252: Flashback: An Interview with Michael Whelan

Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were tragically murdered over the weekend and the film community is still reeling. Reiner was not only a kind man, someone dedicated to protecting the rights and freedoms of everybody, and a talented filmmaker, he was one of the very few filmmakers that understood exactly how to translate Stephen King to the big screen. Author Nat Cassidy (The Wolf at the Door) and film commentator Drew McWeeny (The Hip Pocket Podcast) join Beznican and Vespe to discuss the tragic loss of Reiner and celebrate his massive contributions to the world of cinema, from his King adaptations Stand By Me, Misery, and The Shawshank Redemption (which he produced for Frank Darabont) to the genre defining classics This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and A Few Good Men.

If you're a fan of SCREAM then you're going to want to pay attention to today's episode featuring none other than Stu Macher and Billy Loomis themselves, Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich. They're appearing in the upcoming Five Nights At Freddy's 2 and they decided to stop by The Kingcast to talk about their love of King's work and specifically Frank Darabont's adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption. We also talk about their real life friendship, the stain that is toxic masculinity, working with Wes Craven on the original Scream, and even about Skeet's rather... interesting... appearance as a poster above Satan and Saddam Hussein's bed in South Park.

Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman, the writer/directors behind the upcoming genre flick MAN FINDS TAPE, join your intrepid Kingcast hosts to discuss one of Stephen King's underappreciated and as yet unadapted books: Joyland.  Conversation jumps between their film, their deep cut Stephen King origin stories, some Dark Tower nerdiness, and why Joyland plays so well into King's strengths as an author. We even fancast our adaptation and do a damn good job at it, if we don't say so ourselves.

Pop culture experts and the hosts of HBO's It: Welcome to Derry Official Companion Podcast, Marc Bernardin and Princess Weekes, join Breznican and Vespe in the crossover event of the decade! What better place to land Marc and Princess than The Kingcast where we can talk through Stephen King stuff, the deeper themes at play in It: Welcome to Derry, and what it's like running the official HBO companion podcast for this series.

At long last director Edgar Wright finally makes an appearance on The Kingcast and he brought some friends along. Wright stops by to talk about his current Stephen King adaptation, The Running Man, and it just so happens that his cast was also promoting the movie so you're going to get Stephen King Origin Stories (TM) from stars Glen Powell, Lee Pace, and Josh Brolin before a lengthy chat with Edgar about constructing this particular adaptation, Stephen King's reaction to it and notes along the way, the Richard Bachman of it all, and King's adoration of Shaun of the Dead.

The Kingcast's Eric Vespe and Anthony Breznican are doing their own watch along show as HBO's It: Welcome to Derry rolls out. Check out this exclusive feed drop as they dive into episode 1 of the Pennywise prequel show from the creators of the It films. If you like what you hear make sure to subscribe to Watching It: Welcome to Derry to hear Brez and Vez discuss each episode week to week!

The day is here! Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the creative duo behind the It films and the upcoming prequel series, have finally come on The Kingcast to talk all about dat boy, Pennywise. Or is it dat girl, Pennywise? This is one of many topics brought up as Andy and Barbara discuss their love of King's work, the challenges of adapting for both the big and small screen, and even share some never before revealed details about a massive scene cut from It: Chapter One.

Upcoming genre directors Chris Stuckmann (Shelby Oaks) and Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Bone Lake) join Vespe for a very special live recording from this year's Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX. This broad King conversation hones in on a couple of specific titles, including the recent The Long Walk adaptation, Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep adaptation, and someone insane tries to defend Secret Window starring Johnny Depp.

Clark Collis returns to The Kingcast to discuss a very specific moment in horror cinema: the '90s through the early 2010s. His new book, Screaming and Conjuring, takes us through that era of many hits, twice as many misses, and a genre that was feeling lost as it whiplashed between generic studio remakes, found footage ripoffs, and torture porn. King's genre work was getting some pretty bad adaptations in this era, too, and we discuss that, King's own film criticism work at Entertainment Weekly, and his support for the genre even when it was down and out.

You know him as young Ben Hanscom in the recent It films and now Jeremy Ray Taylor is all growed up. He's a married man and works with cars, but he still acts and has a new project out in theaters, an action comedy by the name of London Calling where he co-stars with Josh Duhamel as a nerdy kid forced to tag along with a lousy hitman by his mobster father in order to toughen him up some. We talk about that movie as well as his experiences working on It: Chapters 1 and 2, before we dive into his chosen topic: 2019's Pet Sematary remake. Why this one? Turns out, Jeremy is a bit of a horror scaredy cat and this is the movie that helped get him into the genre.