Stephen King Adaptations: 5 Performances That Were Great (& 5 That Missed The Mark)

From Matthew McConaughey’s turn in The Dark Tower to Jack Nicholson as Jake Torrence, here are 10 of the best and worst King movie performances.

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Content Warning: the following article contains discussions of abuse

Stephen King has had his work adapted across various forms of media since the 1970s. From arthouse pictures to blockbuster hits, King’s bibliography has had a lasting impact on cinema. Furthermore, King adaptations don’t stop with movies. His work has also been adapted in the form of numerous television miniseries, some more critically lauded than others.

Some adaptations have a sweeping scope with stacked casts (The Stand), while others are more contained and intensely character-driven (The Shining & Misery). No matter the breadth of the narrative, some performances are Oscar-worthy, while others are well-intentioned but off-target.

10 Missed The Mark: Matthew McConaughey – The Dark Tower (2017)

The Dark Tower had a production that was nothing if not troubled. However, McConaughey seemed like a perfect fit for The Man in Black. In the end, the film was a mess, and McConaughey, in the midst of his career resurgence, isn’t left unscathed.

None of the compelling aspects of The Man In Black exist in the film. He’s an enigma both in King’s work and the 2017 truncated film adaptation, but it only works in the former. In the latter, it’s because McConaughey is given very little screentime and appears to effectively be playing himself.

9 Best: River Phoenix – Stand By Me (1986)

One of King’s most beloved novellas, The Body, became one of Rob Reiner’s most beloved films: Stand by Me. This adaptation is one of the very few to feature uniformly outstanding performances. Each actor, particularly the central quartet, commits fully to their respective role and turns out an endearing performance.

In particular, River Phoenix is masterful. No conveyed emotion is anything short of fully organic. In the end, it’s not only a terrific performance in a Stephen King adaptation, but it’s arguably Phoenix’s legacy role.

8 Missed The Mark: George C. Scott – Firestarter (1984)

If the worst thing a horror film can be is boring, the second-worst is cheesy. Firestarter, the 1984 King adaptation featuring Drew Barrymore, commits both sins. Even still, she would go on to star in another King adaptation (Cat’s Eye) the next year. However, neither project is one of Drew Barrymore’s best movies. One of Firestarter’s primary issues is that Barrymore turns in a performance superior to her adult costars’.

George C. Scott, in particular, is a distraction. He bounces off the walls in every scene he’s in. It’s possible for an actor to have fun with a role in a way that shows through in the final product. However, while that occasionally proves effective, it can also prove overbearing.

7 Best: Kathy Bates – Misery (1990)

Misery is the only film based on a Stephen King novel to score an Oscar win. This was the Academy Award for Best Actress and Kathy Bates could not have earned it more. Her performance is a sliding scale of increasing obsession.

Bates’ Annie Wilkes is the source of abject terror, but the terrorized wouldn’t know it from chatting with her. The performance behind this character makes her not only frightening and interesting but startlingly believable. Because of Kathy Bates, Annie Wilkes seems like an individual the viewer could see at their favored corner store.

6 Missed The Mark: Damian Lewis – Dreamcatcher (2003)

Of Stephen King’s numerous theatrical adaptations, none fall short quite like Dreamcatcher. The film is utterly incoherent, which is not surprising given the source material. In fact, King himself doesn’t like his own book, telling RollingStone: “I don’t like Dreamcatcher very much.”

This makes Damian Lewis’ overly-enthusiastic (to phrase it lightly) performance somewhat more understandable. He screeches, hollers, and talks to himself all while riding a snowmobile. It’s meant to indicate some sort of alien possession, but it comes across as a hack standup’s routine. With such a chaotic production, the audience is left to wonder if this was an actor’s choice or a directorial instruction.

5 Best: Jack Nicholson & Shelley Duvall – The Shining (1980)

The Shining’s production is notorious. Unfortunately, this includes director Stanley Kubrick’s outright mistreatment of Shelley Duvall. Ethical disgust aside, the end result was one of the strongest female characters in cinema history. Duvall is so convincing in the role of Wendy Torrance that she easily mirrors Nicholson’s more famous performance as her possessed husband.

Decades after the film’s release, it’s hard not to view Jack Torrance as one of cinema history’s most notorious and legendary villains. That widely-held respect wouldn’t exist were it not for Jack Nicholson.

4 Missed The Mark: Wes Bentley – Dolan’s Cadillac (2009)

Every now and then a Stephen King adaptation goes straight to video. This is not too surprising in the case of Dolan’s Cadillac, which is based on one of King’s lesser-known short stories. However, the main reason it’s easy to see why this film skipped a theatrical release is because of the lead performance.

The role of the villain, as played by Christian Slater, is fun. The protagonist, as portrayed by Wes Bentley, is a blank slate. The man is seeking revenge for the death of his wife. However, judging by Bentley’s lack of emotion, no one would ever know it.

3 Best: Sissy Spacek & Piper Laurie – Carrie (1976)

The first adaptation of a work by Stephen King, Brian De Palma’s Carrie, featured two performances that set a forever-high bar. Behind the scenes of Carrie’s production, it was tough casting the title character. The highly sought-after role ended up going to Sissy Spacek, and her casting feels like the stuff of destiny.

If Spacek’s Oscar-nominated performance as Carrie is impressive, Piper Laurie’s Oscar-nominated performance as her mother is equally so. Most of Laurie’s scenes are shared with Spacek, and their bounding off one another never rings false. By the end, once Carrie is fully cognizant of her powers, both actors could have easily chewed the scenery. Instead, the film, as well as the performances, serve as a subtle meditation on restriction and abuse.

2 Missed The Mark: Dale Midkiff – Pet Sematary (1989)

The original adaptation of Pet Sematary had a fun performance from Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall. Unfortunately, Jud Crandall is a supporting character. The lead role belongs to Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed, and the best thing that can be said about his performance is his emphatic yelling of the word “no.” Because of him, the project ends up being one of the best cat movies as opposed to a study of mourning.

The character Louis Creed loses a lot of his life’s joy throughout the course of Pet Sematary’s narrative. However, his conveyed reactions to extremely traumatic events ring so hollowly that they’re frequently cartoonish.

1 Best: Keith Gordon – Christine (1983)

Nicholson holds the distinction of most famous crazed performance in a Stephen King adaptation, and perhaps in cinema as a whole. However, the more layered performance absolutely belongs to Keith Gordon in John Carpenter’s terrific Christine.

There is a distinct difference between the Arnie Cunningham audiences see at the beginning of the film and the beaten monstrosity he becomes by the end. In essence, Gordon turns in two performances, and both feel wholly organic and related to one another.

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