Movies
Joe Hill Wants to Write and Direct a Remake of Stephen King’s ‘Maximum Overdrive’
Released in 1986, Maximum Overdrive is notable for being the only Stephen King movie – and the only movie, period – that Stephen King himself ever directed, and it was also written by King and based on his short story “Trucks.” Well, it’s also notable for having one of the greatest trailers of all time, and for becoming a cult classic despite the negative reviews of the time.
The tale of sentient killer vehicles kinda-sorta got a remake in 1997, and if King’s son Joe Hill (NOS4A2, Locke & Key) has his way, he’ll be the one to bring the story back to the screen.
“I would only want to jump into directing if I had a chance to do the reboot of Maximum Overdrive,” Hill tells Mick Garris on October 28th’s season 5 premiere of Post Mortem With Mick Garris that Bloody Disgusting had a chance to listen to early. “If someone offered me the chance to write and direct a relaunch of Maximum Overdrive, I’d jump at that in a second.”
Hill continued, outlining his vision:
“The time is right, okay. So basically, they’re all the self-driving vehicles. So it’s no longer a comet that sets them off, it’s a virus in the electronics that sets them off. And so you’ve got these giant Tesla semi trucks, ya know, wiping everyone out. I think it could be great.”
You can listen to this very portion of the Post Mortem interview below. It’s interesting to note that Joe Hill hasn’t yet tried directing on for size, so if this fantasy project ever did come to fruition, it would see Hill making his directorial debut with a remake of the movie that marked his dad’s directorial debut. And something about that just feels so right, doesn’t it?
The new season of Post Mortem with Mick Garris premieres Wednesday, October 28.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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