News
Bill Skarsgård is Playing a Shawshank Prisoner in “Castle Rock”!
If Academy Awards were handed out at the end of the year for horror movie performances, I’m pretty sure Bill Skarsgård would earn one this year for his portrayal of iconic killer clown Pennywise in Andy Muschietti’s IT. What’s next for Skarsgård? As we recently learned, he’s headed back into the King Universe for Hulu’s “Castle Rock”!
The series, which tells an original story set inside the fictional town that Stephen King made famous, debuted a teaser trailer earlier this month, and you probably noticed some strong references to Shawshank Prison, the primary setting of The Shawshank Redemption. As it turns out, Skarsgård will be playing an inmate in next year’s series.
“Instead of playing a killer clown as he did in IT, this time around Skarsgård portrays a prisoner at Shawshank, who is directly connected with André Holland’s Henry Deaver, a death-row attorney,” reports Flickering Myth this week.
“The only thing I want to stress is that [Castle Rock is] a completely separate thing than Pennywise and IT,” Skarsgård himself recently explained to Rotten Tomatoes. “The world is brand new. It’s Stephen King’s universe… these are places we’ve been familiarized with through his work. But the show is an original story in that world. The character is a lot of fun. He’s — it’s a really weird one. [He’s] so different from Pennywise. I’m using a completely different tool set here for this one.”
From Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television, “Castle Rock” is named after the fictional town in King’s native Maine that is featured prominently in a number of his novels, novellas and short stories. Per the producers, it combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of King’s best-loved works, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland.
Castle Rock first appeared in King’s 1979 novel “The Dead Zone”, and has reappeared as late as his 2013 novel “Doctor Sleep” and 2014 novel “Revival”. The name is taken from the fictional mountain fort of the same name in “Lord of the Flies”. “Cujo”, “The Dark Half” and “Needful Things” were set in Castle Rock, while “Creepshow”, “The Stand”, “Sleepwalkers”, “Gerald’s Game” and even “IT” reference the town.
The cast also includes Scott Glenn, Sissy Spacek, Terry O’Quinn, Melanie Lynskey and Jane Levy.
Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason developed Castle Rock for television and serve as executive producers along with J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson and Liz Glotzer.
Exclusives
‘In Flames’ – Exclusive Clip from Pakistani Psychological Thriller Finds Terror in the Classroom
Described as a ghostly parable about Pakistan’s insidious patriarchal order, Game Theory Films brings In Flames to stream at home on VOD, and we’ve got an exclusive clip for you today.
Written and Directed by Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Zarrar Kahn, In Flames was the first Pakistani film to play in Cannes Director’s Fortnight in nearly half a century.
The cast for Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames includes Ramesha Nawal, Omar Javaid, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Adnan Shah Tipu, Mohammad Ali Hashmi and Jibran Khan.
In the thriller, “Mariam lives with her younger brother and their mother, Fariha, in a tiny apartment in Karachi. When Mariam’s maternal grandfather passes, his brother tries to manipulate them into signing over their apartment to him, a common occurrence in Pakistan, where women’s property rights are fragile.
“Mariam’s mother, grieving and isolated, is easy to influence. Mariam, distraught by her mother’s foolishness, finds solace in a secret romance with a fellow student, Asad. When their relationship takes an unexpected turn, Mariam becomes consumed by nightmares.
“Meanwhile, her mother, caught between her coercive Uncle and a murky legal system, is oblivious to her daughter’s deteriorating mental state. Mariam’s nightmares begin to bleed into reality. Mother and daughter must come together if they hope to overcome the real and phantasmal forces that threaten to engulf them.”
Watch an exclusive clip for a sneak peek and find the film’s official trailer below. The film is now available on VOD. Watch tonight!
Zarrar Kahn is an award-winning Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker whose film In Flames premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival as part of the Director’s Fortnight.
His works have been screened and awarded in over 100+ film festivals, including TIFF, Locarno, and BFI London. In Flames, his feature directorial debut, has garnered critical acclaim and prizes worldwide – including the Golden Yusr for Best Picture at Red Sea FF and the Grand Prize – International Newcomer Award at Mannheim-Heidelberg FF.
Born in Karachi, and currently based out of Toronto, Kahn is committed to telling stories that amplify historically marginalized communities.
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