Barely a week goes by without the announcement of a new Stephen King adaptation. Here’s another, but what’s different about this one is that it finally pairs up King with Sam Raimi. First reported by Jeff Sneider, then confirmed elsewhere, King’s 1996 horror novel Desperation is coming to the big screen, produced by Raimi and directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein.
Lipovsky and Stein are the duo who scored big with Final Destination Bloodlines. The script for Desperation is being written by Ryan Brennan, based on the story of travelers abducted and held captive in a desert town by an evil, possessed police officer. King’s novel was published in 1996 at the same time as its mirror novel, The Regulators, which features many of the same characters.
Desperation was previously adapted as a TV movie, directed by King’s pal Mick Garris and starring Ron Perlman and Henry Thomas.
Raimi will produce through his Ghost House Pictures label. Hard to believe this is the first collaboration between Raimi and King, both horror icons who have been doing their thing for ages.
It’s the latest in a series of high-profile gigs for Lipovsky and Stein, which include writing Gremlins 3, adapting Harlan Coben thriller Long Lost, and working on a Venom animated movie and Metal Gear Solid, all for Sony.
