Stephen King's 2003 short story Rest Stop is being adapted for the big screen by Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell). Legendary Pictures has tapped Perry to write and direct the adaptation, which is being described as a "cat-and-mouse thriller." King originally wrote the story and had it published in Esquire Magazine 16 years ago. The short story went on to win the National Magazine Award for Fiction in 2004 and was later included in King's story collection Just After Sunset in 2008.
Alex Ross Perry has already made some changes to the source material, according to the brief Rest Stop synopsis. In addition to the cat-and-mouse vibe, it's a twisted journey of two women after an encounter at a rest stop, which swaps the genders from Stephen King's source material and adds an additional character instead of it just focusing on one. It isn't clear at this time if Perry will be keeping the main nuts and bolts of the story intact, but it seems he would have to.
Stephen King is bigger now than he ever has been before in terms of his projects getting adapted for the big and small screen. King's work can be seen on the big screen currently with the recent release of Pet Semetary and on the small screen with Hulu's Castle Rock series. Up next is the highly anticipated IT 2 and Doctor Sleep, which is a sequel to The Shining. Rest Stop is one of King's more recent works to receive a decent amount of attention and it will be interesting to see where Alex Ross Perry takes the source material for the big screen.
Alex Perry Ross is known for directing The Color Wheel and Listen Up Philip, but he is currently enjoying some critical success off of his most recent movie Her Smell, which stars Elizabeth Moss. The actress plays an aging rocker with a deteriorating mental state and many have been praising Moss for her acting work and Ross for his directing. Critics are claiming it is his best work to date. This automatically sets up some pressure for the director who is taking on a project originally written by horror icon Stephen King.
Craig Flores (300) will produce Rest Stop through his Bread & Circuses banner, while Alex Garcia and Ali Mendes will oversee the project for Legendary. No casting information has been announced at this time, but that news is expected to drop soon. A release date and production start time are also unknown at the moment. Stephen King projects are still moving forward and it has to be pretty hard work to take his source material and adapt it for the big screen. Maybe Alex Perry Ross will hit a homerun like Andres Muschietti did with his big screen adaptation of IT. Variety was the first to announce the Alex Perry Ross and Rest Stop news.
