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sades,
I am in the deep midst of that big book (Hearts in Atlantis). My guess is that the film is only dealing with the first story segment of the book -- where the kid is still a kid.
The trouble I had immediately upon seeing the preview was not Anthony Hopkins per se (I adore nearly everything he does), but the fact that the character he's playing is now TOTALLY different from the one in the book, which is an old (as in near-death OLD), skinny, southern-type black man.
As good as Hopkins is, apparently he's not going to pull THAT one off, is he?
If you read the book too ... what do you think they're going to do with the "bad guys" in the movie (no spoilers, please, just impressions)? You get no hints in the commercials I've seen....
Seems to me that the filmmakers always significantly screw up Stephen King stories when they're supposed to be creepy, but they often pull off to success the ones that are more positive.
Cases in point:
Horror: Christine, Pet Sematary (sorry, but the movie wasn't good), The Langoliers, The Tommyknockers, Needful Things -- all were scary as books, barely passably scary as movies
More Upbeat: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Stand By Me -- all really well done and all fairly successful.
There were a few King horrors they did pull off, KINDA -- such as Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, It, Dolores Claiborne, Misery. All of these were relatively close to the book and worked all right, although the books are always scarier to me (esp. late at night before bed, yikes!).
Well, with this new one, we'll have to see....Hopkins may end up saving it instead of skewing it....
Linda