KING ON SCREEN: Director Daphné Baiwir Talks Stephen King!

Introduction

In 1976, Brian de Palma directed Carrie, the first novel by Stephen King. Since then, more than fifty directors have adapted the master of horrors’ books, resulting in more than eighty films and series. This makes King the most adapted author alive in the world. What’s so fascinating about him that filmmakers cannot stop adapting his works? King on Screen unites the filmmakers that have adapted Stephen King’s books for cinema and TV, including Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile), Tom Holland (The Langoliers), Mick Garris (The Stand, Sleepwalkers) and Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne). It’s a movie made by the fans, (including director Daphné Baiwir) for the fans.

Cinema Scholars’ Glen Dower recently sat down with the director of King on Screen, Daphné Baiwir. They spoke about King’s mastering of multiple genres, what it was like to interview legendary directors such as Frank Darabont, and a certain infamous and legendary axe, among other topics.

Interview

Glen Dower:

Daphné Baiwir, director of King on Screen, how are you, Ma’am?

Daphné Baiwir:

I’m good, thank you for having me.

Glen Dower:

We are here to talk about your documentary, about the vast array of Stephen King’s work that has been adapted for the silver screen. Why do you think it’s the right time for this documentary?

Daphné Baiwir:

Well, I think especially today, we see a lot of new adaptations coming out of Stephen King, and I thought it could be great to have a look into who are the directors who made those adaptations. So I think it’s great to have the chance to go a little bit further into Stephen King’s work and to discover a little bit of the inside of how those stories are made.

Glen Dower:

I came to King late. I was, shall we say a ‘scaredy cat’ when I was little. My family was big King fans, however, when my mother watched IT for the first time, she slept for two weeks with the lights on. She was so freaked out and scared by ‘that clown.’ So I have grown up knowing King as a horror icon. In your documentary, you also explore King as a multi-genre master also.

Daphné Baiwir:

Well, actually I wanted to really show the multiple faces that Stephen King can have because for sure he’s the master of horror, but at the same time, he’s able to write wonderful stories like The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile, which are not truly horror stories, but they are very much more about humanity. And sometimes it can be related to horror in some way because some of the humans he describes are horrible persons. But yeah, I think it’s true that Stephen King has so much more to offer than just horror. I really wanted to go and talk a little bit about these different faces.

Glen Dower:

I love the angle you took at the beginning where many of the directors spoke about how horror was viewed as a genre when they were growing up. Horror was very much about monsters, like Godzilla. Then Stephen King’s stories were all about the human side of extraordinary situations. Humans can become monsters or humans reacting to horror. Let’s also talk about the opening, because when I received the preview, for example, I thought the studio had sent me the wrong film, ‘This isn’t a documentary’. And then of course the reveals of the setting. I don’t want to spoil it for our readers, but it’s very much a ride through Easter Egg Town. How was that constructed and why do you think that opening is so important?

Daphné Baiwir:

Well, I think first it was interesting because it allows the audience to really go into Stephen King’s Universe. We are going to talk with the directors for a long time, but before I really wanted to put the mood somehow, and I thought it could be great as well because it allows us to have actors, great emblematic actors in the fictional introduction because really the heart of the documentary was about the directors, and I didn’t want to have so many different profiles. I really wanted to be with them. So the fictional introduction was also a great way to have those actors joining the documentary, joining the universe. We tried to build Stephen King’s universe in one street, so that was quite a challenge. And we shot in Maine in February, so we didn’t help ourselves for sure. It was an appealing experience for sure.

Glen Dower:

You recruited an amazing line-up of directors. Your producer Sebastian Cruz sent some emails out to approach the directors, and then once you spoke to one or two, you had a dream scenario; they asked ‘Do you want to speak to this guy? I can send him an email for you. I can make him a call?’ Was that a dream come true for you in your production team?

Daphné Baiwir:

Absolutely. For example, when I got the chance to meet Frank Darabont, I was talking to him about all the projects, and we were talking and he told me, well, do you have Greg Nicotero (acclaimed make-up effects artist) in your documentary? And I told him no, I didn’t know how to reach him. And he told me, Greg is my friend, so I will send him an email and I will tell him to join. So it was so great to have all this help from the directors themselves. And I think it shows a lot about them as human beings because it shows how much they are committed to their work, and when they are doing something, they are doing it a hundred percent. And they love very much Stephen King’s work and you can feel it. And they are so much passionate about cinema and their work, and I think it’s quite amazing to have this kind of encounter with them because each time it’s like having this incredible masterclass.

Glen Dower:

Frank Darabont. He is just fantastic. He just seems to have this constant energy and glow when he is talking about cinema. Was it a joy to interview him? He plays a big part in the documentary, which is absolutely fine by me. Was there a point when you thought, can we just make the documentary ‘Frank Darabont on King on Screen’?

Daphné Baiwir:

Yeah, we could have totally! Because I’ve got something like two hours from the interview with Frank. When you are talking to directors like Frank Darabont who have adapted so much of Stephen King’s stories; they made such iconic films. And when you see them resonate still nowadays, when you have a list of the best 50 Films of All Time; Shawshank is always mentioned. So it’s a film that really had an impact on cinema history. When you are talking to directors who made such emblematic films, you really want to hear what they have to say about their work. I think Frank was a bigger part of this project, and I’ve always thought of Frank as my favorite director, so meeting him was a great chance and I’m so thankful for that.

Glen Dower:

That really comes across in the film. Were there any directors who you approached who maybe said no or declined for any reason?

Daphné Baiwir:

Well, actually there are a few that I really wanted to talk to, but some of them declined because of their schedule. Sometimes I couldn’t find the right way to reach the director, Brian de Palma, for example. Sometimes I didn’t get an answer, so we had to move on. And so we thought, okay, so that’s a shame. I would have loved to have Mary Lambert, for example, to talk a little bit more about Pet Sematary. But we are blessed with our cast because we have an amazing cast.

Glen Dower:

Absolutely, and once they see this documentary, they will want to be in Part Two! Definitely. Was King himself approached or involved? Or did you want this to remain a celebratory piece of his work?

Daphné Baiwir:

We talked a lot about having Stephen King in the documentary, but that would’ve not felt right, because it would’ve been like putting two different documentaries together, having Stephen King talking about the adaptations. And I think at the same time, the directors talking about the work and the film, it would’ve been strange. So we thought we shouldn’t have him in the documentary. We tried to have him in the fictional introduction, but we couldn’t, we couldn’t have him in that. But we kept him in touch during the whole process. So we were constantly giving news and sent him the documentary at the end.

Glen Dower:

That is great news. I do love the pieces of film trivia you unearth like Bruce Willis leaving the voicemail for Frank Darabont endorsing the casting of Michael Clark Duncan in The Green Mile. Was there anything that surprised you that came out?

Daphné Baiwir:

Yes! Michael Armstrong told us the axe that is used to break the door down in 1408 was the same axe used by Jack in The Shining, the Kubrick version. So we were quite surprised to hear that, and it was kind of strange, but considering they shot both their films in England, was funny. It’s something that I didn’t know, and Michael told us that he had never said that to anyone before.

Glen Dower:

That begs the question ‘Where has that axe been? It’s just been sitting there on the studio floor for all these years?

Daphné Baiwir:

Yeah! It’s quite amazing the stories because it’s a really small insight into the process of filmmaking and it’s always exciting to know.

Glen Dower:

For sure. I have had the privilege of interviewing documentary filmmakers before for Cinema Scholars, and I am always really interested in the production process. I always ask this question, following all of your research and filming the content; at what point do you feel ‘we have enough?’

Daphné Baiwir:

Well, it really depends because I mean, each documentary is quite different. For example, I just finished one about Alfred Hitchcock and his collaboration with John Steinbeck, so I worked on that for a long time, digging into the archives, going everywhere in America, calling every archive to know what they had, and making some of the interviews with, for example, Patrick McGilligan, who wrote this great book about Hitchcock. And after I knew for example, on this one that I had to interview Patrick Magill first because he did a lot about this story and he wrote a lot about it. So I knew that when I have this interview, I can completely start the edits and the process of the film and digging into it. For King, it was a little bit different because there are a lot of people that we interviewed in it. So we had multiple faces of doing interviews, then preparing the fictional introduction, then preparing the other interviews. So we were switching between the one or the other. But in the end, yeah, it’s like the same world for King, for example. I knew that once I had all the directors that said yes and all the interviews, I was able to move on and finish the film. It really depends on the project each time.

Glen Dower:

And one last question. What is your favorite Stephen King adaptation, Daphné?

Daphné Baiwir:

That would be The Green Mile. I mean, I love every adaptation of Frank Darabont. But really The Green Mile is my favorite.

Glen Dower:

Does it still make you cry?

Daphné Baiwir:

Yes. The only movie that can.

Glen Dower:

Well, that’s an exclusive!

Daphné Baiwir:

Absolutely!

Glen Dower:

I’m going to have to watch again, it’s been such a long time. Daphné, I thank you for your time today.

Daphné Baiwir:

My pleasure.

The horror documentary KING ON SCREEN will be in Theaters on August 11th and available On Demand and Blu-Ray on September 8th. What is your favorite Stephen King adaptation or King Movie Moment? Let us know in the comments below!

Read more Cinema Scholars interviews here!

THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER: An Interview With Star Denzel Whitaker

THE WRATH OF BECKY: An Interview With The Directors And Star Lulu Wilson

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