John Cusack to Star in Adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Cell’

John Cusack to Star in Adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Cell’:

Stephen King has been good to John Cusack. One of the actor’s earliest roles was a minor part in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, which adapted King’s novella The Body, from Different Seasons. And then King’s story 1408 provided the basis for a film of the same name that was a 2007 hit starring Cusack.
Now Cusack will go back to King’s imagination, as he has been set to star in an adaptation of the author’s novel Cell, “about a father’s odyssey to find his wife and son in the wake of a catastrophic pulse transmitted via mobile phones.” When the pulse hit, anyone using their phone was tranformed into a murderous, mindless monster, and Cusack will have to navigate that landscape.
Screen Daily reports that King co-authored the screenplay with Adam Alleca (The Last House on the Left), based on King’s own novel. Richard Saperstein, who was an exec on 1408, is producing.

Artist Clayton Riddell had been in Boston negotiating a successful deal to sell his comic book project. His joy at finally hitting it big is shattered by an event called The Pulse which causes all those who were using their cell phones at the time of The Pulse to become zombies attacking and killing anyone in their way. Fortunately for Clay, he does not own a cell phone. In the panic to get out of Boston and find his way home to his wife and son in Maine, he is joined by Tom McCourt, a man he meets in the meleé immediately following The Pulse and a young girl, Alice, who they rescue from being killed by one of the “crazies.” The story follows their terrifying journey, avoiding capture—and worse—by the “crazies” who are beginning to “flock” and are led by one they call Raggedy Man as they attempt to reach Maine and a place called Kashwak which they hope will be their salvation.

Cusack will also star in Due Process, which is yet another thriller set in the world of finance. This one is written by Anthony Derrico, and to be directed by Paul Currie (One Perfect Day). Cusack will be in a slightly new element here, as he’ll play a farmer who needs to stare down two bankers trying to foreclose on his homestead.

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