Licorice Pizza star Cooper Hoffman is set to star alongside Industry’s David Jonsson in the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk.
An adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 dystopian novella The Long Walk has been on the horizon for several years now meaning that fans of the book have faced a wait that has been even longer than the titular walk itself.
While The Long Walk might sound like the way you’d like to spend a sunny Sunday morning, rest assured that this isn’t that kind of stroll. Instead, envisage a futuristic dystopian society where young people enter a state-sanctioned murder fest, walking until they can’t walk anymore. When they fall, stumble or even slow down, they don’t get a cup of water or one of those silver blankets. In fact, their only reward is a quick (and televised) execution.
If it all sounds a bit like The Hunger Games, then you aren’t far wrong although of course King was so far ahead of the curve as a writer (even though he penned this one under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman) that he was effectively writing YA fiction in the late 70s, decades before it would become fashionable. Perhaps it’s fitting then that Francis Lawrence, director of the recent spin-off from The Hunger Games, The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes is directing The Long Walk. Lawrence has recently been announced as the helmer of that film’s sequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping, also for Lionsgate.
We’re still not quite sure on a production timeline yet, although we do now know two of The Long Walk's leads (courtesy of Deadline). Cooper Hoffman, star of Licorice Pizza will play one of the film’s major parts, whilst David Jonsson – who stars in the TV show, Industry – will also play a key role. We don’t know who these actors will be playing but with the walk beginning with 100 contestants, there’ll surely be more casting to come.
For the time being, we’ll leave you with a synopsis below and we’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
‘The Long Walk takes place in the future in which 100 teenage boys embark on an annual competition known as “The Long Walk.” The rules are simple: maintain a speed above 4 miles per hour. Receive three warnings in an hour and you’re shot dead. The last one walking gets whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Under these grim circumstances the boys develop deep friendships despite knowing that each of their friends’ survival is a threat to their own. The book has the spirit of other King coming-of-age stories, following boys who prevail amid hardship and despair ala the characters in Stand by Me and It.’
