Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been slowly been putting together the lead cast of characters that will eventually go on to lead The Original Series. Spock and Nyota Uhura have been part of the Paramount+ subscription-exclusive show since the beginning, various versions of James T. Kirk have been popping in and out since the Season 1 finale, and Montgomery “Scotty” Scott joined the USS Enterprise in Season 3 after being introduced in the Season 2 finale. Now it’s been announced who will play Hikaru Sulu and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in Strange New Worlds Season 5, and these castings have me crossing my fingers more tightly that the Kirk spinoff that’s talked about will happen.

As shared by Variety, Kai Murakami and Thomas Jane have been respectively cast as Sulu and Bones. They are the third set of actors to play these characters in live-action, preceded by George Takei and DeForrest Kelley from The Original Series and other projects set in Star Trek’s Prime Universe, and John Cho and Karl Urban in the movies set in the Kelvin timeline. However we won’t be spending that much time with Murakami’s Sulu and Jane’s Bones on Strange New Worlds, as they’re only appearing in the series finale.

With these castings, the core group of Original Series leads will almost completely be assembled by the time Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is over. The only character missing is Pavel Chekov, but considering that he’d still be an adolescent at this point in the Star Trek timeline, I doubt we’ll see him. But hey, I welcome being surprised and seeing Little Chekov if it makes sense. For now, I’m just thankful that the show found a way to squeeze in Sulu and Bones.

Kai Murakami, who’s performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and done performance capture work on video games like like Assassin’s Creed and Rise of the Ronin, is making his TV debut with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Thomas Jane, of course, is known for movies like Boogie Nights, Deep Blue Sea and The Punisher, and he also has previous sci-fi cred from playing Josephus Miller/The Investigator in The Expanse. Even though we’re a long ways off from seeing their performances in Strange New Worlds, I’m already hoping this won’t be the first and only time we see these two actors in the franchise.

Though Strange New Worlds will wrap up with its shortened fifth season (consisting of six episodes rather than 10), there’s been talk about the possibility of Paul Wesley’s Kirk getting his own spinoff following him captaining the Enterprise before the events of The Original Series. SNW showrunner Akiva Goldsman referred to such a spinoff as Star Trek: Year One, but described it as a “dream” to our own Mick Joest. He added that Strange New Worlds is “gonna end it in a way that we feel is indicative of completion and is satisfying, and that does bring us into the TOS era.”

Still, I’m hopeful that Murakami and Jane being recruited into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ last episode bodes well for Star Trek: Year One’s chances. After all, SNW only came about because Pike, Number One and Spock were so warmly received in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, so why can’t that same sort of thing happen here? It’ll be a long time until we learn if that’s truly in the cards though, because before we get to Strange New Worlds’ final season, Season 4 will air sometime on the 2026 TV schedule.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced an entire generation of superhero movie fans to some of the comic book publishing giant’s most iconic characters, such as Iron Man and Thor. However, many of the heroes and villains we know from those Marvel movies in order have found their way to the big or small screen. Let’s honor some of the actors who brought them to life before they were inducted into the MCU.

Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man)

Some Marvel Comics fans have criticized the casting of Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, considering he was far older than when Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive arachnid at the time. While Tom Holland certainly fit the bill of a teenage vigilante better years later, Maguire is still remembered today as one of the best to play the role. Not to mention, he wore, arguably, the best cinematic Spidey outfit of all time.

Jessica Alba (Invisible Woman)

Following her Golden Globe-nominated breakthrough role on Dark Angel, Jessica Alba could be seen just about everywhere in the early 2000s. Ironically, she made her comic book movie debut in Tim Story's Fantastic Four as a superhero known for being unseen: Sue "Invisible Woman" Storm, who would be inducted into the MCU with Vanessa Kirby's portrayal.

Ben Affleck (Daredevil)

Ben Affleck would make an amusing, if not polarizing, impression when he joined a long line of live-action Batman actors for Zack Snyder's short-lived DC Extended Universe. More than a decade earlier, the Oscar winner cut his teeth in the world of superhero acting by playing the title role of 2003's Daredevil before Charlie Cox took over the role for the MCU in his own hit series.

Djimon Hounsou (Black Panther)

Djimon Hounsou has a small role in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy as Korath the Pursuer, but had voiced the Black Panther in a BET original animated series four years earlier. The Academy Award nominee would later share the screen as Korath with the MCU's T'Challa, Chadwick Boseman, for an episode of the animated anthology series, What If...?

Wesley Snipes (Blade)

Marvel's popular vampire hunter character would, technically, make his MCU debut when Mahershala Ali made a vocal cameo as Blade in the post-credit sequence of 2021's Eternals. However, the first actor to play the Daywalker in his own trilogy of Blade movies, Wesley Snipes, beat him to the punch by making a full, live MCU appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher)

It is hard to imagine Rocky IV star Dolph Lundgren with jet black hair, but he donned it to play Frank Castle in a straight-to-video feature adaptation of The Punisher in 1989. The role of the vengeful vigilante would be passed down a couple more times before Jon Bernthal took over as the MCU's official iteration, but the Swedish actor would later return to comic book movie acting as King Nereus in the Jason Momoa-led Aquaman movies.

David Hasselhoff (Nick Fury)

Samuel L. Jackson's performance as Nick Fury has become so definitive that Marvel would use his likeness in the Ultimate universe comics. However, the eye-patched secret agent's main iteration better resembles David Hasselhoff, who would, indeed, play him in 1998's Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., a made-for-TV movie that was intended to be a pilot for an original series on Fox.

Jennifer Garner (Elektra Natchios)

Jennifer Garner played a lighter interpretation of Matt Murdock's assassin lover, Elektra Natchios, in 2003's Daredevil and in her own spin-off film from two years later. While the Alias star would also reprise the role in Deadpool & Wolverine, the official MCU iteration, introduced in Season 2 of the Daredevil series, is played by Élodie Yung.

Chris Evans (Human Torch)

Chris Evans is one of the few MCU actors who can say he previously played a superhero from a different corner of the Marvel Multiverse. Years before he was cast as Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger, he starred in the 2000s Fantastic Four movies as the Human Torch, which he referenced to hilarious effect in Deadpool & Wolverine. The MCU later introduced its own official iteration of Johnny Storm, played by Joseph Quinn.

Lou Ferrigno (Hulk)

Before Bruce Banner's mean, green alter ego became the product of putting Mark Ruffalo in a performance capture suit, he was brought to life in live-action on the hit TV show, The Incredible Hulk, by Lou Ferrigno, standing in for David Banner actor Bill Bixby whenever he would get angry. The legendary bodybuilder also lent his voice to the role in the Incredible Hulk animated series and made a cameo as a security guard in both 2003's Hulk and the Edward Norton-led MCU debut.

J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson)

One of the few actors known for playing the same Marvel character both in and outside of the MCU is J.K. Simmons. The Academy Award winner stole the show as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies before reimagining the role as a conspiracy theorist and podcast host in the Tom Holland-led films.

Doug Jones (Silver Surfer)

The MCU would introduce a unique version of the Silver Surfer played by Emmy winner Julia Garner in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Doug Jones, a master of roles requiring performance capture and heavy makeup transformations, shares credit for portraying the first "live-action" iteration of the metallic-skinned alien from 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Laurence Fishburne, who provided the voice.

Robert Hays (Iron Man)

It is hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Tony Stark other than Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr., but Iron Man was the star of his own animated series years earlier in the mid-1990s. Voicing the wealthy vigilante was Robert Hays, who is best known for starring in the classic spoof movie, Airplane!, as Ted Striker.

Neil Patrick Harris (Spider-Man)

In 2003, MTV aired a TV show very loosely connected to Sam Raimi's Marvel movies called Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Instead of Tobey Maguire, the actor providing the voice of Peter Parker was none other than future How I Met Your Mother cast member Neil Patrick Harris, who later contributed to the 2010 video game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

Eric Allan Kramer (Thor)

Years before Chris Hemsworth's definitive performance as Thor in the MCU made him a household name, Eric Allan Kramer of Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Good Luck Charlie fame became the first actor the play the role in live-action in the 1988 TV movie, The Incredible Hulk Returns. However, I feel obligated to mention that Vincent D'Onofrio's role in Adventures in Babysitting as Dawson, who bears a striking resemblance to the God of Thunder, predates Kramer's portrayal by a year.

Rosemary Harris (Aunt May)

With all due respect and admiration for Marisa Tomei, the Oscar winner is certainly not the first person you would picture to play Peter Parker's Aunt May, as she does in the MCU. However, Rosemary Harris is not only the spitting image of the comic book character, but also gives a moving, iconic performance as May opposite Tobey Maguire's Peter in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

Matt Salinger (Captain America)

One of the most notable screen iterations of Steve Rogers that pre-dates Chris Evans' portrayal comes from 1990's infamous straight-to-video feature, Captain America. Playing the title role is Matt Salinger, who, believe it or not, is the son of The Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger, as the actor discussed with The Guardian.

James Avery (War Machine)

Most people know actor James Avery best from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast as Philip Banks. Around that same time, however, the actor lent his voice to the animated Iron Man series as James "Rhodey" Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine, years before Tony Stark's buddy was portrayed in the MCU by Don Cheadle... and Terrence Howard, of course.

Nicholas Hammond (Spider-Man)

Before the role was brought to life by Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland, the first actor to play Peter Parker in live-action was Nicholas Hammond. The Sound of Music star led CBS' Spider-Man series and its two made-for-TV companion films in the late 1970s.

Jennifer Connelly (Betty Ross)

Liv Tyler appeared in 2008's The Incredible Hulk as Betty Ross, the colleague and love interest of Edward Norton's Bruce Banner. Years earlier, in 2003's Hulk, she was played by Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly, who was also subtly inducted into the MCU as the voice of Karen, the AI built into Peter Parker's high-tech suit in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Thomas Jane (The Punisher)

Three actors were brought in to play Frank Castle before Jon Bernthal was cast in the role for the MCU. The second, after Dolph Lundgren and before Ray Stevenson, and first to bring the vigilante into the 21st Century, was Thomas Jane in 2004's The Punisher, which sees the anti-hero take on a corrupt businessman responsible for his family's tragic deaths.

Cree Summer (She-Hulk)

Cree Summer is the prolific voice actor behind many well-known animated roles, such as Susie Carmichael from Nickelodeon's Rugrats. She was also the second person to voice Bruce Banner's cousin, Jennifer Walters, on the animated Incredible Hulk TV show almost a couple of decades before Tatiana Maslany was cast in the lead role of Disney+'s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Michael Chiklis (The Thing)

Jamie Bell and Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach (who also appeared on Jon Bernthal's The Punisher series) both played CGI versions of Ben "The Thing" Grimm in their respective cinematic adaptations of the Fantastic Four comics. However, Michael Chiklis admirably went the old-fashioned route and donned a heavy amount of prosthetics to play the orange, rock-skinned superhero in Tim Story's movies from 2004 and 2007.

Sam Elliott (Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross)

Following William Hurt's passing, Harrison Ford stepped in to play Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross for the MCU in Captain America: Brave New World, in which the military general-turned-U.S. president becomes the Red Hulk. However, you could argue that the most intimidating portrayal of the character is still that of Sam Elliott in 2003's Hulk.

Peter Hooten (Dr. Strange)

With the title's otherworldly, psychedelic imagery, it is not very surprising to learn that Marvel's Doctor Strange comics were first adapted for live-action in the 1970s. CBS attempted to launch a series focused on the Sorcerer Supreme with a pilot led by actor Peter Hooten, who was, of course, succeeded decades later by Benedict Cumberbatch as the MCU's official iteration.

Lisa Rinna (Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine)

While better known today as a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Lisa Rinna also has the honor of being the first actor to portray Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in live-action in 1998's Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. In the MCU, the Italian-American noblewoman and CIA director is played by Seinfeld cast member Julia-Louis Dreyfus.

Conan Stevens (Man-Thing)

In 2005, SyFy aired a scary "movie of the week" inspired by the Marvel comic book character Man-Thing, played by Conan Stevens, who is essentially the publisher's equivalent to DC's Swamp Thing. The humanoid plant creature was painted in a far more sympathetic light in the Disney+ original Halloween special, Werewolf by Night, in which he was portrayed in motion capture by Carey Jones.

Ed Asner (J. Jonah Jameson)

Emmy winner Ed Asner's definitive TV role for years was cantankerous journalist Lou Grant on beloved TV sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the character's more earnest self-titled spin-off. In other words, he was a perfect choice to voice J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s.

Eric Bana (Bruce Banner)

The first live-action, theatrically released feature film adaptation of Marvel's The Incredible Hulk comics, director Ang Lee's Hulk, cast Australian actor Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. The brilliant physicist would later return to the big screen as part of the MCU, first portrayed by Edward Norton in his 2008 solo flick before Mark Ruffalo took over the role in subsequent installments.

Ed Gale (Howard The Duck)

Howard the Duck, one of the most bizarre characters in Marvel Comics' history, exists in the MCU, having first appeared in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy, voiced by Seth Green. The fowl extraterrestrial crimefighter made his feature debut, however, in a self-titled film from producer George Lucas, in which Ed Gale, a little person also known for playing Chucky in Child's Play, wore a duck costume on set while Chip Zien provided the voice.

Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic)

Before Pedro Pascal added the MCU to his ongoing list of franchises by playing Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, English actor Ioan Gruffudd played the stretchy superhero otherwise known as Mr. Fantastic in Tim Story's Fantastic Four movies.

Sticky Fingaz (Blade)

Mahershala Ali is actually not Wesley Snipes' direct successor to the role of Blade. Rap artist Sticky Fingaz played the vampire hunter in a short-lived TV series from 2006.

There were so many rumors regarding possible cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine that it was close to impossible that all of them were actually true. We knew that some of the rumors would likely turn out to be accurate, but the surprises in the film were not that there were appearances by previous Marvel movie characters, but which ones they turned out to be.

We saw Jennifer Garner as Electra, but not Taylor Swift as Dazzler. We got Channing Tatum as Gambit but not Daniel Radcliffe as an alternate Wolverine. Some were likely hoping certain cameo rumors were true only to be disappointed, including any fans of previous Punisher movies.

Did Thomas Jane’s Punisher Almost Appear In Deadpool and Wolverine? 

Three different actors have played Frank Castle, The Punisher, before the MCU’s Jon Bernthal, including Thomas Jane, who was one of the actors rumored to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine. That didn’t happen, and it wasn’t because Jane turned down the chance. When The Direct recently asked him if he was ever contacted about appearing in the film, the actor simply said…

Deadpool & Wolverine did include a recast version of The Russian, who appeared as part of Cassandra Nova's army of villainous henchmen, but no Punisher appeared to take him down. As a fan of Thomas Jane’s The Punisher movie, I was a little bummed that he didn’t appear, as I feel it doesn’t get the attention it should.

However, it isn’t a shock that Jane wasn’t asked. We learned that even Halle Berry was never actually asked to return as Storm, which seemed like a much more likely cameo.

What Does Thomas Jane Think About Jon Bernthal’s Punisher 

But if Thomas Jane had been asked to play Frank Castle again, would he have done it? He’s not specifically questioned about this, but it doesn’t sound like Jane has much of a desire to return to the role. He says his performance was a bit of a “stretch,” and that current and future actor playing this character, Jon Bernthal, really is the best Punisher, so Marvel doesn’t need him to come back. Jane explained…

As much as I do enjoy Thomas Jane’s Punisher, I can’t argue that Jon Bernthal is probably the best in the role that we’ve ever had. He’s set to return to the part as part of the Daredevil: Born Again cast, so the MCU doesn’t need another Frank Castle.

New year, new edition of The King Beat! Per the author’s personal Twitter account, he welcomed in 2024 by rocking out to Social Distortion, Rancid, Anthrax, Metallica, Ozzy, Def Leppard, and Tony Bennett – and this week’s column is packed with goodies about adaptations and collectables.

The first King Beat of 2024 has Thomas Jane’s vision for a From A Buick 8 miniseries, expressed gratitude from the screenwriter behind the upcoming adaptation of The Long Walk, and a look at some new collectables I’ve added to my personal Stephen King collection. Let’s dig in!

Thomas Jane Is No Longer Developing From A Buick 8, But I’m Hoping He Eventually Gets Another Shot

It late 2019, Thomas Jane got to work trying to add a fourth Stephen King project to his impressive resume. Having previously made Dreamcatcher, The Mist and 1922, the actor/producer acquired the rights to make an adaptation of the novel From A Buick 8. It was an exciting development for what is an underrated King book… but things have evidently changed quite a bit in the last few years, but Jane discusses all of the developments in the latest episode of The Kingcast.

The Fangoria podcast has published a two-hour interview with Thomas Jane as their first episode of 2024, and while the bulk of the conversation is dedicated to the aforementioned film 1922, that conversation is preceded with talk about From A Buick 8. Jane was directly asked by co-host Eric Vespe about the status of the adaptation, and Jane explained how the COVID-19 pandemic wholly upended what he had been working on for the Stephen King adaptation:

Evidently there was a ticking clock built into the option for which Thomas Jane and producer Courtney Lauren Penn had negotiated, and it wasn’t protected from the unprecedented events that led to Hollywood shutting down in 2020. Because forward progress was not accomplished with the project at a certain point in time, the option lapsed and the rights reverted back to Stephen King.

Thomas Jane added that there was an attempt to get the rights back, but he says that James Wan’s production company, Atomic Monster, now holds them. The actor/producer continued,

First published in 2002, From A Buick 8 is primarily set in and around a police station in the town of Statler, Pennsylvania. In a garage behind the barracks is parked a closely guarded secret that only a select few people know about: it looks like a 1954 Buick Roadmaster, but the details of it are not quite right, and it is frequently at the center of dangerous and disturbing supernatural events. The history of the entity is revealed over the course of the book as the veteran police officers tell stories about it to the son of a trooper who was recently killed during a traffic stop.

Original reports about Thomas Jane’s adaptation described it as a movie, but he explains in the new interview that the plan was an eight-hour miniseries. In fact, he had some blunt thoughts on why a standard feature version of From A Buick 8 wouldn’t work:

One could make the argument that the majority of Stephen King books would be better suited for adaptations as miniseries instead of films, but From A Buick 8 is a case where, as Thomas Jane explains, a movie just can’t do the material justice. It features not only a nonlinear structure, but it also regularly changes perspectives, and none of it should be shortchanged because of a limited runtime.

In addition to the individual stories being exciting and chock full of monstrous abominations from other dimensions, it’s also a contemplative tome about grief, and while Thomas Jane acknowledges in the podcast interview that the end of the book can be perceived as frustrating, he has an interesting perspective on what the story is really about:

If James Wan doesn’t end up producing an adaptation of From A Buick 8, I very much want to see Thomas Jane get the rights back, as he seems to be really locked into what should be said with the story.

Filmmaker JT Mollner Is Kicking Off 2024 With Work On The Long Walk, And His Enthusiasm Is Infectious

Will The Long Walk finally make it into production? That’s a standout Stephen King-related question that comes to mind as we dive headlong into 2024. The last few months have seen some big ups and downs: last August, director André Øvredal revealed his departure from the project, but in late November we learned that Lionsgate is developing an adaptation with filmmaker Francis Lawrence attached. My fingers are tightly crossed hoping that the movie can finally get made, and my excitement is only being buoyed by the expressed enthusiasm from screenwriter JT Mollner.

Mollner has been hired by Lionsgate to write the new adaptation of The Long Walk, and this past Sunday, he concluded 2023 by posting on Twitter about how stoked he is for the opportunity. Demonstrating an extreme passion for the source material, he wrote,

Later, responding to a reply to his post, JT Mollner added that his love of Stephen King’s work runs deep and has a tie to a notable childhood memory:

Mollner’s credits include the 2023 Fantastic Fest entry Strange Darling (which he both wrote and directed), and he most definitely has his work cut out for him adapting The Long Walk. Originally published with King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, the book is a work of dystopian fiction where teens from around the country participate in a “last man standing” contest where competitors have to continuously walk at a constant rate in hopes of winning a dream prize. The penalty for trying to run away or slowing down too many times, however, is execution.

Filmmakers including Frank Darabont and George A. Romero unsuccessfully tried to make feature adaptations of The Long Walk – but I’m deciding to stay optimistic that Francis Lawrence and JT Mollner will finally bring the dark and powerful story to life.

Kicking Off 2024 With New Additions To My Stephen King Collection: A Pair Of Can-Tahs And A King On Screen Limited Edition Blu-ray

I’m hopeful that my Stephen King collection will grow in some considerable ways over the course of the next year (and not just because You Like It Darker is arriving in the spring), and I’m not wasting any time. We may only be a few days into 2024, but I’ve already added some cool items that have arrived in the mail.

Featured at the center of the image above is the new Blu-ray edition of the documentary King On Screen, which has been made available with an exclusive slipcover by the boutique label Vinegar Syndrome. The movie was released last year and offers a fun reflection on the many decades of King adaptation – featuring interviews with talent like Mike Flanagan, Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Vincenzo Natali, and Lewis Teague. In addition to the Blu-ray having a great look, there are multiple extras including deleted scenes and an alternate cut of the feature.

King On Screen arrived this week after I placed a pre-order a few weeks ago, but the other two totems could perhaps be described as impulse buys. Featured on the right is a replica of the sinister Can-tah that is featured in the novel Desperation – modeled after the look of the prop that was used in the Mick Garris TV adaptation from 2005. It was originally included in a Bam! Horror box, but you can easily find them on eBay.

Having purchased a Can-tah with evil vibes, I felt that it was only right that I create a balance in my collection, and that’s how I ended up with the scrimshaw turtle. I purchased it from ScrimshawCollector.com, and while it’s not specifically made to look like the hypnotic carved turtle that Susannah Dean uses in The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, I think it’s a wonderful match to how the item is described in the book:

I recommend both as accent pieces for any Constant Reader’s Stephen King-dedicated bookshelves.

Recommendation Of The Week: "You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band"

Stephen King playing out 2023 with a blend of metal, hard rock, and Tony Bennett got me thinking about his long expressed passion for music, and "You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band" feels like an apropos recommendation of the week as a result. The short story can be found in the pages of the 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes, and it’s a freaky deaky trip to rock and roll heaven that packs some cool surprises and a mean final punch.

That does it for this week’s edition of The King Beat, but you’ll find my latest column here on CinemaBlend every Thursday throughout 2024, and you can learn more about King history in the meantime with my Adapting Stephen King series.

As I’ve chronicled in the creation of this column, there has never really been a lull in the history of Hollywood adapting the works of Stephen King. Since 1976, there have been few years that didn’t see the premiere of at least one new film or television project based on the writer’s books and/or short stories. That being said, 2017 is widely recognized as being a special time for Constant Readers, as it was a period that generated a renaissance for pop culture’s appreciation of King.

Admittedly, things in 2017 didn’t start off particularly well. The Mist television series debuted in June, and during its one-season run failed to inspire much excitement. Nikolaj Arcel’s The Dark Tower hit theaters on August 4, 2017, and it’s properly regarded as an absolute disaster. But then everything changed. In the span of just a few months, the brilliant Mr. Mercedes premiered on Audience, and then two of the best Stephen King movies of all time – Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One and Mike Flanagan’s Gerald’s Game – were released within weeks of one another.

It was a staggering streak that unfolded quickly, and then Zak Hilditch’s 1922 dropped less than a month after Gerald’s Game to end 2017 on a high note.

As discussed on an episode of The Commentary Cast, Hilditch first discovered Stephen King’s novella “1922” when his first feature film, These Final Hours, was trying to secure financing. Needing a distraction from the stress, the filmmaker purchased a copy of King’s 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars, and he was enraptured by the first of the four stories in the book. Among his initial thoughts about the work was that writer/director Frank Darabont would eventually make a great adaptation.

The Australian filmmaker couldn’t conceive of the idea that he would eventually be in a place in his career where he could make a Stephen King adaptation himself – but that attitude changed after he made These Final Hours and decided he wanted to make 1922 as his follow-up. In order to secure the rights, he wrote the screenplay on spec for the author’s approval and then had to set the project up within a year, and on both fronts he was successful. With Netflix backing the film, and Thomas Jane set to play the lead (his third King adaptation), production began in November 2016, and the streaming service debuted it on October 20, 2017.

1922 is not a movie you watch if you’re in need of an emotional pick-me-up, as it’s a macabre and harsh tale from start to finish, but it’s also impressive in its unrelenting tone and atmosphere and a stellar translation of the source material – which I dig into in this week’s Adapting Stephen King.

What “1922” Is About

Stephen King may be best known for writing stories set in Maine, but he clearly has some kind of a fascination with Nebraska. In the King canon, it’s portrayed as both a place of warmth and welcoming (it’s notably the home of force-for-good Abigail Freemantle in The Stand) and the setting of unimpeded and secret horrors (such as in the short story “Children Of The Corn.”) “1922” is one of the author’s most recent journeys into the Midwest state, and while it’s actually set in the same fictional town introduced in The Stand (Hemingford Home), it leans far further toward the dark side of things than the light.

While the novella is set in Nebraska, Stephen King credits inspiration for the story to Wisconsin Death Trip – a 1973 non-fiction book that collects photographs and newspaper clippings keeping a record of various strange and sordid incidents that transpired in Jackson County, Wisconsin between 1885 and 1900. As noted in the “Afterword” of Full Dark, No Stars, he was particularly struck by the photos and hard-living people in them. King writes,

The desire to capture that harshness and deprivation led to the creation of Wilfred James, a well-read man so dedicated to the farm life that he is willing to take some extreme measures and do some horrible things. The novella is written from his perspective and as a letter of confession.

In the titular year 1922, Wilfred lives with his wife, Arlette, and 14-year-old son, Henry, on an 80 acre farm in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, and it is the protagonist’s desire to expand operations onto the 100 adjoining acres that were owned by Arlette’s father and willed to her. This, however, does not line up with Arlette’s ambitions, as it is her desire to move to Omaha and open up a shop. She suggests selling the land, splitting the earnings, and getting a divorce, but Wilfred knows that the Farrington Livestock Company would purchase the property and end up poisoning the local stream with slaughterhouse runoff.  

Unwilling to compromise on the future he sees for himself and Henry, Wilfred gives in to a subconscious voice he calls The Conniving Man and begins to plot Arlette’s murder – in the process manipulating Henry so that he will help. They slit her throat and dump the body in an old well, and the cover-up that they execute works flawlessly. But while they are never punished by the law, the universe is another story, as Wilfred’s life unfurls in a spiral of death, poverty, and desperation.

How Zak Hilditch's 1922 Differs From Stephen King's Novella

The fact that Zak Hilditch saw the cinematic potential in “1922” immediately after reading it makes a lot of sense when you watch his adaptation. The filmmaker recognized that everything he needed to make a movie from the material was already written by Stephen King, and it was just a matter of translating the story to a new medium. Continuing to use the confession as a framing device allowed Hilditch to actually use verbatim passages from the novella in voice over from Thomas Jane’s Wilfred, and every single plot development from the novella is featured.

In the making of 1922, the writer/director put all of his trust in the effectiveness of the source material and opted not to add anything of extreme significance to what Stephen King had already created. As such, the only standout changes that Constant Readers can spot are minor cuts and some simplifications that were executed to aid the pacing.

None of the scenes and moments from King’s story that are trimmed from the middle of the movie actually have any larger impact on the plot. For example, there is a scene in the novella when Wilfred gets a visit from Henry’s schoolteacher, who is concerned about the teenager’s changing behavior after the disappearance of his mother. It doesn’t really add anything substantive to the narrative and would have meant the small-budget production casting another speaking role, so it’s easy to see why Hilditch nixed it.

Where things get more interesting in this conversation is how the film approaches the story of Henry (Dylan Schmid) and Shannon Cotterie (Kaitlyn Bernard). Both versions feature Henry leaving his father’s farm to rescue the pregnant Shannon from a Catholic school and depicts them turning to a life of crime as the Sweetheart Bandits – but the adaptation simplifies things to a great extent. The novella goes into great detail about how the boy plots to get to the girl, particularly because his arrival is anticipated by the school’s administration, and then it dives much deeper into nitty-gritty of the spree that eventually leads to their deaths.

Not wanting to take audiences out of Wilfred’s perspective for too long, the movie doesn’t engage as much with that part of the story. Henry’s big rescue mission is reduced to helping Shannon climb out of her bedroom window at night, and their time as the Sweetheart Bandits is presented mostly in montage.

The differences between the film and Stephen King’s story are similar when it comes to the third act. When Wilfred eventually moves to Omaha in the movie, for example, we see him get a job hauling pallets in a clothing factory, but the Netflix production skips over him eventually learning to sew and moving over to the sewing floor (not to mention his second job in Omaha as a librarian). Again, these are details that don’t add a great deal to the plot of 1922, and they would have required extra sets, so it’s not a mystery as to why they aren’t included.

Perhaps the biggest cut that Zak Hilditch makes in adapting “1922” is his decision not to include anything from the novella’s epilogue – which is delivered in the form of a newspaper clipping. The film ends on a supernatural note, with the corpses of Henry, Shannon, and Arlette (Molly Parker) finding their way into Wilfred’s hotel room along with hundreds of rats after the protagonist finishes his confession, and they presumably kill him (which is in the book). With this ending, however, the movie skips over the way in which King’s version snaps readers back to the reality of what really happened: in a fit of insanity, Wilfred bites himself all over his own body, chews up his own confession a la a rat building a nest, and opens his wrists with his teeth.

Is It Worthy Of The King?

1922 is a grim experience. It’s a story that begins with nasty and ugly conflict, escalates to horrible crime, and then offers persistent soul eating as Wilfred’s life is utterly destroyed and everything he cares about dies and/or rots away. It’s ugly and brutal, and, frankly, it’s astonishing that it got made as a movie. For that, as a massive Stephen King fan, I am appreciative and permanently mesmerized.

Despite its budget restrictions, it’s a movie that has surprising verisimilitude as it transports audiences back to the titular year, and it builds an oppressive atmosphere that is 100 percent the point. As noted, Stephen King wrote “1922” with the primary intention to evoke the attitude of a particular time and place in American history, and Zak Hilditch’s true accomplishment with the adaptation is translating that perfectly.

Thomas Jane has some greatness and awfulness in his personal filmography of Stephen King adaptations (Frank Darabont’s The Mist and Lawrence Kasdan’s Dreamcatcher, respectively), but 1922 features his best individual work. It’s a perfectly committed performance in both aesthetic and attitude, as he successfully transforms into Wilfred James, and it’s a turn full of terrific subtlety. By his nature, Wilfred is a stoic man who keeps a straight face at all times, but there is endless emotion behind Jane’s eyes, and it’s captivating to watch as the character’s whole world is torn apart.

Zak Hilditch’s 1922 is a movie with a quietly excellent legacy in the history of Stephen King adaptations. To date, it’s the best film that has been made based on a novella from Full Dark, No Stars (it’s far better than both Mikael Salomon's Big Driver and Peter Askin's A Good Marriage), and it concluded the remarkable year of 2017 with excellence.

How To Watch Zak Hilditch's 1922

If you’re a physical media collector aiming to create the Ultimate Stephen King collection, 1922 inspires frustration. Much like Gerald’s Game, the Zak Hilditch movie is literally a Netflix exclusive, which means that it is unavailable to watch unless you have a Netflix subscription. Hopefully it will someday get a Blu-ray release from a boutique brand like Shout! Factory or Arrow Video, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Looking ahead, Adapting Stephen King will be getting a special one-week format change for next week’s installment, as I’ll be taking a look at Castle Rock – the Hulu original series that ran for two seasons and exists as a unique amalgamation adaptation. Look for the feature in the CinemaBlend Streaming section on Wednesday, and click through the banners below to discover all of my previous pieces.

Marvel fans usually love when the studios takes risks and thinks outside of the box with its hires, especially when it comes to directors. Taika Waititi and James Gunn weren’t natural choices when it came to taking over bigger-budget superhero movies, but they brought their unique voices and approach to Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok, and now those movies are up there with the best Marvel movies ever made. These risks don’t always work (more on those in a moment), and we sometimes hear of situations where a radical, left-field selection almost happened, creating a tantalizing “What if?” for the Marvel universe.

This one involves the movie series The Punisher, which starred Thomas Jane as the vigilante Frank Castle back in 2004. This was an early stab (no pun intended) at bringing the extremely violent Marvel character to the big screen, and was in no way part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It never got a sequel, but during an appearance at the Fanboy Expo in Tennessee (via ComicBook), Jane mentioned that Rob Zombie was a name in the mix to helm Punisher 2, and excuse me… what? 

One of the criticisms leveled at Thomas Jane’s The Punisher, which was directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, is that it pulled its punches regarding the amount of violence needed to be a true Punisher movie. Frank Castle is a man who wages war on criminals after his innocent family is caught in the crossfire of rival gang members. The Punisher forgives no one, and leaves bodies in his wake. 

Hiring Rob Zombie to take a crack at The Punisher 2 would have given the sequel the edge that was missing from Hensleigh’s movie. Look at how Zombie reimagined Halloween when he took over John Carpenter’s classic franchise, or the spin he’s putting on The Munsters. They look nothing like what we would expect, and I know his interpretation of The Punisher would have been as extreme. You KNOW we would have gotten a killing montage set to Dragula, and that's badass.

Instead of Rob Zombie, the Punisher character landed in the hands of Lexi Alexander, who ramped up the violence for the more-fitting Punisher: War Zone but still created a movie that even the director hates. Then the character received some level of stability when fan-favorite Jon Bernthal donned Frank Castle’s body armor for multiple Netflix appearances. But then that, too, got cancelled. 

The Marvel Netflix heroes are making their way back to the MCU, with Daredevil about to appear in the She-Hulk series, and Kingpin being added to Echo. Despite the rumors that Rosario Dawson has been spreading, however, The Punisher isn’t ready to appear on a new Disney+ show. But if and when he does… maybe Rob Zombie can be in the mix again?

Support for Anne Heche continues to pour out after the actress was involved in a horrific car crash on Friday in Los Angeles. The car Heche was driving ran off the road and into a residence. She was taken to a local hospital by the Los Angeles Fire Department, and reports indicate that she is still hospitalized, and potentially faces a long road to recovery. Which is why messages of support from her former partner James Tupper carry extra sentimental value, and suggest the type of support Heche could get from friends and family when she begins that road to physical rehabilitation. 

Tupper, an actor who shared a relationship with Anne Heche from 2007-2018, shared the following on his Instagram account:

And the comments section beneath the post instantly filled with love and support from friends and fans of the star of Chicago P.D., The Brave and NBC’s Save Me, which ran for seven episodes in 2013. The child posing with Anne Heche in the above picture is Atlas Heche Tupper, the teenage son of Anne and James Tupper. The two actors met in 2006 on the set of the TV series Men in Trees, and even collaborated on the original TV movie Girl Fight. The couple split in 2018. 

James Tupper wasn’t the only ex to speak out on Anne Heche following her devastating accident. Thomas Jane, who dated Heche from 2019 to 2020, told The Daily Mail:

According to reports, Anne Heche was involved in multiple crashes on Friday in Los Angeles, first driving her blue Mini Clubman into the garage of an apartment complex, then pulling away from that scene and continuing to drive until she left the road again and rammed into a home on South Walgrove Ave. in the Mar Vista neighborhood of West Los Angeles. A source providing an update to CNN on Saturday morning said:

This is an evolving story, and more details regarding the crash and the events leading up to it likely will be released once authorities are able to interview Anne Heche in the hospital. Heche is the latest actor to be involved in a debilitating car accident, after Supernatural star Jared Padaledcki suffered bruises and soreness earlier this year when a car driven by his cousin went off the road and hit a utility pole. Also, in June of this year, two stars of Netflix’s The Chosen One died following a vehicular accident that left other cast and crew members injured. FInally, back in January, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself was involved in a multi-car collision when his SUV made contact with a Prius.  

We will continue to bring you updates on Anne Heche’s condition, and follow up on details of the crash, as the information becomes more public.

Boogie Nights was an incredibly packed ensemble experience from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. The critically acclaimed drama featured the story of a dishwasher who ends up becoming famous by making pornographic films, and shows his rise and fall in the porn industry.

But, with such a large ensemble, one might be wondering where the Boogie Nights cast is now and what they’ve been up to after nearly twenty-five years. Well, look no further, as we aim to answer that question today and let you know exactly where stars like Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, and others are now. 

Mark Wahlberg (Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler)

As the star of Boogie Nights, Mark Wahlberg received wide-spread acclaim for his role as Eddie Adams, otherwise known as Dirk Diggler. Since his role in the film, Wahlberg has been up to so much. 

Wahlberg’s biggest film roles so far have included a major role in The Transformers series, an Academy Award-nominated role in The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, The Italian Job, The Perfect Storm, the Daddy’s Home series, and many more. He’s also had success in television too, producing shows like Boardwalk Empire, Entourage, Ballers, and others. 

Some of his upcoming work are the films Father Stu, Me Time, Arthur the King, Our Man From Jersey, and The Six Billion Dollar Man, so he’ll surely be appearing in more awesome movies. 

Julianne Moore (Maggie/Amber Waves)

Next up, we have Julianne Moore, who played Maggie/Amber Waves in Boogie Nights and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Since her performance in the movie, Moore has become an even bigger star. 

While she has had some small roles on television, such as an appearance on Sesame Street and a minor recurring role on the classic series, 30 Rock, Moore has mainly kept her talents to the big screen. Some of her biggest roles thus far have included Still Alice, for which she won an Academy Award, The Big Lebowski, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Maps to the Stars, Far From Heaven, Dear Evan Hansen, and The Hunger Games series, which recently just turned ten years old. 

Coming up, Moore will be in many new movies, including Sharper, Mothertrucker, May December, and Fruitcake, so I’m sure the next couple of years are going to be jam-packed for this amazing actress. 

Burt Reynolds (Jack Horner)

Burt Reynolds was a legendary name in Hollywood, and he earned rave reviews for his performance in Boogie Nights as Jack Horner, including a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 

After his role in the film, Reynolds would go on to have a prominent film career, just as he did before, appearing in movies like Crazy Six, Hotel, Driven, The Longest Yard, Grilled, In The Name of the King, Deal, and others. He also had a recurring role in the TV series, My Name is Earl, as well as playing Ron Wilcox in Hitting the Breaks. 

Unfortunately, Burt Reynolds passed away in 2018 at the age of 82, but we have the rest of his amazing legacy in Hollywood to look back on to remember him.

Don Cheadle (Buck Swope)

Playing Buck Swope in Boogie Nights was Don Cheadle, someone who's only gotten more and more popular over the years. Cheadle has had a prominent career in both movies and TV. 

One of his biggest roles that he has reprised many times is playing James Rhodes, otherwise known as War Machine, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for more than ten years, and he will reprise that role in the upcoming Armor Wars series on Disney+. Some of his other big films roles include Hotel Rwanda, which scored him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, Traffic, Out of Sight, No Sudden Move. Space Jam: A New Legacy, and more. 

He’s also had a great career in television, with a main role in the Showtime series, House of Lies, as well as a main role on Black Monday. Currently, he actually stars in the series, The Wonder Years. 

Soon, he’s going to be appearing in many new movies, including White Noise and Black Stallions, so he certainly has a good line-up for the next couple of years. 

John C. Reilly (Reed Rothchild)

Next up, we have Reed Rothchild in Boogie Nights, played by John C. Reilly. The actor has had quite the career since Boogie Nights took off, and has appeared in a variety of movies and TV shows. 

Some of his biggest movies were appearing in Magnolia (another Paul Thomas Anderson film), The Thin Red Line, the musical film, Chicago, The Aviator, Step Brothers alongside Will Ferrell, Kong: Skull Island, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and so many more.

He’s also had a prominent career in television too, including a voice role in Stone Quackers, a starring role in Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule, a recurring role in Moonbase 8, a voice role in Ultra City Smiths, and more. His latest project is playing Jerry Buss, owner of the L.A. Lakers, in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, on HBO. 

William H. Macy (Bill “Little Bill” Thompson)

Another big name in Boogie Nights is William H. Macy, and while he had already made a name for himself years before with movies such as Fargo, Macy has had a huge career in the last twenty-five years. 

Some of his biggest film accomplishments have been starring in Magnolia, as well, Psycho, The Cooler, the Studio Ghibli film, The Wind Rises, Cake, Room, The Layover, Krystal, and so much more. However, his longest-running project thus far was portraying patriarch Frank Gallagher on the popular Showtime series, Shameless, for a 11 seasons, becoming a character fans loved to hate on the series.

His latest project is The Dropout on Hulu, where he plays Richard Fuisz, so keep an eye out for him. 

Heather Graham (Brandy/Rollergirl)

Next up, we have Heather Graham, who played Brandy/Rollergirl in Boogie Nights. Graham has appeared in many other movies since, with some of her biggest roles being in Bowfinger, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Hangover and The Hangover Part III, the Daniel Radcliffe-led film, Horns, The Last Son, and more. 

Graham has also done some television work as well, appearing in shows like Bliss, Angie Tribeca, Get Shorty, Law & Order True Crime, and others. Coming up, she’s going to be in many new movies, including Oracle, On a Wing and a Prayer, and more. 

Nicole Ari Parker (Becky Barnett)

Playing Becky Barnett in Boogie Nights was Nicole Ari Parker, who has had a huge career in television. While she has appeared in many movies as well, including Remember the Titans, Brown Sugar, Almost Christmas, How It Ends, and more, she’s mainly kept her talents to TV. 

Parker appeared as a recurring cast member on Cosby, was a part of the main cast on Soul Food, as well as The Second Time Around and The Deep End. She was a recurring cast member on Revolution, as well as on I’m Dying Up Here, Empire, and Chicago P.D. Most recently, she was a part of the recurring cast of the Sex and the City spinoff, And Just Like That…,which just got renewed for a second season. 

Soon, she’s going to have a role in two new movies, We Are Gathered Here Today and HeadShop, as well as appear in a new TV series called At That Age. 

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Scotty J.)

Moving on, we have Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Scotty J in Boogie Nights. After his role in the film, Hoffman appeared in many movies. 

Some of his biggest roles were in Patch Adams, The Big Lebowski, Magnolia, Charlie Wilson’s War, Doubt, The Master, The Savages, and more, alongside a bigger role in The Hunger Games series. He did have some minor appearance on TV, including two episodes of Empire Falls, but mainly stuck to movies. 

Sadly, Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away in 2014 at the age of 46. 

Luis Guzman (Maurice Rodriguez/T.T. Rodriguez)

Next up is Luis Guzman, who played Maurice Rodriguez/T.T. Rodriguez in Boogie Nights. After his role in the film, Guzman has appeared in many movies, including Magnolia (like many of his other castmates) Traffic, Punch-Drunk Love, War, We’re the Millers, The Last Stand, 9/11, The Birthday Cake, and several others. 

He’s also had a great career in television as well, with several main roles and recurring appearances. Some of his most-known were playing the titular role in Luis, Rene Calderon in How to Make It in America, Jesse Salander in Code Black, Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha in Narcos, Mikey O’Shea in Shameless (usually alongside William H. Macy) and Jorge Cuevas in Hightown. Talk about a stacked resume. 

Coming up soon, he is going to be portraying one of the most iconic TV characters ever, Gomez Addams, in the upcoming series, Wednesday, so definitely be on the lookout for this Netflix series to drop.

Philip Baker Hall (Floyd Gondolli)

Floyd Gondolli in Boogie Nights was played by Philip Baker Hall, who has had a great career in both movies and television. Some of his biggest roles include Psycho, The Insider, Magnolia, Rules of Engagement, The Amityville Horror, The Last Word, and more. 

Some of his most-known television roles have been a recurring role on Pasadena, as well as work on The Loop, Second Change, and Messiah. 

Thomas Jane (Todd Parker)

Last but not least, we have Thomas Jane, who played Todd Parker in Boogie Nights. Since his appearance, Jane has popped up in many movies and television shows. Some of his biggest movies include, but aren’t limited to, The Punisher, 1922, Deep Blue Sea, The Mist, The Predator, Vice, Hot Summer Nights, and many others. 

He’s also had some major roles in television, including playing Ray Drecker on Hung, James Wykoff in Texas Rising, Joe Miller in The Expanse, and Ted Conkaffey in Troppo. Coming up soon, he’s going to be in several new films, including Vendetta, Slayers, and Bad Hombres, among many others. 

There are still plenty of other names that you might recognize from Boogie Nights, such as Alfred Molina, Michael Penn, Robert Downey Sr., and more. However, this updates you on the main stars who have been active to this day with some amazing film and TV work. 

Unsurprisingly, the actor who has appeared in the most Stephen King film and television projects to date is… Stephen King. From 1982 to the present, he has appeared in 15 different live-action takes on his writings, from Creepshow, to Pet Sematary, to IT: Chapter Two. He, however, is far from the only individual who has played parts in multiple adaptations and originals spurred from his imagination – and there are some actors who have done it quite a lot.

Reviewing the casts for all of the Stephen King movies and television projects we’ve seen going back to Brian De Palma’s Carrie (and not including cameos like the author’s), we’ve cultivated this select list of actors, including Misery's Kathy Bates, who have been in more King projects than just about anybody. To kick things off, let’s start with the top dog:

Matt Frewer (The Stand, Quicksilver Highway, Bag Of Bones, Desperation, Riding The Bullet)

While he has some actors nipping at his heels, Matt Frewer currently stands as the performer with the most Stephen King titles on his filmography – and that’s because he has starred in nearly all of the adaptations made by writer/director Mick Garris. Together they’ve only made one big screen King feature, 2004’s Riding The Bullet, but Frewer has worked with Garris on the TV takes of Bag Of Bones, Desperation, The Stand, and Quicksilver Highway (Note: Frewer is only in the half of Quicksilver Highway based on Clive Barker's "The Body Politic," as opposed to the half based on King's "Chattery Teeth," but we're going to count it anyway).

Henry Thomas (Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Desperation, Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep)

Writer/director Mike Flanagan has made two Stephen King adaptations to date, and he’s brought Henry Thomas along for the ride both times – casting him in key antagonist roles in Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. Prior to those films, however, he played a small part in the TV movie version of Desperation, and he has a co-starring role in the Nightmares & Dreamscapes episode “The End Of The Whole Mess.”

Steven Weber (The Shining, The Outer Limits, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Desperation)

Steven Weber’s professional relationship with the work of Stephen King began in a tricky place, as he was cast as Jack Torrance in the 1997 miniseries adaptation of The Shining – but it started a successful run for the actor. One of his only two directing credits in his career comes from when he helmed the “Revelations Of 'Becka Paulson” episode of 1997’s The Outer Limits – in which he has a key supporting part – and he plays leads in both the TV movie Desperation and the "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes (as a bonus, he also does a spectacular job as the narrator of the IT audiobook).

Jeffrey DeMunn (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Storm Of The Century, The Mist)

Jeffrey DeMunn isn’t from Maine, as he grew up in Buffalo, New York, but it’s easy to imagine that his authentic accent is what keeps getting him roles in Stephen King movies. He’s been in all three of director Frank Darabont’s adaptations of the author's books – The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist – and he also has a supporting role in the excellent original TV miniseries Storm Of The Century, which premiered in 1999.

Cynthia Garris (Sleepwalkers, The Stand, The Shining, Riding The Bullet)

Like Matt Frewer, Cynthia Garris has also appeared in a number of Mick Garris’ Stephen King projects (she’s been married to the filmmaker since 1982), though her count is presently one behind her co-star's. She also has supporting parts in Riding The Bullet and The Stand, but she also plays the 217 Woman in the miniseries version of The Shining, and has a small part in the 1992 movie Sleepwalkers (which is based on an original King screenplay).

Eric Keenleyside (The Dead Zone, Dreamcatcher, Kingdom Hospital, 1922)

In terms of Stephen King adaptations, Eric Keenleyside is probably best known for his exceptionally ugly death in Lawrence Kasdan’s Dreamcatcher (where he dies on the toilet after pooping an alien), but he has a much more extensive history than that. He has been in three other King projects to date, as he preceded the 2004 film with a one-off performance in an episode of the 2002 Dead Zone television series, and he followed it with a part in the finale of Kingdom Hospital. More recently he played a supporting role in Zak Hilditch’s 1922.

Leon Rippy (Firestarter, Maximum Overdrive, 11.22.63, Under The Dome)

Leon Rippey’s first role in a Stephen King movie is super brief, as he plays an agent working for The Shop who gets blinded while trying to kidnap Drew Barrymore’s Charlie McGee in Mark L. Lester's Firestarter – but it proved to be the start of a cool trend. He is notably the last human character killed in King’s Maximum Overdrive, and more recently he had key supporting parts in the miniseries 11.22.63 and the television show Under The Dome.

Owen Teague (Cell, IT, IT: Chapter Two, The Stand)

There’s a debate to be had whether or not Owen Teague’s turn as Patrick Hockstetter in Andy Muschietti’s IT and IT: Chapter Two counts as one adaptation or two, but even beyond those blockbusters he has made a significant stamp in the world of Stephen King adaptations. He played private school student Jordan in Tod Williams’ Cell, and most recently portrayed Harold Lauder in the 2020 limited series version of The Stand.

Kathy Bates (Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Stand)

Kathy Bates is the only actor to date who has won an Academy Award playing a Stephen King character (namely Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s Misery), so it makes all kinds of sense that she would dip her toe back into those waters. She stars as the titular character in Taylor Hackford’s underappreciated Dolores Claiborne, and has an uncredited role as rebellious radio DJ Rae Flowers in the 1994 miniseries adaptation of The Stand.

John Cusack (Stand By Me, 1408, Cell)

John Cusack has experienced some real highs and lows in the world of Stephen King stories. Tod Williams’ Cell, in which he plays protagonist Clay Riddell, is a total mess, but he does some great work as paranormal investigator/author Mike Enslin in Mikael Håfström’s 1408, and has his extremely memorable role in one of the greatest King adaptations of all time: Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me.

William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist)

William Sadler has a special place on this list, as while he currently has three Stephen King movies on his filmography, he has a brand new one on the way. Like Jeffrey DeMunn, he’s starred in all of the Frank Darabont adaptations, playing three very different parts in The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, but coming up in 2022 he will be a part of the ensemble featured in Gary Dauberman’s upcoming Salem’s Lot movie.

Bruce Davison (Tales From The Darkside, Apt Pupil, Kingdom Hospital)

It was back in 1984 that Bruce Davison first brought to life a Stephen King character, playing the world-changing protagonist of “Word Processor Of The Gods” when the short story was adapted as an episode of Tales From The Darkside. Years later he got the part playing Brad Renfro’s father in Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil, and in 2004 he starred as the principal villain in King’s short lived TV series Kingdom Hospital.

Thomas Jane (Dreamcatcher, The Mist, 1922)

Like John Cusack, Thomas Jane’s track record in Stephen King movies would be fantastic if it weren’t for one extremely bad entry. In Jane’s case the regrettable title is Lawrence Kasdan’s Dreamcatcher, in which he plays one of the leads, but he’s excellent in both Frank Darabont’s The Mist and Zak Hilditch’s 1922, which are two of the better 21st century King adaptations.

Samantha Mathis (Salem's Lot, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Under The Dome)

While Samantha Mathis has appeared in three Stephen King TV projects to date, only one of them has seen her play a character that actually originated from the author’s writings. In 2004 she played female lead Susan Norton in the miniseries remake of Salem’s Lot – but Dr. Alice Calvert, her part in Season 1 of Under The Dome, and Karen Evans, her role in “The Fifth Quarter” episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes, were invented for the respective adaptations.

Ed Harris (Creepshow, Needful Things, The Stand)

Of all the actors on this list, Ed Harris’ history goes back the longest. After all, it was back in 1982 that he had a key part in the “Father’s Day” segment of George A. Romero’s Creepshow, and that was only the fourth Stephen King project produced in Hollywood. A little over a decade later he starred as hero Sheriff Alan Pangborn in Fraser C. Heston’s Needful Things, and after that he played the uncredited role of General Starkey in the 1994’s The Stand.

Other actors with four Stephen King credits: Anthony Ulc, Peter MacNeill

Other actors with three Stephen King credits: Ari Cohen, Bill Croft, Brian Libby, Campbell Lane, Chosen Jacobs, Conor Price, David Hughes, David Morse, Deborah Allen, Eric Woolfe, Frances Sternagen, Frank C. Turner, Janet Porter, Jason Davis, Joan Gregson, Joel Freckelston, Kandyse McClure, Laura Warner, Lee J. Campbell, Leslie Carlson, Michael Daingerfield, Michael O’Neill, Miguel Ferrer, Molly Atkinson, Nicholas Hamilton, Paul Butler, Stephen Bogaert, Terence Kelly, Tom Skerritt, William B. Davis

For a journey through the long history of Stephen King adaptations, check out my Adapting Stephen King column, and to see all of the projects that are on the horizon head on over to our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide.

When 20th Century Fox took over Hall H at San Diego Comic Con on Thursday, they needed only one movie to capture everyone's attentions: Shane Black's The Predator. The upcoming sequel has shown off a few trailers that suggest the presence of Jacob Tremblay and Olivia Munn, and have hinted at the camaraderie of the military team led by Boyd Holbrook and Keegan-Michael Key. But the hook of the Hall H footage today was the appearance of the Ultimate Predator. And he was a total badass. When asked what the Ultimate Predator brings to the screen, Key elaborated:

It was so much power, that the Ultimate Predator -- who towers over the smaller Predator he fights -- ripped his antagonist through a wall, slammed him down onto a car, punch a hole in his skull, and then beheaded him. Brutally.

How the human cast is going to fend off this Predator is beyond me.

The cast of The Predator had other things on their mind, though. During the Hall H panel, the cast told an hysterical story that I had them recount in CinemaBlend's video suite. Apparently, while filming the movie, the cast would gather in Keegan-Michael Key's trailer, and watch old Blaxploitation movies. And they took lines from vintage flicks like Dolemite, then attempt to work them into Shane Black's movie. I'd quote the line, but you really need to hear it from Key, himself. It's hilarious:

Shane Black's The Predator dominated Hall H with an outstanding presentation. The movie will be in theaters on September 14, and stars Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevonte Rhodes, Thomas Jane, Sterling K. Brown, Jake Busey, Alfie Allen and Yvonne Strahovski. We will have more from our exclusive interview with the cast of The Predator, and LOTS more from Comic-Con, in the coming weeks.

Plenty of beloved action franchises have announced new projects in recent years, but arguably one of the most exciting of the bunch is The Predator. Bringing Shane Black back into the fold after a long absence, the new film will aim to revitalize the intergalactic hunters and introduce their bloody sport to a new generation. Plot details have been hard to come by, but The Predator actor Thomas Jane recently opened up and explained that it will (at least partially) center on a group of psychologically-scarred war veterans fighting for survival against the Predators. The 1922 star said:

The Predator franchise has always relied on a conflict between one or more human badasses against the titular hunter. However, it sounds like Shane Black's new film will sidestep much of the confusion and speculation that most Predator movie characters go through and get right to the point. These war veterans are ready and willing to accept that the aliens exist, and they have the skills to fight back when their lives are in danger. The Predators like to keep a low profile when they come to Earth, so making the film center on these soldiers fighting to stay alive amid an alien cover-up makes quite a bit of sense.

The reference to soldiers in the back of a bus also seems to provide some context for a photo posted by director Shane Black earlier this year in which we see several of the film's stars (including Thomas Jane) in the back of a beat-up bus. Check it out below.

With that said, Thomas Jane made sure to note in his guest spot on Shadow Nation that this is just the part that he filmed. There might be another layer to The Predator's story that we're not entirely aware of (which could explain how a young actor like Ty Simpkins can get involved in the action) so we're going to have to wait until we see footage from the film to know for sure. Shane Black has already said that the film will solidify the storylines of the series instead of providing a full-blown reboot, so all eyes are on this entry to bring the whole thing full circle.

The Predator is currently gearing up for an August 3, 2018 release. Until then, make sure to take a look at CinemaBlend's 2017 movie premiere guide, as well as our 2018 movie premiere guide!

Warning: spoilers for The Mist are in play. If you haven't experienced the terror for yourself, bookmark this piece and come back.

With all of this talk about Stephen King movies in 2017, there's one movie that's been a recurring thought in our minds as of late: Frank Darabont's 2007 adaptation of The Mist. Blame it on how it's been the year for Stephen King adaptations or the fact that the Spike TV adaptation was cancelled. Hell, seeing Thomas Jane in this weekend's 1922 kind of drove the point home, as he's once again proven he's one of those actors that just gets King's work.

Most importantly, it's Halloween, and that's the time of year to indulge in what truly scares you. And if being stuck in a grocery store with an angry mob led by a religious zealot inside isn't something to be afraid of, having massive and unfriendly creatures waiting on the outside certainly is. Though the thing that scares us the most about The Mist is its ending, an occurrence so shocking that it's still one of the most harsh finales we've ever seen. It's an ending we need to discuss, and that's exactly what we're about to do. Prepare yourselves, as we're about to go back into The Mist.

How The Movie Ends

After spending almost the whole movie cooped up in the supermarket, hiding from the creatures that make their home in The Mist, Thomas Jane's David Drayton leaves the safety of the building with a select group of people, in order to drive into the mist. The surviving party members find themselves stranded on the road, as the car they took runs out of gas mid-journey. Faced with the choice of either being ended by the monsters or by their own devices, the group allows David to shoot them all as an act of mercy. This includes David's young son, who's only eight years old at the time.

Unfortunately for David, there were five people and four bullets, leaving himself unable to finish his task by killing himself. So he walks outside, egging on fate to engage in what we've come to know is the standard operating procedure of The Mist: the prospect of a horrific monster eating him. Only, that doesn't happen. Apparently, the Army base that started this mess got the situation under control, and David sees this all too clearly when soldiers start to clean up the area around him. But the real kicker is when he sees truckloads of survivors from the supermarket they had fled, including a woman who previously wandered into the mist, played by The Walking Dead's Melissa McBride.

With his wife dead, and having just mercy killed everyone in his party including his young son, David realizes that if they'd stayed put just stopped for a single moment and thought things through, everyone would have been ok. He screams in pure madness, and the film ends. You can watch these last few moments for yourself, in the clip below.

That's not the end of the madness though, as if the movie's David knew the ending of the original Mist novella, he'd have gone even crazier.

How The Book Ended

The novella The Mist ends pretty similar to the movie, with a daring escape being made by David, his son, and two others. What follows is a longer driving sequence that hits upon the heavily implied death of David's wife, and sees the crew making their way to a Howard Johnson's hotel near the state border. As he finishes writing the pages explaining the entirety of The Mist, he sets up the ending with the following caveat:

Rather than definitively ending, The Mist's literary form leaves its conclusion ambiguous, with the prospect of salvation being found in Hartford, Connecticut - based on David's apparently hearing that town's name in a brief radio transmission. He mulls over the thought that they can only make it so far on the amount of gas they have, even has a prospect to refuel the car. In the end, he kisses his son good night, and whispers "Hartford" and "Hope" to him.

So while The Mist has a bleak, unforgiving, and finite conclusion in Frank Darabont's adaptation, the novella has a more open ended conclusion that gives hope to David Drayton, his son, and the two women that followed them into the wild. Right about now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "why the hell did they change the ending?" Well, we've got some ideas on that, and they're supported by the King of horror himself.

Why They Changed It

There was one big force behind changing the ending to The Mist for the theatrical adaptation, and it was Frank Darabont himself. When talking about the new conclusion in an interview, Stephen King explained how this came to be.

When making The Mist in an era that saw the worldwide public dealing with the brutal realities of ongoing war and terrorism, it kind of made sense to beef up the ending into something that embraced a darker sense of realism. It would only be a year or so until The Dark Knight got in on the action, but Darabont and King saw the opportunity for a definitive and memorable ending, and took it.

Reading Stephen King's remarks on the ending, there's one key thing you have to keep in mind: the original story was written in 1980, which not only makes it one of King's earliest works, but also happens to be in the same year that Stanley Kubrick's The Shining made its way into theaters. Considering how much Stephen King hated the way The Shining was adapted, he's always had a bit of an anti-Hollywood bent on his mind, and who could blame him? It only makes sense that he would trust Frank Darabont, the man who made The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile into the successful adaptations they were. But the fact that this ending allowed King to get one up on Hollywood convention feels like it was the icing on his cake. Something he's never been shy of expressing since day one.

What King Thought Of The Ending

Needless to say, Stephen King is one of the biggest fans of the ending to The Mist's film adaptation, and that's not information that's new. While the previous quote about his approval of the ending came as early as a couple months ago, King was still cheerleading for the film's nihilist conclusion when the film was first released into the world. He'd said as much in an interview with USA Today around the time of the film's release, stating that:

He only further poured the affection on Frank Darabont's thrilling end to David Drayton's adventures, as he doubled down in a press conference for The Mist's release and said this:

It's hard not to see Stephen King's glee for the fact that The Mist was not only going to bum out a bunch of new fans that had never experienced the material before, but also that loyal fans who read the book were about to be in for a bit of a shock themselves. After all, the man loves a good shock and/or scare at the expense of his audience, so why wouldn't he enjoy it if it fits into the parameters of the story that came before it? But is it truly the better ending?

Which Ending Was Better?

For hardcore Stephen King fans, picking a favorite ending to The Mist must is like Sophie's choice. But, taking both into consideration for their individual merits, there's some good points to be made. The ending to The Mist in novella form speaks to the dogged determination of our species. It's a hopeful ending that says we can make it, if only we push ourselves far enough, with enough smart thought behind our decisions. It's an inconclusive ending, but it allows for hope to flourish with the right thinking.

The ending to Frank Darabont's The Mist though is a dark, gut-punch of an ending, that shows a man on the wrong side of fate, with one less bullet than he needed. It is a bleak ending that does not rely on fate or indecision to lead the audience towards their own preferences, and it forces you to see its definitive conclusion in all of its dark glory, letting you decide to either accept or reject it on those standards alone.

In all honestly, I favor that second ending, purely because it feels more like the Stephen King I've come to know in a more modern context. Also, it's an ending so audacious in what it does, that you kind of have to respect it. But most importantly, it's an ending that brought The Mist into the modern age without having to change all that much about the story to begin with. The possibility for soul crushing defeat was always there in the world of David Drayton and his compatriots. All Frank Darabont did was give the story the push it needed, ultimately sealing everyone's fates.

This poll is no longer available.

Seventeen years ago, Bryan Singer's X-Men changed the way we looked at comic book adaptations, as it undid a lot of the damage that Batman & Robin had done to the still growing genre back in 1997. Part of that movie's success is, without a doubt, thanks to Hugh Jackman, who was then an up-and-coming actor that landed the role of a life time: Wolverine. Now, we can't picture anyone else playing the role, but in that pre-watershed era of history, there were others who were considered for the duty of popping claws and screaming out in berserker rage.

Some of the men that were sought after for the role were natural choices, while others are quite off the beaten path. All would have brought something unique to the role, and all 13 are going to be revealed throughout this list. So keep an open mind, and get ready to imagine several different futures past, as the following line-up could be considered Wolverines of alternate timelines.

Bob Hoskins

We'd previously reported that X-Men comic writer Chris Claremont had a specific choice for Wolverine, and his was a rather unconventional, but still badassed choice. He thought that esteemed actor /hard case Bob Hoskins could have been a great Wolvie for the silver screen. Since Claremont wrote the X-Men during the period of 1975 and 1991, we're going to assume that his vision of Hoskins as Wolverine was more inspired by The Long Good Friday and less Super Mario Bros. Which would have been totally sweet, considering his reputation stemming from that film.

Russell Crowe

Bryan Singer must really like Australian actors, as he reportedly selected Russell Crowe as his original choice to take the part of Wolverine for 2000's X-Men. At least, that's what the trivia on IMDb has to say, and it names a lot of actors that were in the running. Though this potential casting was also mentioned by Hollywood.com, Uproar Comics, and NotStarring.com. Now keep in mind, this was peak Crowe, coming off of the era of L.A. Confidential and The Insider, which saw him go onto play Maximus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Of course, seeing as both projects released months apart from each other in 2000, we're to assume Crowe dropped Marvel's pet project for the Oscar-winning juggernaut. But he did win an Oscar, make friends with Ridley, and suggest Hugh Jackman for the role instead of himself. So, while the prospect could have been awesome, it clearly wasn't the end of the world.

Glenn Danzig

X-Men didn't happen overnight, as it was being developed through a good portion of the late '90s at 20th Century Fox. So, with a lot of time, comes a lot of choices, and both NotStarring.com and Uproar Comics have mentioned that rocker Glenn Danzig was one of the big choices the studio had. Of course, this was before a director / producer had been decided on. But, the dealbreaker was naturally the clause in his contract that would have kept him on the set of X-Men for long enough that his touring days would have to be postponed. Which is a shame, because the dude totally could have made Wolverine his own, and might have launched his impressive physique into a slew of action franchises afterwards.

Aaron Eckhart

This is probably the first name on this list that'll raise some eyebrows, and stumbling upon his name both on IMDb and Hollywood.com's lists certainly threw us for a loop. It's not that Aaron Eckhart is a bad actor, or that he's a puny mortal. But if we had to choose a factor that didn't work in his favor, despite being a studio favorite, is that he was probably seen as too small for the role of Wolverine. But then again, the comparison of Eckhart to Hugh Jackman is probably what's throwing us off, because other than that factor, his quiet range and physicality should have been a good fit.

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Now here's a pick that could have been pretty close to what Hugh Jackman brought to the role of Wolverine, and it's been recorded by Hollywood.com and IMDb. Jean-Claude Van Damme, the "Muscles from Brussels," could have matched the stature of Jackman's peak physique, if not exceeded them. However, if Van Damme was cast for X-Men as 20th Century Fox had wanted, we might have seen a faster moving Wolverine, rather than the brawler that Jackman's incarnation embodied. Also, his accent would have probably had everyone wishing he'd been cast as Gambit anyway, and that would have been amazingly distracting.

Viggo Mortensen

When it came to casting Wolverine, Fox had a bit of a wandering eye. And yet, that eye did settle on the man who would be king of Middle-Earth, Viggo Mortensen, just as he was rising in profile and stature. His running for the role has been reported on all four of the lists we've sourced. While he could have made an interesting choice, we have a feeling that he might have been a bit too "quiet" for the studio's tastes, as he really didn't have a lot of action under his belt. Though that certainly didn't stop him from getting cast in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, so again, the universe worked things out for the best.

Edward Norton

Time for another oddball choice, folks! Also sitting on the 20th Century Fox shortlist was none other than Edward Norton, with Hollywood.com and IMDb listing him in the running, and even NotStarring.com putting him down for both Wolvie and Cyclops. Primal Fear and American History X did a lot of great things for the man's career, and his up-and-comer status probably put him on the list due to his severely fantastic acting chops. But alas, Norton turned down the opportunity to audition, and probably for the same reason we're thinking: there's no way in hell anyone would have bought Edward Norton as Wolverine. You can only imagine someone so jacked before it becomes ridiculous, and Norton probably saw that before anyone else did (even if he would go on to play the Hulk later... sort of).

Thomas Jane

While Hugh Jackman IS The Wolverine, hearing that Thomas Jane was being considered, at least according to Hollywood.com, to play Logan in Bryan Singer's X-Men is something that just sounds like it could have been magic. With both Deep Blue Sea and Boogie Nights under his belt, the man showed to the world he could rock action moves as easily as he could grow hair. Sadly, unspecified "contract issues" prevented Jane from even trying out for the role, which might have been for the better, because he was one hell of a Punisher.

Keanu Reeves

The oddball parade continues, as IMDb and NotStarring.com have both shown that 20th Century Fox was keen on signing Keanu Reeves to play Wolverine during their massive scrum to put X-Men into production. Again, the same possible problems with Jean-Claude Van Damme would have reared their head with Reeves, as his work on The Matrix probably wowed the executives, but would have inspired a more fast paced "wire fu" approach to Logan's fighting style. Plus, shades of Edward Norton would have shown themselves, as Reeves could only get so jacked before you realized it just wasn't a good fit.

Johnny Depp

When you see Johnny Depp on a casting list, it's going to be a polarized experience. There's no in-between, as Depp's casting in projects tends to be either spot on brilliant, or just plain loony. In the case of X-Men's Wolverine, you can cue up the circus music, as it would have been absolutely absurd to have cast Johnny Depp as the Canadian mutant. Perhaps the strangest thing about Depp's supposed casting is that NotStarring.com's list seems to be the only one that mentions his candidacy. Though when you think about it, he could have made an interesting pre-Alan Cumming Nightcrawler. So maybe that's how that train got started to begin with.

Gary Sinise

If there was anyone harder to evaluate than Gary Sinise for the role of Wolverine, we're having a hard time finding them. It shows in the fact that Hollywood.com, IMDb and Uproar Comics all have him named on their lists of Wolverines that could have been, and it's not a terrible fit. On one hand, he would have been a little over a decade older than Hugh Jackman when he first stepped into the role, which wouldn't have lent itself to the longevity that Jackman has had with the role. But on the other hand, we can imagine what Sinise would have looked and sounded like in full, primal rage mode, and it will remain one of history's greatest "what if's."

Mel Gibson

Now we enter what could be considered the "Hall of Fame" of Wolverine choices. As the casting search wound down, Mel Gibson's name came up in Fox's search for burly fighting men that could don Adamantium claws and wreck shop. And in the case of Gibson, he was featured in a round of concept art that the producers got their hands on, and MovieWeb made public knowledge. But, for one reason or another, Mel's Wolverine was never meant to be. Though considering he also turned down playing Thor's dad, yet somehow has entertained talks to direct Suicide Squad 2, we think that he might be more of a D.C. Comics guy.

Dougray Scott

Ok, so picture this: you're hand-picked by Tom Cruise to be the villain in Mission: Impossible 2 AND Bryan Singer wants you for his X-Men movie. Pretty sweet line-up, isn't it? At least, it would be, until you're forced to choose between the two posts, which is exactly what happened to Dougray Scott. While Scott was cast as The Wolverine, his time on the Mission: Impossible 2 set was prolonged due to a production overrun. Which lead to Scott unfortunately having to drop the role, allowing some newcomer to pick up the mantle after him. Something tells us he was kicking himself for his decision once X-Men opened to massive acclaim.

The Predator franchise is aiming to make a big comeback next year with Shane Black directing the fourth installment of the franchise. Well, sixth if you count those Alien crossovers. Over the last couple months, The Predator has been building a solid cast, and if all goes well, they'll soon be adding an actor who you would want to have with the right firepower when things get messy: former Punisher Thomas Jane.

According to THR, Thomas Jane is in final negotiations to join The Predator, though no details were provided about the character he would be playing. Given his history with action-oriented projects, one can surmise he'll probably be firing a gun during the movie, though whether he'll be working directly with the main protagonists or has his own plans in motion remains to be seen. The Predator's production is scheduled to begin in Vancouver next month, so Jane is surely one of the last members of the main cast to be brought aboard.

Thomas Jane is arguably best known for playing Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, in the Marvel vigilante's 2004 movie. The actor was supposed to return for a sequel, but he later dropped out due to creative differences, and that Punisher movie later became the reboot Punisher: War Zone. Jane later reprised Punisher in the 2012 fan film Dirty Laundry. Outside the world of Marvel, Jane's notable credits include Boogie Nights, The Thin Red Line, Deep Blue Sea, Before I Wake and the TV series Hung. He also voiced Jonah Hex in the animated short film DC Showcase: Jonah Hex, and he can currently be seen as Detective Joe Miller in the Syfy series The Expanse.

No specific details for The Predator have been revealed yet, though Shane Black has said that contrary to earlier rumors, the movie will not be set in a suburban neighborhood. It's been said that the latest Predator installment will have several of the alien hunters running around, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. Besides Thomas Jane, the main cast includes Narcos' Boyd Holbrook as the main protagonist, an ex-Marine; X-Men: Apocalypse's Olivia Munn as a scientist; Moonlight's Trevante Rhodes as the best friend of Holbrook's character; Keegan-Michael Key as a man who will team up with Holbrook and Rhodes' characters; and The People vs. O.J. Simpson's Sterling K. Brown is in negotiations to play a government agent who imprisons the main protagonist, but must later work with the hero to stop the monster. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's Larry Fong has also been added as the cinematographer.

The Predator is slated for release on February 9, 2018. Let us know what you think of Thomas Jane possibly joining the movie in the comments below.

The Punisher may have found new life through Daredevil on Netflix, but that actually wasn’t the first time the character had appeared on screen. The Punisher has actually had three movies made about him and each one was more mediocre than the last. While we celebrate that someone finally got Marvel’s number one anti-hero right, let’s not forget the long road it took to get us to that Netflix series and who better to remember bad movies than Cinema Sins?

The YouTube channel Cinema Sins is known for nitpicking the mistakes and logic gaps in just about every movie (even the good ones) but this one is pretty fair. The particular Punisher film in question is the 2004 version starring Thomas Jane. This movie came out at a weird time for superhero films, which got a major boom in popularity thanks to Spider-Man but still produced massive dips in quality (like Catwoman). Enter The Punisher, which is really neither good nor bad and instead is a mostly forgettable (barely) superhero movie at the end of the day.

As Cinema Sins points out, there are a ton of mistakes in this film. I had actually forgotten a lot of this movie but the one thing I did remember was the Popsicle torture scene and thinking that if this were Punisher, there’s no way he wouldn’t be using an actual blowtorch on this guy. Plus, there’s the crazy amount of focus on Frank Castle’s neighbors, who I like to imagine are the grown up versions of Bulk and Skull from Power Rangers. Another character who gets absolutely slaughtered in the video is John Travolta’s mob boss villain, who’s so completely unthreatening he doesn’t even present much of a challenge at the end of the film.

This isn’t the only Punisher movie and it’s not even the worst. That award arguably goes to the first Punisher movie from 1989 that starred Dolph Lundgren. That’s an eighties movie through and through and here’s a RoboCop-esque trailer for those who’d like an idea of what the movie is like. It’s only a matter of time before Cinema Sins sets this one in their sights.

Everything’s looking up for Frank Castle now. He just came out of a pretty awesome debut into the MCU in Daredevil Season Two, where he almost stole the show from the title character. Played by Jon Bernthal, he’ll be showing up in his own Netflix series soon enough, with possibly an appearance in The Defenders. There’s no word on when this new series premiere but keeping checking in for all your Punisher updates.

Even though the new poster seen above for the upcoming survival horror Endangered is pretty bland, two things immediately stick out. One, it looks almost exactly like one of the Inglorious Basterds posters that promoted Quentin Tarantino’s film. (You can find it at the bottom of the page for a handy reference.) The second thing quite literally sticks out of the side of actor Billy Bob Thornton’s head, and it’s the entire left side of his face, which just kind of droops there, with his ear hovering above like an angel's halo made out of melted cheese. I have to assume whoever he’s pointing that gun at is staring at him with saucer-wide eyes and a sneer sharp enough to slice a hair.

We’ve also got quite a few new stills from the film, courtesy of Blairwitch.de, including the shot from which the poster image is taken. I think we can safely assume the ear wound is the work of a grizzly bear, as Thornton plays a bear hunter who has been waiting his entire life to kill him a bear. James Marsden plays a man recently released from prison who goes on a trip with his deputy brother (Thomas Jane), and his future sister-in-law (Piper Perabo) into the Alaskan wild. As you can imagine, a grizzly bear arrives and starts terrorizing our characters in no time. And then everyone’s paths cross and I’m assuming one of them makes it out alive. (Though he probably won’t just grin and bear it.)

So let’s take a look at some of what this film is all about, starting with Thornton’s most-of-a-head. I wonder if he’ll stash money there once it heals. Then you’ve got the bear causing a ruckus by growling and what not, followed by Jane and Marsden pointing guns; one is a flare gun, but still. And we end on one of the grossest chewed-up prosthetics I’ve seen in a while. Good luck not dreaming about those bubble gum gashes tonight.

Endangered was directed by David Hackl, who last gifted the world with Saw V, and was co-written by Guy Moshe (Bunraku), Rick Cleveland (House of Cards) and J.R. Reher (Killogy). You’ll be able to hunt it down in theaters and on VOD at a currently undisclosed date. I’d ask the bear, but I don’t think he’d tell me.

Here’s that Inglorious Basterds poster. Crazy, right?

Jonathan Hensleigh's The Punisher is by no means a good movie, but none of that blame can really be put on Thomas Jane. Made during a time when movie studios became desperate to get absolutely any comic book property onto the big screen - films like Elektra, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four were from the same era - The Punisher was sloppy and generic, but Jane brought life to Frank Castle. Because the movie underperformed a full budgeted sequel wasn't made (instead we got Punisher: War Zone with Ray Stevenson), but apparently Jane doesn't want to let go of the character just yet.

The actor has apparently created a short film titled Punisher: Dirty Laundry that he released during Comic Con. He did it not because he was hired to, but because he simply loves the character and wanted to play it another time. About the short Jane said, "I wanted to make a fan film for a character I've always loved and believed in - a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It's been a blast to be a part of from start to finish -- we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it."

Check it out below!

Yes, indeed that was Ron Perlman as the clerk at the liquor store. Overall I was amazed how affected I was by this. It had a real gritty intensity to it and I found myself cringing more than a few times (in a good way). Credit to Phil Joanou for making something pretty damn cool!

Thomas Jane and Tim Bradstreet's Raw Entertainment is home to the indie comic Bad Planet. They were recently approached by indie game studio Red Fly Studios, best known for Ghostbuster: The Video Game, Thor and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to make a game based on Bad Planet, using Kickstarter.

It's hard for me to be objective in the sense of saying "Hey, this is another Kickstarter. Like it or not, it's just a game, blah, blah, blah" when one of my favorite actors is attached to the project. Heck, it's The Punisher for crying out freaking loud! (and yes, I know, Ray Stevenson was more badass as the Punisher but Thomas Jane was the better overall Punisher). I would suggest people support the project for that reason alone. But I understand not everyone is a fanboy about these things and they need a bit of convincing. For non-fanboys, you can watch the convince-worthy Kickstarter video below. For purebred fanboys, just skip to the bottom, click on the link and donate what you can.

That seems so awesome.

There's also this itching feeling I can't shake that keeps giving me the impression that the game might turn out like Rebellion Studios' Rogue Trooper, which was also based on a comic book. It was an all right game and played itself mostly for camp.

However, with Bad Planet I can imagine this game being slightly grittier, a little less campier and possibly on the line of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which sort of sounds like the kind of route they want to go with the game.

Now, here's where we talk a little bit about what wasn't featured in the video. The game will be released in installments (assuming it gets funded), similar to The Walking Dead games from TellTale. Also, Bad Planet will originally launch on PC and from there, if it's successful (and if it lands on Steam it will be successful) there will be console ports to the PSN and XBLA. I find it funny that the PC gets the real version and the consoles might get a PC port. That's hilarious.

You can learn more about Bad Planet the game or the comic or Raw Entertainment or Red Fly Studios by paying a visit to the Official Bad Planet Kickstarter Page. Thomas Jane and Tim Bradstreet will also be at the San Diego Comic Con during the RAW Studio panel, Saturday night at 7:30pm in room 26A/B. So be sure to check it out.

In the early 2000s, Paul Walker was a rising star as the pretty face at the front of The Fast and The Furious. But since then—despite a role in the Oscar-nominated Flags of Our Fathers—Walker has been known for little else. And while there's some job security in the long-running franchise (number six is set to shoot soon), it appears Walker is constructing new opportunities to better display his range, producing and starring in the upcoming dark comedy Pawn Shop Chronicles.

Penned by Adam Minarovich, the film follows a man (presumably Walker) who goes in search of his kidnapped wife, and finds himself on a wild goose chase, crossing paths with skinheads, meth addicts and a mopey Elvis impersonator, all of which have ties to a local pawn shop. Right off the bat, this sounds like a crime caper in the vein of Guy Ritchie, but with screenwriter Minarovich penning pictures like Buy Sell Kill: A Flea Market Story and the dismemberment-centered horror-comedy Chop, I imagine Pawn Shop Chronicles will offer something slightly more unhinged than Snatch.

Wayne Kramer, who helmed critically heralded Vegas-set drama The Cooler, will direct, and could well prove a great guide in Walker's journey into the tricky terrain of dark comedy. Deadline reports that the actor-producer has likewise surrounded himself by a pretty strong supporting cast that includes Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Elijah Wood, Vincent D’Onofrio, Thomas Jane, Lukas Haas, Pell James (The Lincoln Lawyer), Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies), Ashlee Simpson (The Hot Chick), Kevin Rankin (Justified), DJ Qualls (Road Trip), Michael Cudlitz (Southland) and Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints).

While there are some lackluster names in this mix, there are enough compelling performers here to make Pawn Shop Chronicles intriguing. Unfortunately, Mimran Schur Pictures isn't revealing details on whose playing who, and so in my head there's a befuddling slideshow of the men above getting their sullen Elvis on, complete with rhinestone-studded body suit, hip wiggles and a cockeyed frown. Well played, Mimran, well played.

Pawn Shop Chronicles is now shooting in Baton Rouge, La.

Jon Hamm has become iconic for his characterization of Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men. At the time Hamm secured the role, he was a little known, small-time TV actor. However, the Mad Men gig has opened up doors, from appearances on 30 Rock to roles in films like Bridesmaids and Sucker Punch, and even the director’s chair. While Season 5 of Mad Men is gearing up for a 2012 premiere, with Jon Hamm at the helm for the season opener, it is interesting to note it almost never happened for Jon Hamm.

In an interview with Mark Maron on the WTF podcast Hamm spoke out about Mad Men, his acting career, and a plethora of random stuff, including hanging out with comedians in Hollywood before being ‘found’ as an actor. Most importantly, perhaps, was what Hamm had to say about getting the AMC gig:

Like two years later, Thomas Jane took less of a cocksucker attitude toward TV, and secured the lead on HBO’s Hung. It’s as hard to imagine the blue-eyed, blonde-haired Jane as our beloved Don Draper as it is to imagine someone else playing Ray Drecker on Hung. All’s well that ends in Golden Globe nominations, I guess.

On a sidenote, Mark Maron’s podcast, while full of f-bombs, is a really good interview. Maron was sort of on an AMC kick this week, interviewing Hamm on Monday and Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston on Thursday, so check it out.

Thomas Jane plays the role of a male prostitute pretty well on HBO's Hung, but I never would have guessed that the story lines on the show were similar to something that he actually experienced. In a shocking revelation, Jane says that as struggling, penniless actor, he sometimes performed sex acts to make ends meet.

"You're a lot more open to experimentation as a young man," he told the LA Times. "And for me, being a young artist and broke in Los Angeles, I was exploring my sexual identity." I can't tell you how much I love that not only is he talking about this, he's just casually discussing it.

I don't condone prostitution, but I very much appreciate a successful, well known actor speaking publicly about experimenting with the same sex-- and expressing no shame toward the subject.

I'm not going to flat out call Jane a prostitute since we don't really know the whole story, but I think it's fair to say that most people who dabble in that profession even a little bit wouldn't call it a great experience. Jane, however, looks back on it as an important lesson in acceptance. "Probably because of my middle-class, white blue-collar upbringing, I would have never had the opportunity to confront some of my own fears and prejudices had I not been hungry enough to be forced to challenge myself in that way."

Wow. You gotta love a guy that can look back on something like this in a positive light.

Miley Cyrus's continued efforts at world domination rage on despite the end of Hannah Montana, and now Lionsgate is getting in on a few of those Cyrus family dollars. According to Deadline the studio has picked up the rights to the comedy LOL, which was produced independently by Mandate Pictures.

The film is a remake of the 2008 French film Laughing Out Loud from the same director, Lisa Azuelos, who also adapted her own screenplay. Cyrus plays a high school girl dumped by her boyfriend for being too sexually inexperienced, with Twilight's Ashley Greene playing her rival, Demi Moore as Cyrus's mom, Marlo Thomas as her grandmother, and Thomas Jane as a new love interest for Moore's character. There's a whole network of friends for both the high schoolers and the grown-ups that you can read about in our earlier article here.

Ready to be drowned in teenage comedy stereotypes? I hope so because according to Coming Soon, LOL has officially gone into production. Just a month ago we got a taste of what’s to come when we first heard that Twilight’s Ashley Greene joined the cast. Major adolescent draw. Also on board? The teen queen herself, Miley Cyrus. Even with Demi Moore’s name on the roster it’s still quite tempting to dismiss this one off as a formulaic high school drama. The official synopsis doesn’t help, but the new additions to the cast might.

Catch all of those added names there? We reported on Thomas’ casting a few weeks back, but Douglas Booth, Adam Sevani, George Finn, Ashley Hinshaw, Lina Esco, Tanz Watson, Thomas Jane, Jay Hernandez, Austin Nichols, Gina Gershon, Fisher Stevens and Nora Dunn are all new to the production. The younger cast members are basically unknowns expect for Sevani who you might recognize from Step Up 2: The Streets and can catch in the upcoming installment, Step Up 3D. I don’t care if it means this movie comes with a corny prom dance routine, I wouldn’t mind seeing Sevani showing off his skills.

The adult ensemble, however, is full of famous faces and quite impressive. Jane is always a pleasure to look at as is Hernandez, and Moore has the pleasure of spending some time with both. Her character’s situation basically sounds like a screen version of her Willis-to-Kutcher swap. I lost a lot of faith in Nichols after The Informers, but the guy still rocks on One Tree Hill, so I can’t hold it against him. As for Gershon, I’m not familiar with much of her on screen work, but did happen to catch her performance in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. The show sucked, but she wasn’t half bad. Lastly there’s Stevens and Dunn who are probably the least familiar nowadays, but have delivered some impressive pieces in the past, my favorite of which are Super Mario Brothers (yes, I loved it as a kid and still do) and Three Kings respectively.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be writing this one off just yet. Plus it might be wise to check out the 2008 French version before passing too much judgment on this American remake.

Rob Lowe is keeping pretty ridiculously busy these days, signing on as the latest cast member of Parks and Recreation, going into the producing business and even considering buying Miramax. That last plan didn't work out so well, so it makes sense that Lowe is now eyeing another acting role-- don't quit your day job and all that.

The next project will be I Melt With You, a thriller about middle-aged guys dealing with their problems, (because, of course, that's never been done before). Lowe will play a doctor dealing with a growing drug addiction, and Jeremy Piven and Thomas Jane will round out the cast, with a fourth actor presumably to be added very soon. According to Deadline the whole project has come together for director Mark Pellington to the tune of less than $1 million, which means Lowe is either much cheaper than he was in the Brat Pack heyday, or he was so committed to this one he took a steep pay cut. Either way, someone seems bound for some indie cred.

A movie called LOL and starring Miley Cyrus is already about as teenybopper as something could possibly get, but add in a Twilight star and you've got pretty much a perfect storm. According to THR, Ashley Green-- a.k.a. Alice Cullen-- will be joining the comedy to play a high school bad girl opposite Cyrus's character, who is dumped by her boyfriend (George Finn) for being too sexually inexperienced. Thomas Jane has also signed on as a new boyfriend for Cyrus's mom (Demi Moore), who is struggling with a divorce.

LOL is a remake of the French comedy of the same name, and director Lisa Azuelos will be remaking her own film in English. That's a tricky strategy that could pay off or could not, especially because Cyrus, talented a singer as she may be, is typically an actress who benefits from strong direction. Then again, people love her in pretty much anything, so maybe Azuelos just has to sit back and let Cyrus take over.

The Punisher star Thomas Jane is set to be punished after police caught him drink driving early on Monday morning (17Mar08).

The actor, who is married to actress Patricia Arquette, was pulled over for speeding by traffic cops in Kern County, California. He has been charged with DUI and driving with a blood alcohol level above .08 per cent, according to TMZ.com.

His arraignment has been set for 9 April (08). (KL/WNWCMZ)

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