#tut nyuout

[the-lean-buddha]

The Long Walk characters are very different in the movie

As per the Vanity Fair article:

Garraty in the movie is "certainly the most big-hearted" of the Walkers. Which he isn't at all, in the book. He's very close to a few people, but if anything he seems less attached to his friends than McVries does (see: Harkness, Scramm, Pearson, Parker), and he's less caring towards random people than Baker. Mostly Garraty is motivated by curiosity when he talks to other Walkers. He's kind of an asshole to most people.

The article also says that Garraty "enters the race to get vengeance on leaders he despises, pursuing the wishes of his resistance-minded dad". Which in the book, he absolutely doesn't. His entire character revolves around repression, guilt, and insecurity that motivates him to join the Walk. It has nothing to do with vengeance. This isn't a small change - it makes Garraty's character, and the entire story, completely different.

Hoffman adds that "Garraty believed wholeheartedly that his father was fighting for the exact right thing, and his father could do no wrong", but Garraty goes into the Walk in the book thinking that his father is an idiot, or at least naive. He also explicitly says later that he didn't miss his father after he was Squaded. So Garraty in the movie will be very different, and the movie will apparently be a story of political rebellion.

"Jonsson, who’s 31, brings a more hardened and mature presence to McVries", but McVries is not even remotely mature in the book. He's full of teenage angst and emotional immaturity and a twisted sense of loathing towards himself and everything else. It doesn't look like he has that prominent scar in the movie, either.

Baker is black in the movie. In the book, he was a night rider for two years. Go figure.

This is Stebbins in the movie. Go figure.

So overall, I can't see any of the three main characters being at all similar to their book counterparts. Baker still has a shot, because the night riding isn't a core part of his character, but given the track record so far I'm not very optimistic.

Also, the numbers are random now! Garraty is still #47 and Barkovitch is still #5 but the others have changed, even Baker, for some reason.

Also, apparently Mark Hamill "brings complexity and and even some vulnerability" to the Major. To the Major. what

The only thing I'm excited for is Joshua Odjick as Parker, because this here is a very Collie Parker expression.

[the-lean-buddha]

The Long Walk trailer thoughts

Looks like most characters are going to be pretty different to their book counterparts. McVries and Barkovitch in particular seem to have very different energies here. I'm interested in seeing more of this Barkovitch, but I can't shake my pessimism that they've missed the point of McVries and his fucked-up twisted pain and longing. At least they kept the scar, sort of.

I like Tut Nyuout as Baker. He only has one line in the trailer but he's got that sweet, earnest southern-ness down. I wonder how many of Baker's haunting aspects will be kept by the movie.

No opinion yet on Ben Wang as Olson. "Hank Olson's the name, walking's my game" was delivered much more casually and less cockily than I expected. But I like "Smile, boys, you're on candid camera!" We'll see.

Stebbins isn't at the back, which annoys me. It looks like he's going to be a very different character in general.

Harkness looks like he might end up being a better character in the movie than the book, and Curley too (because he's barely a character in the book). I doubt that will be the case for any of the other boys.

Joshua Odjick didn't get any lines as Parker in the trailer, unfortunately. He was the one I was most looking forward to.

I have pretty much nothing to say about Cooper Hoffman as Garraty.

[the-lean-buddha]

My thoughts on the news about The Long Walk's film adaption

I have very little faith that The Long Walk will be a good adaption but maybe I'll be wrong! I can dream, and I've been wrong before. Here are my thoughts on the casting announcements and set pictures.

Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson are the leads, according to Deadline, which means they're presumably Garraty and McVries. Jonsson seems like a good actor but an awful fit for either character, and with Hoffman (presumably Garraty) it comes down to how good an actor he is, I guess, because I can see it working if I squint but I haven't seen anything from Hoffman to suggest he can do Garraty. And I reaaaaally doubt he could do McVries. McVries has a bite to him.

Joshua Odjick is Native American so he's presumably Joe or Mike (not to say that a different character couldn't theoretically be Native American in the adaption, but it's key to Joe and Mike that none of the other Walkers understand their culture at all, and only Baker defends their parents). It's odd that either of those two would have a prominent enough role to be cast already, so I wonder if either one of their roles is beefed up, or if Mike and Scramm will be a composite character and Joe won't feature at all. Alternatively, Odjick isn't playing a Native American character (or he is but Mike and Joe are adapted out), in which case I'd guess Parker.

Roman Griffin Davis is someone I've only ever seen in Jojo Rabbit so I don't know how much range he has. I think he'd fit best as Barkovitch but I wouldn't be surprised if he's been cast as Baker or Olson.

Charlie Plummer is Stebbins. I say this almost entirely because he's a long-haired blonde. If McVries is black then book descriptions (and characterizations, let's be honest, you can't make McVries a black kid in the 70s and keep his character the same) are thrown out the door already, but google Charlie Plummer and tell me he's not been cast as Stebbins. Also, take a look at this.

Ben Wang is Asian American and there are no explicitly Asian American characters, so we've gotta guess this one purely on Vibes (Olson and Barkovitch could both be canonically Asian American, but Barkovitch is openly racist, so). From Wang's YouTube channel and some clips of Chinese Born American I found, he's a nice and playful guy (hmu Ben let's get a lemonade, also tell me who you're playing), so I'd assume Baker or Olson or Abraham because they fit that the closest, I guess? But this is unfortunately a flawed way of guessing because actors playing lunatics are sometimes normal people in real life, walking among us, going almost undetected.

Tut Nyuot's a young, sweet-looking kid. I'd assume Percy? Again, weird to cast Percy already because he doesn't even have any lines in the book, but I can't imagine Nyuout playing a character who's supposed to be the same age as Charlie Plummer's character. Maybe he's unexpectedly good at playing deranged assholes like Barkovitch? We'll see.

For Garrett Wareing I'd say Olson, looking through clips and interviews.

Jordan Gonzalez gives me no strong impression. Sorry, Jordan. Feel free to give me a stronger one over lemonade (and tell me who you're playing). If I'm held at gunpoint then I'll say Abraham.

Mark Hamill is presumably playing the Major. He's absolutely not who I would have picked because he overflows with character and I always pictured the Major as a stoic, empty Big Brother type figure, whose moments of charisma and friendliness were obviously just an act. And I guess Hamill could play that, but I think the Major will more likely have a lot more personality and vim and vigor in the movie, if Hamill was cast - he's easily the biggest draw in the cast. Not necessarily a bad way to portray the Major, but easier to mess up. We'll wait and see.

Judy Greer as presumably Mrs. Garraty will presumably be fine.

Set photos look promising, aesthetically. No half-track, though. And there's a tank. Why is there a tank?

There's a Deadline article suggesting that there are only 50 kids and the pace limit is 3mph. But there's also an article suggesting it's still 100 kids so it might be a mistake? If it's 50 kids then that's presumably done for practicality but it's a bad change, the number will either get too low too fast or it'll drop too slowly (and also no 47 and 61 which would be weird but that's not significant). 3mph isn't necessarily bad, it's more feasible, but it does mean the "first into Massachusetts in seventeen years" can't happen. Maybe they'll make New Hampshire the record instead.

i want lemonade

Reblog with your thoughts! We've got news, people, and I'm sure someone somewhere is more excited about that than I am. Let's get some discussion going on in here.