Achi news desk-
It was no ordinary day in Fredericton.
A woman lay on the gravel, her face disfigured and the ground marked red, but no one cared. It’s the second day of filming a screen adaptation of Stephen King’s Last Run on the Schooland this was part of the filming schedule.
The short film adaptation is the brainchild of Michael Stafford, the film’s director. He acquired the rights to the film for $1 as part of King’s The Dollar Baby program, which ended on December 31 2023.
That makes Stafford’s film one of the last with the program.
“It means everything to me. This is my joy, this is my passion,” Stafford said.
The story focuses on a childhood incident with a school in a hayloft, and the suicide of Kitty, sister of the main character Larry, also known as Katrina. Stafford wants to meet audience expectations for King’s film.
“I hope they are satisfied, and I did it right and I did it true to the story,” he said.
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Erica Whitman, who plays the adult role of Kitty, has some stunts scheduled but said her challenge is to capture the heavy emotions of the story with her expressions.
“To get into the dark and twisted mind of Stephen King and play that out, it’s going to be a good acting challenge, and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
And what would a Stephen King film be without gory images?
Special effects and monsters
The original story doesn’t feature King’s trademark horror, but special effects makeup artist Marc Deveault said he’s looking forward to working on some of the film’s monsters – a variation on the short story.
This is not the first film he has worked on – he has brought his talents to the sets of X-Men: Apocalypse, Frontier and King’s The fog.
“I’ve worked on Stephen King before, so you want to make sure it’s up to his standards,” Deveault said.
For the 10-year-old actress who plays young Kitty, Reagan MacNeil, this is another chance to get her name out there.
“I hope it goes far, because we’ve put a lot of work into it so far, and it’s only day two,” he said.
With a local cast, Stafford hopes to highlight New Brunswick’s film scene – and one day bring some bigger TV shows to the capital.
“Fredericton is starting to get more and more momentum when it comes to filmmaking. We hope the government will start giving us more grants so we can be like Nova Scotia,” he said.
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