Associated Press—Author Stephen King and his wife are donating money so 150 soldiers from the Maine Army National Guard can come home for the holidays.
King and his wife, Tabitha, who live in Bangor, are paying $13,000 toward the cost of two bus trips so that members of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Unit can travel from Camp Atterbury in Indiana to Maine for Christmas. The soldiers left Maine last week for training at Camp Atterbury. They are scheduled to depart for Afghanistan in January.
Julie Eugley, one of King’s personal assistants, told the Bangor Daily News that the Kings were approached about giving $13,000.
But Stephen King thought the number 13 was a bit unlucky, so the couple pitched in $12,999 instead. Eugley chipped in $1 to make for an even $13,000.
Stephen King and Steven Spielberg are joining forces to develop a limited series based on King’s just-released supernatural thriller “Under the Dome.” DreamWorks TV has optioned the book and is looking to set it up as an event series, likely for cable. DreamWorks principal Stacey Snider was key in bringing the project to the company. Spielberg, King and Snider will exec produce along with DreamWorks TV chiefs Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. The book, which has earned strong reviews as a return to form for the prolific author, revolves around the drama that unfolds after an invisible force field suddenly descends on a small vacation town in Maine. As the locals fight for their survival, the town descends into warring factions led by enigmatic characters.
DreamWorks is starting to meet with writers for the project. The plan is to set a writer before shopping the skein to prospective buyers.
Spielberg and King have worked together in the past, developing a screen adaptation of King’s 1984 novel “The Talisman,” on which Spielberg has had the option for more than 20 years. That project has been developed as a feature, and it came close to being done as a mini for TNT a few years ago until it was tabled for budgetary reasons.
The “Dome” deal continues a burst of activity on the smallscreen side for Spielberg and DreamWorks TV. Among the high-profile projects in the works is a series about the development of a fictional Broadway tuner for Showtime. Another Showtime contender is a costume-drama revolving around the Borgia clan, penned by Neil Jordan and with Robert Zemeckis also producing.
“I tried this once before when I was a lot younger, but the project was just too big for me. But it was a terrific idea and it never entirely left my mind . . . and every now and then it would say write me, and eventually I did. I sure hope people like it.”~~Stephen King
In Stephen King’s mesmerizing new masterpiece – his biggest, most riveting novel since The Stand – a Maine town and its inhabitants are isolated from the world by an invisible, impenetrable dome.
On an entirely normal, beautiful Autumn day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field – the Dome. Planes fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed at the wrist and people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families. Dale Barbara, Iraq vet, teams up with a few intrepid citizens against the town’s corrupt politician. But time, under the Dome, is running out . . .
Celebrated storyteller Stephen King returns to his roots in this tour de force featuring more than 100 characters – some heroic, some diabolical – some and a supernatural element as baffling and chilling as any he’s ever conjured.
Stephen King appeared on Good Morning America this morning to discuss his new thriller, out today, “Under the Dome,” which he says can be read as a metaphor for the American condition. He had the idea for the book in the 70’s… will it be successful and relevant today?
“I tried this once before when I was a lot younger, but the project was just too big for me. But it was a terrific idea and it never entirely left my mind . . . and every now and then it would say write me, and eventually I did. I sure hope people like it.”~~Stephen King
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