According to Fangoria, the Cell by Stephen King is being made into a 4 hour TV mini-series. The news comes strait from John Harrison, the writer/director/producer who has been commissioned to write the script.
For those not familiar with the Cell, the plot revolves around a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell-phone network that turns the majority of the human race into mindless, rampaging killers (or many would say zombies).
Evidently, Harrison is scripting the Cell mini-series for the Weinstein Company, which had originally planned to turn the book into a theatrical feature (with Eli Roth attached at one point to direct).
This may possibly be good news as Harrison began his career working as 1st Ass’t Director for famed horror director, George A. Romero (Night Of The Living Dead/Creepshow). He wrote and directed multiple episodes of Romero’s classic TV series, Tales From The Darkside before helming Tales From The Darkside, The Movie.
Many would call the Cell a zombie movie, but evidently Harrison doesn’t think so… He was quoted as saying the following:
“…doesn’t see this as a zombie story so much as a VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED-esque chiller, and enjoys the fact that the infected populace possesses a hive mentality.”
So far, he’s not attached to direct.
I’m really happy to see that they are transforming this masterpiece into a film – and even more excited to see it turn into a mini-series. Thats the good news. I’m really cautious about the fact that Harrison doesn’t see this as a zombie flick at all, and I think the quality of the series will very much depend on which network picks it up. If it goes on something other then Showtime or HBO, then it will be substancially dumbed down from a violence stand point…. and anybody who’s read it can tell you that there is plenty of blood n’ guts to be had.
Time will tell.
