Stephen King's 'Cell' Reborn as TV Mini-Series

Fangoria got out word today from the Fantasia Film Festival that Stephen King's Cell is no longer destined for the silver screen. Instead the novel will be reborn as a four hour TV mini-series to be scripted by John Harrison. Details are rather sparse at this stage, but Harrison tells Fango his take on the material will be closer to a classic creeper like Village of the Damned (I hope Harrison is referring to the original and not the languid John Carpenter remake) than an all out zombie movie.

If you recall Eli Roth was long attached to a film adaptation of King's novel about a cell phone pulse that scrambles the inner workings of any poor sap that hears it, converting them instantly into a murderous member of a new society. When Hostel: Part II didn't turn out too hot at the box office, his directorial duties looked in jeopardy, though he remained attached until quite recently. There's no word yet on who will be taking over his role behind the camera, though screenwriter Harrison, who is at Fantasia for their premiere of his work on the film adaptation of Clive Barker's Book of Blood, confesses he'd be interested in taking the reins. It's up to The Weinstein Company, who is still producing the adaptation, to make that call.

Personally I think this is great news. I still remember my reaction to the original Roth attachment and how he envisioned the whole thing as a global blood bath. King's novel certainly has its share of apocalyptic waves of bloodshed, but its core is an intimate story of a band of survivors in a world turned upside-down, which is something I never pegged Roth as a being that interested in. I'm glad to hear that Cell has expanded its exhibition (no way that book should have been crammed into an opening weekend pleasing 100 minutes, anyway) while contracting its scope closer to that of King's original vision.