I think The Talisman may set some sort of record for development hell. King and Straub had sold the rights to Universal on behalf of Amblin with the understanding that Spielberg and only Spielberg would be the one to make it.
King had met with Spielberg several times to discuss the project, but it was pushed back when he moved onto other projects like “Empire Of The Sun”.
It wasn’t until 1992 that “The Fisher King” screenwriter, Richard LaGravenese was brought on board to take a crack at the script, but sadly his version got no further.
1999 saw Spielberg abandoning the idea of a film version and looking at executive producing a 4 hour mini series with ABC. In 2001, Stephen King regular, Mick Garris, was announced as director. Garris planned on using LaGravenese’s script as the basis for the mini-series.
Sadly in November of that year, ABC pulled out due to financial concerns. The following year the project was again pushed as a feature film, with a different writer on board.
Click the picture to read the feature film version of Richard LaGravenese’s script and let us know what you think in the comments below.
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