Fan Casting A Holly Adaptation With Stephen King Veteran Actors

Ready for your weekly dose of Stephen King? The latest edition of The King Beat is here to satiate your hunger with a fun feature inspired by developments from the King world in the last seven days.

This week, we have a bit of fan casting for the developing Holly TV series, a new horror trailer that is brimming with Stephen King love, and a cool update about the forthcoming 4K UHD release of the 2013 Carrie remake. Let’s dig in!

What Would A Holly Adaptation Look Like With Experienced Stephen King Stars?

Fan casting is a fun activity, but when it comes to Stephen King projects, I like to throw a little challenge into the mix. Rather than picking names from the pool of every actor available, I prefer to throw a caveat in the mix and only choose performers who have previously been in a King movie or TV show. I’ve previously imagined the cast of the Firestarter remake, suggested names for Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, and put together a fantasy ensemble for the developing adaptation of Later, and today’s mission is to imagine what the in-the-works Holly series could look like.

In last week’s edition of The King Beat, I dug up the previously unreported news that Stephen King’s latest novel is now in the works as a TV series from producer Jack Bender, and that report immediately got me thinking about who could be in the show. Some of the ideas were obvious, and some less obvious, but these are picks that I would love to see become reality.

Holly Gibney: Justine Lupe (duh)

As I noted in my column last week, I have an appreciation for Cynthia Erivo’s portrayal of Holly Gibney in the HBO series The Outsider, but that version of the character is quite different than the one that Stephen King created on the page, so if I had a choice of star to come back and play the strange, sweet detective, it would be Justine Lupe. Not only does Lupe do a phenomenal job playing the idiosyncrasy-riddled young woman on all three seasons of Mr. Mercedes (which Jack Bender produced), but her read of the Holly audiobook makes it oh-so-easy to imagine her back in action running the Finders Keepers detective agency.

Jerome Robinson: Jharrel Jerome

Once again, the existence of the Mr. Mercedes series makes this casting quite easy. Jharrel Jerome has seen his star rise quite a bit in the last few years, between his work on the acclaimed series When They See Us, his lead role on I’m A Virgo, and his noteworthy part in Spider-Man: Across The Universe, but it would be amazing to see him reprise his role as Jerome Robinson for Holly and once again help the eponymous protagonist solve a mystery. The character’s role in the book isn’t massive, as we catch up with him as he is in the process of writing/selling his very first book, and he spends much of the story away from the action, but it would nonetheless be great to see the Mr. Mercedes star return.

Barbara Robinson: Makayla Lysiak

Barbara Robinson never really got the chance to stand out as a character on Mr. Mercedes the way that she does in the books, but the adaptation of Holly could be a way to make up for that limited role given that Barbara is basically a co-protagonist in the 2023 novel. If continuity is maintained with the Audience series, I see no reason to not have Makayla Lysiak reprise the part alongside Lupe and Jerome.

Emily Harris: Kathy Bates

It’s been nearly 20 years since Kathy Bates starred in a Stephen King adaptation, and that’s simply far too long. She remains the only actor to ever earn an Oscar for her work on a King movie (Rob Reiner’s Misery), her performance in Dolores Claiborne is deeply underrated, and she has one of the best and most shocking cameos in the miniseries The Stand from 1994. Holly could end that streak by having her play the psychotic, evil cannibal Emily Harris – a part that Bates could really sink her teeth into (pun most definitely intended).

Rodney Harris: Ed Harris

Like Kathy Bates, Ed Harris also has an excellent track record in King projects – including George Romero’s Creepshow, Fraser C. Heston’s Needful Things, and his own cameo in The Stand – and it has also been far too long since he last worked on one. He would be an excellent match to pair with Bates as Rodney Harris, a former professor who is immensely passionate about the healing power of human meat but is slowly losing his faculties as a result of undiagnosed Alzheimer’s disease.

Olivia Kingsbury: Sissy Spacek

This is fantasy casting, right? Why not go for broke. It hasn’t been that long since the beloved star of Carrie appeared in a Stephen King-related project (Castle Rock Season 1 was just six years ago), and the role of Olivia Kingsbury would be a wonderful fit for her. In the book, Olivia is a famous poet who ends up mentoring Barbara as the young woman develops her own writing skills, and she also has a rather bitter relationship with Emily Harris. How great would it be to see Sissy Spacek and Kathy Bates go toe-to-toe?!

We don’t know at this point if the Holly series will ever actually get a chance to move forward, but if it could add even a few of the aforementioned names here, it would instantly earn a place in the hearts of Stephen King fans.

Stephen King Has Given A Super Enthusiastic Thumbs Up To An Upcoming Horror Film, And I’m Psyched

David Dastmalchian is a name that Stephen King fans may want to get used to. The character actor best known for his genre work has taken a big step into the King world in the past year, first with his supporting role in The Boogeyman and then last fall with the news that he is developing a new adaptation with director Rob Savage. Dastmalchian has a clear appreciation for the author’s work, and we got to see that appreciation returned this past week in the form of a pull quote for the upcoming film Late Night With The Devil.

The new horror film dropped its first teaser trailer online a few days ago (check it out above), and in addition to setting up the movie’s plot, the footage is paired with a whole lot of hype from Stephen King, who is quoted calling Late Night With The Devil “absolutely brilliant” and saying that he “couldn’t take [his] eyes off it.” The praise comes from a Tweet that King posted a couple weeks after the feature premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, and you can check out his full thoughts below:

Written and directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes, Late Night With The Devil is designed to appear as though it’s a tape that has been dug out of storage featuring the broadcast of the fictional talk show Night Owls With Jack Delroy from October 31, 1977. David Dastmalchian stars as Delroy, who hosts a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon) as his guest for Halloween night and sees chaos erupt involving the teenage subject of her new book (Ingrid Torelli).

If the teaser has you excited for the new movie, the good news is that this is not one of those “six months in advance” trailers. Late Night With The Devil will be getting a theatrical release next on March 22 courtesy of IFC Films, and it will eventually be made available with a Shudder subscription.

Scream Factory Reveals The Special Features On The Upcoming Carrie (2013) 4K UHD

Stephen King fans who are also physical media collectors have been living richly for the past year, making many upgrades in the process of building the ultimate Stephen King collection. There are now 25 King film and TV projects available on 4K UHD (a count including Castle Rock Season 1), and that number continues to grow. I previously reported in an edition of The King Beat that the 2013 remake of Carrie will soon be getting a home video upgrade from Scream Factory – and now we know about all of the special features that will be included in the two-disc package.

Carrie isn’t scheduled to be released until March 19, but the distributor has revealed what fans will be getting when they boot up the discs in their home theater system. If you compare it to the Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, you’ll notice that all of the existing special features are carried over, and there are two new featurettes. The 4K disc is also in Dolby Vision and HDR-10 compatible. You can check out the full specs below:

DISC ONE (4K UHD):

• Feature Film In 4K
• In Dolby Vision (HDR-10 Compatible)
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0
• Audio Commentary With Director Kimberly Peirce

DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):

• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0
• Audio Commentary With Director Kimberly Peirce
• NEW “The Devil’s Hand: Designing Carrie” – An Interview With Production Designer Carol Spier
• NEW “They’re All Going to Laugh At You: Adapting Carrie” – An Interview With Author Joseph Maddrey
• Alternate Ending 
• Deleted/Alternate Scenes 
• “Creating Carrie” Featurette
• “The Power Of Telekinesis” Featurette
• “Tina On Fire” Stunt Double Dailies
• “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise”
• Theatrical Trailer

As noted, the Blu-ray disc will include the alternate ending for Kimberly Pierce’s Carrie (which features a horrible nightmare with Gabriella Wilde’s Sue Snell giving birth), but it’s unclear if the edition will also include the full cut of the film that has the alternate ending edited back in. Until that’s revealed, you may want to hold off on selling/giving away your existing copy.

Those looking forward to adding Carrie to their Stephen King collection can pre-order the Collector’s Edition directly from Scream Factory, which has two bonuses: copies will very likely be sent out early, and you’ll receive a 18″ X 24″ poster with the original theatrical artwork (while supplies last).

Recommendation Of The Week: “The Man Who Loved Flowers”

Given the fact that yesterday was Valentine’s Day, I figured that it would be appropriate to make this week’s short story recommendation be a tale about love. That decision limited my options, as straight romance isn’t exactly something Stephen King is known for – but all the same, “The Man Who Loved Flowers” fits the bill quite nicely. It’s most certainly a story about being in love… albeit with a proper King twist. It’s short work that packs a sinister punch.

First published in the August 1977 issue of Gallery before being collected in the 1978 omnibus Night Shift, “The Man Who Loved Flowers” introduces Constant Readers to a man beaming with positive energy as he merrily strolls through a neighborhood in New York. Everyone who sees him instantly recognizes him as a man in love, including the vendor who sells him a bouquet of tea roses. The unidentified protagonist has plans to meet his lady love Norma and greet her with the floral arrangement, but not everything is as it seems.

That wraps up this week’s edition of The King Beat, but there are plenty more related features you can read here on CinemaBlend as you wait for my next column. You can keep track of all the King adaptations that are in the works with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies & TV guide, and you can discover a curated list highlighting the best of the best titles from the last 50 years with my ranking of the best Stephen King movies and the best Stephen King TV projects.