Goofy King?


Whats up with King acting like a goof/toddler/ass in his cameo appearances??

The Stand: Semi-goofy nice guy.

Knightriders: Redneck (in the company of his real life wife!).

The Shining(1997): Silly orchestra conductor.

Creepshow(1982): Feebleminded hick.

Pet Sematary: Minister at funeral... well maybe he wasn't so goofy in this one.

Anyone that has met with King in person? Is he a goofball?

reply

I've seen him in interviews; definitely not goofy in the way he talks, but he's a big, goofy-*looking* guy, who cheerfully admits to having no acting ability, so I guess "goofy lummox" is probably the best kind of cameo for him.

"The truth 24 times a second."

reply

Aha!!! So that IS Stephen King??!! I was just about to post this question on the board. I saw that guy and thought. . . what's Stephen King doing in this movie?!

reply

Stephen King and George Romero have been friends for a long time; King also did a bit part in Romero's "Creepshow".

"The truth 24 times a second."

reply

I wouldn't call King's part in Creepshow a bit part. He was the main (and almost the only) character in his segment.

It would be fair to say, however, that King has had bit parts in most of his own movies.

reply

It's not quite Romero's "Creepshow" being that King and Romero both worked on the movies. The first one was written by King and directed by Romero and in Creepshow 2 both wrote the stories.

reply

King wouldnt be the first writer to try acting. Capote in MURDER BY DEATH, Peter Benchley in JAWS, William Diehl in SHARKEY'S MACHINE. Graham Greene in DAY FOR NIGHT.

And then you have Mickey Spillane in a few movies. He didn't like the actors who had played Mike Hammer in the movies so he starred in THE GIRL HUNTERS with columnist Hy Gardner.

There are probably others, but I think Spillane had the most chutzpah to play his own character.

reply

I sold Stephen King movie tickets on 3 occasions last Summer at Flagship Cinema in Oxford, Maine (opening day of 1408, Transformers, and Halloween) and he never announced himself in any way and we gave him his space (it's a crappy theater and there were other theaters he could have gone to a half hour's drive away, so he was probably coming here partially for convenience but also partially for anonymity). Anyways, he seemed pretty stern and serious, though this is quite some time since those movie cameos; and that near death car crash incident likely changed him quite a bit.

The most I got out of him at the theater was that when he bought his ticket for "Halloween", he asked me "will it scare me?" Now, as an assistant manager, I insisted in letting him keep his privacy, so I answered as if he were just anybody and not "will this scare Master of Horror STEPHEN FREAKING KING???". I'm still curious if he was expecting to be called out and was doing this to joke at himself or if he was just making small talk...

reply

I worked at a theater in Maryland where they once had Chuck Norris, and was glad I wasn't working there.

I once had in one day a Titanic survivor, an Asian actress who earned her black belt under Bruce Lee and Jules Ffeiffer. Ffeiffer was out of the clear blue sky, and I had a little tribute to him with a poster we were trying to get rid of. He was very gracious.

A friend of mine Ralph Tabakin, who appeared in all of Barry Levinson's filmes until his death, graciously agreed to help promote SLEEPERS, but he had been virtually cut out of the movie and his back was giving him a lot of trouble from a D-Day injury.

See you at the movies.

reply

He also played a befuddled everyman in Maximum Overdrive who was called an ass**** by the ATM!

reply

The King cameo in the movie is 24 minutes and 30 seconds in. The rest of the movie is pretty good as well, but Romero has done far better.

reply

STephen King's said before that he likes playing silly or gross parts...it's a lark for him.

reply