Stephen King’s The Long Walk Director Confesses the Challenges of the Adaptation

Andre Ovredal’s take on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is currently terrifying audiences across the world, but the director is already preparing his next horror outing. In a recent interview with DailyDead, Ovredal was asked about the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Long Walk, which he has been signed on to direct since May. Given the unique nature of the story – which centers around a rather-deadly cross-country walk – fans are eager to see exactly how that translates onto the screen, a challenge that Ovredal is excited to take on.

“What I find so amazing about that one is that it’s a challenge, an incredible challenge for a director because I have nothing to hide behind.” Ovredal revealed. “It’s actors, a camera, and the dialogue of the script. It’s just a walk and talk, and I’ve got to create suspense and intensity and the performances have to be great. So, to me, it’s a really huge challenge and I can’t wait to do it because it’s breaking new ground for me as well.”

The story, which King published under a pen name in 1979, centers around a group of 100 teenage boys who are forced to march across the country by a militaristic dictator. If a boy falls below a certain speed, or falters in any other way, they are in danger of being shot dead by soldiers riding alongside the road. The novel ion particular centers around Raymond Davis Garraty, a 16-year-old whose life quickly gets turned upside down by the contest.

Ovredal previously spoke about his approach to the film, calling it “very claustrophobic”.

“It’ll be very claustrophobic, because we never leave that road,” Ovredal shared back in June. “I think the studio and producers really liked my work on The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and compared it to this, because it’s very intimate. You’re walking right there with these kids; the fact that it has an expansive nature around it, as opposed to just walls, is a variation, but it’s going to be an extremely claustrophobic movie.”

“In a way, the book is about the long walk of life,” the director noted. “You watch your family and friends die around you as you go through life, and there’s a human connection there to the horror these kids are experiencing that goes way beyond the smaller story going on right in front of you. As a director, it’s extremely inspiring to be able to tell a story that is so human and so gruesome at the same time. It’s like man vs. the machine in a way, and about the innocence of these boys and how they don’t really grasp what they’ve gotten themselves into until it’s way too late.”

Are you excited to see Ovredal take on The Long Walk? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is now in theaters.