long Walk’ Faithful to Stephen King’s Book? Mark Hamill Gives a Definitive Answer

Lionsgate

Naturally, Stephen King fans who have yet to see The Long Walk must be wondering whether the adaptation closely follows the original 1979 book. King has faced his fair share of “misinterpretations” when his books were butchered upon being adapted for the screen. It’s no secret that he dislikes Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, but his issues with that film pale against the litany of critical and audience complaints regarding many of the far lesser-loved King adaptations we’ve seen over the years. (Dreamcatcher or Cell, anyone?)

Is The Long Walk faithful to the book? According to Hamill, there are definitely a lot of similarities. He confirmed this while noting that King hasn’t had great experiences with the adaptations that departed drastically from their source material:

“It’s faithful. That’s what I love. I think when you go to see something where they take the premise and then, as a jumping off point – it’s nothing like the book.

“Stephen King had some early experiences that were unpleasant for him. And he’s such a prolific author and such a successful author. Over the years, he was able to gain casting approval, script approval, director approval across the board.”