00:00I mean, you can't think about proms or rabid dogs or evil cars or anything or clowns without thinking of
00:06Stephen King.
00:06I'm curious just for both of you what your own relationship is with his work.
00:12I started reading it. This is so funny. I haven't said this yet.
00:16The beginning I have. I started reading Stephen King when I was young.
00:20I really loved The Shining and I really loved it.
00:24But my favorite Stephen King book to tell the truth is on writing.
00:28It's incredible.
00:29When he tells you what he did and who he was in order to create.
00:33I cried so many times reading that book because I was like, how did you keep going, bro?
00:38Because we forget that everybody's a human and humans go through hard shit.
00:45And to see the hard stuff he did while I'm devouring his content, I said, that's a hero.
00:51That book to me, that's my favorite.
00:55And also just his creative flow, just how everything just constantly flows out.
01:00It's so inspiring, too.
01:01And it just keeps going.
01:04I'm like, how many books this guy got in him?
01:06A million.
01:07A million of them.
01:08A lot.
01:09Let's count them.
01:10Yeah, exactly.
01:10It's only over about 100.
01:12Yeah, sure.
01:12When I was a kid, I didn't read Stephen King, but like Pet Sematary and, you know, right?
01:18I forgot about that.
01:20Honestly, all those books made me think.
01:21I was like Pet Sematary.
01:22I got to look while you talk.
01:23I watched the films, and that's how I got into Stephen King.
01:28And then, like you just said, it's like he's like the Jay-Z of books.
01:32Like he just has hit after hit after hit.
01:34So as you watch him, you're like, and another one?
01:37And another one?
01:39It's the same person?
01:40Like this is, like it's not normal.
01:42It is.
01:43I mean, just to be someone where everybody wants to utilize your source material.
01:48Pre-internet, pre-social media.
01:53I mean, I'm sure they were farming books back then.
01:55Absolutely.
01:55Like this dude was bringing this stuff himself.
01:58And I think that's, and to be able to be a part of that and to be able to dig
02:02into how dense that story,
02:03how our story actually is, is, you know, it's a great opportunity.
02:08It's a lot of fun.
02:09And going back to what you just said, the difference why I'm like, we're so excited about this is because
02:15a lot of times prequels are people just trying to make more money.
02:18But because of it, I mean, the book is so dense.
02:23They got much more to go.
02:24Yeah, there's so much more source material.
02:25So they're not just doing it to do it.
02:27They're doing it because there's, you can continue to expand upon it.
02:30There's still rich stories inside of that book.
02:33Which is exciting.
02:34Yeah.
02:34And you know, as a Stephen King fan, you're like, thank God you've expanded upon it.
02:39Where does your story with him begin, whether it's in the books, the movies, TV shows, or whatever?
02:46Well, I don't consider Stephen King pop culture.
02:50I consider Stephen King a great American writer.
02:54As much as John Steinbeck, as much as Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Stephen King has touched millions of people.
03:05And not just with terror or with horror, but with insight and with understanding of the human condition, beginning with
03:14childhood and going all the way into late adulthood.
03:19And he's put his own life on paper and his own examination of his psyche on paper for us to
03:29read.
03:29And we all relate to it.
03:32My first Stephen King book was The Shining.
03:36And when I read The Shining, I read it after I saw the movie.
03:41And I was blown away by how different it was and how clearly it was a treatise on alcoholism.
03:51Because he kept talking about how he hadn't had a drop and then he got so threatened and he starts
03:55beating himself in the face.
03:56And I'm like, holy smokes, it would be it was it was that Kubrick did such a great job with
04:02it and yet left out 30 percent of the book just shows you how much depth there is to it.
04:10And The Shining is terrifying me reading it.
04:13And then at the very end, it's so poignant that, you know, I just couldn't wait to read his next
04:19book.
04:20You know, he has the quality that I just can't wait to read the next book.
04:24And that for me is very, very modern American.
04:28I can't wait to hear the next story.
04:30I mean, he has such a great understanding of people and just he just drops them into these situations and
04:37just lets them act as a human would act.
04:40And the stories that come out of it are there he goes in Cujo and he throws a lady in
04:44a car with a rabid dog.
04:45And that was the whole set.
04:47What about for you, Kimberly?
04:48It was reading Carrie and that was just and of course in the film.
04:53But the one that really sticks with me is Stand By Me.
04:56It's so just just meaningful because I was a kid growing up in Oklahoma, in rural Oklahoma.
05:03And I just saw myself and those kids riding bikes and going up to the, you know, the train tracks.
05:10And, you know, we were always looking for mysteries like that.
05:12So to get to see that on cinema, I think there's something, especially because there wasn't a lot of representation
05:17of indigenous.
05:18People back then.
05:19So I was grabbing on to anybody that looked like me or seemed like me.
05:23And it was a reflection.
05:24It's sort of like, well, if if it's there, then I exist.
05:27And so it was really meaningful to me and to, you know, both of your point, it's these ability, it's
05:34his ability to create relatable characters that it's very easy for us to slip into their shoes and imagine what
05:41we would do in that situation.
05:42And always about the tension between belonging and connectedness and being outside and wanting to be in.
05:49And I can really relate to that.
05:50I have a deep respect for for the for the material that he's that he's provided us, the gift of
05:55of having really interesting and scary stories, but also blending them with with, you know, what's current and, you know,
06:02social events and cultural events and political events.
06:05And just having kind of a beacon on the voice of and the beat of what's happening in society.
06:12It was really cool to get to play Larry Underwood years ago, especially because in the in the book, I
06:18mean, I don't necessarily look like Larry at all, him being a white rock star and Stephen being completely OK
06:23with me playing the part anyway.
06:25But then coming back in and getting to play half of of the couple that really served as the inception
06:33of of of of the Haylin's presence in the town of Derry, just getting to share that moment and experience
06:40with Taylor was was really, really an honor.
06:43And I was excited and grateful to be able to go through this journey with her.
06:47It's amazing.
06:48Now for you, Taylor.
06:50Yeah, thank you, John.
06:52That's really sweet.
06:52I, I, Stephen King's name is just synonymous with wild, incredible genius mind, wild imagination, inner child intact, but also
07:07like he's given us so much and he's employed so many people because and he's and he's entertained so many
07:15people.
07:15And he, I was asked, I was wondering recently, well, the last few days, just what came first?
07:21Were we already afraid of clowns or did Stephen King highlight it?
07:25You know, like he really defined, at least he defined the, he defined the, the, the clown fear thing, right?
07:37Yeah.
07:38Yeah.
07:38Yeah.
07:39Yeah.
07:40Yeah.
07:41Yeah.
