With writing as captivating as Stephen King's, it's no wonder so many of his novels have been turned into films and TV shows. But as with most book to screen adaptions, it's difficult to stay loyal to the book in every aspect, and sometimes details are missed and plot lines are skewed.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes that can be made is how films choose to interpret characters and how easy it is to lose the essence of what makes them so important to the plot, who they are, and why they have been written that way.
HIT: Annie Wilkes (Misery)
In the book Misery, Annie Wilkes is described as a big woman who always wore a gray cardigan sweater with an "endless succession of wool skirts," other than the jeans she wears for outside work. Paul, her favorite author and the hostage she is holding, says she "gave him the disturbing sense of solidity, as if she might not have any blood vessels or even any internal organs" - that she was only made of Annie Wilkes, through and through.
"He felt more and more convinced that her eyes, which appeared to move, were actually just painted on, and they moved no more than the eyes of portraits which appear to follow you to wherever you move in the room where they hang." She gave him a "feeling of unease deepening steadily toward terror." Her controlling and chilling temperament was hidden beneath a sweet facade. No wonder Kathy Bates won the Academy Award for best actress.
MISS: Wendy Torrance (The Shining)
Wendy Torrance is the main female protagonist of Stephen King's novel The Shining. The character of Wendy was brought to the big screen in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining (1980).
But fans of the book could find little connection between the character described in the novel and the character in the film. Wendy Torrance didn't scream and flail in fear and hopelessness. She was smart and alert, a fighter who continued to protect her son and stop her husband, despite the fact that she was brutally injured.
HIT: John Coffey (The Green Mile)
The Green Mile follows the injustice of John Coffey, a black man sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. The role of John was performed by the late Michael Clarke Duncan. Coffey is written as a character who looks physically intimidating but is actually quiet, afraid of the dark, sensitive, and harmless.
Coffey's supernatural abilities make him incredibly sympathetic and extremely weary of all the cruelty in the world. Duncan's portrayal of the gentle giant is intense, beautiful, and harrowing to watch.
MISS: Jack Torrance (The Shining)
Jack Torrance isn't meant to appear manic straight off the bat. His character is slowly driven insane by The Overlook Hotel as he struggles with his alcoholism and the fight against his inner demons. Torrance loves Wendy and Danny, but his temper creates a wedge between them while steeping him in guilt.
In the book, Torrance fights The Overlook's possession over him with "mortal agony and sorrow," long enough to tell Danny to run away and that he loves him. The movie version shows no remorse and no fight, just a crazy man with bloodlust.
HIT: Danny Torrance (Doctor Sleep)
The character of Danny Torrance is a mix between Stanley Kubrick's creation and Stephen King's, as the film Doctor Sleep (2019) is a sequel to both the film and novel, different though they may be. Danny is written in the books as following his father's coping mechanisms.
Although the film's ending changed Danny's fate by making him the ultimate sacrifice instead of surviving and mentoring Abra, Ewen McGregor's portrayal of the recovering alcoholic and redemption seeking Danny is accurate to the book's description of him.
MISS: Ben Richards (The Running Man)
In Stephen King's novel The Running Man, Ben Richards is an unemployed man who is struggling to provide for his family. He enters the Running Man game hoping he can use the prize money to buy medicine for his dying 18-month-old daughter, Catherine.
In the film, the role of Ben is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Richard's motivation has completely changed. He is now an ex-police helicopter pilot who is forced into the Running Man game after breaking out of prison for a crime he was falsely convicted of committing.
HIT: Gordie, Chris, Teddy & Vern (Stand By Me)
The film Stand By Me (1986) is based on Stephen King's novella The Body, particularly on one of the stories in his book, Different Seasons.
In both the book and screen adaptation, the audience follows four friends, Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy, on a journey to find the body of a boy who was hit by a train. Although there are several differences concerning the boys' fates, the film's interpretations of the characters themselves are loyal to the book.
MISS: Jud & Norma Crandall (Pet Semetary)
Jud Crandall and Norma Crandall have been robbed of the substance they could have brought to the plot. In both the 1989 and 2019 film adaptions of Pet Sematary, Norma's character was changed. In one, she was non-existent, while in the other, she haunted Jud in the film's climax.
As for Jud, his close camaraderie to Louis barely makes it on screen, giving a glimpse of their relationship but not enough to do it justice. In the book, the two would often visit each other and Louis thought of Jud as the father he should have had.
HIT: Andy Dufresne & Ellis Boyd Redding (The Shawshank Redemption)
Here's where some might disagree on the point of accuracy. Andy Dufresne and Red are different from their physical appearance in the novella. Dufresne is described as a short man with sandy hair and gold-rimmed spectacles, while Red is of Irish ancestry with red hair which is starting to grey.
But their personality and mannerisms captured the essence of their characters so perfectly that their physical conceptualization was just something to link them to, not define them.
MISS: Carrie (Carrie)
Carrie is an outcast. She is humiliated and targeted by her fellow students and controlled by her mother. Carrie, as a character, is difficult to bring to the screen. She has been described in the book in such a way as to say she is "a frog among swans." Her description isn't kindly with several comparisons to being "bovine" and her "chunky" physique and pimples, one of the reasons she is bullied mercilessly, as well as her mother's reputation.
In the latest Carrie (2013) adaptation, they have given the Hollywood treatment to the character who is meant to have been taunted so severely that she loses control of her powers and kills an entire town of people.