Stephen King Had Only One Problem With ‘The Long Walk’ Adaptation

When it comes to adapting his best literary works for the big screen, Stephen King doesn’t shy away from pointing out the production team’s mistakes — just like he isn’t afraid of accepting his own.

Now that there’s almost nothing left until the release of the first ever adaptation for King’s “The Long Walk”, it seems like both the author and the movie’s production team took the issue quite seriously, changing a minor, but important detail in the original storyline.

However, the movie now looks even better than its source material.

Stephen King Asked ‘The Long Walk’ Creators to “Reduce the Speed”

Just like with many previous movies and shows based on King’s novels or short stories, The Long Walk needed its creator by its side, so the movie’s team didn’t hesitate to send the complete script to the author for him to approve or correct it.

As one of The Long Walk’s producers Roy Lee revealed recently, the script came back to them with only one note from King, with the latter asking to make it a bit easier for the bloody competition’s participants in the film.

“He's like, "Can you change it from 4 miles per hour to 3?" Because that's what was written in the book. He goes, "There's no way that you could walk 4 miles an hour for that long”, Lee said in an interview with ScreenRant, adding that there was nothing else to change after King’s script revision.

In the end, the writer was more than happy with how the future movie would be coming together.

“The ending was what it is, and he was like, "I love it. But I think you need to reduce the speed”, Lee stated.

‘The Long Walk’ Is Already Praised As “One of the Most Powerful Stephen King Adaptations” in Years

Even though the movie is yet to hit theatres on September 12, the critics have already said what they wanted to say — and King’s new adaptation might have just got their 100% validation.

“The Long Walk easily one of the most intense emotional wallops of the year. I’m exhausted — and the movie earned it. You can tell the source material was adapted by someone who really gets it”, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff shared about the movie.

“The Long Walk one of the most powerful Stephen King adaptations in recent years”, DiscussingFilms’ Andrew J. Salazar revealed.

“Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson’s friendship is sweet to watch in the midst of the grueling moments and physical struggles. It’s Stephen King in the vein of Hunger Games: purely intense”, ReelRoller’s Chris Gallardo added.

The Long Walk is coming to theatres worldwide on September 12.