John Lithgow is Set to Play Jud Crandall in Stephen King's PET SEMATARY Remake
Ever since I learned that Paramount Pictures was developing a remake of Stephen King's Pet Semetary, I was wondering who they would get to take on the role of Jud Crandell. Today, Entertainment Weekly reports that John Lithgow will play the character, and I couldn't ask for anyone better. Lithgow is a fantastic choice for the part!
Jud was previously played by Fred Gwynne in the 1989 film, and he was absolutely perfect in that role. I'm sure Lithgow will bring something fresh and different to the character in the remake. Jud is an old, country neighbor who befriends Louis Creed, who will be played by Jason Clarke.
Jud has lived in the area long enough to know its many secrets, and he takes the young family on a tour of nearby woods that leads to a peculiar pet burial ground. Later, he guides Louis far beyond the rudimentary “pet sematary” to an even stranger place deep in the wilderness after a speeding truck on their rural road claims the life of the family’s pet.
Here's how King described the character in the book when he is first introduced:
"He turned and saw an old man of perhaps seventy — a hale and healthy seventy — standing there on the grass. He wore a biballs over a blue chambray shirt that showed his thickly folded and wrinkled neck. His face was sunburned, and he was smoking an unfiltered cigarette. He held his hand out and smiled crookedly…a smile Louis liked at once."
Pet Sematary will be directed by Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch (Starry Eyes) from a script written by Jeff Buhler (Nightflyers). This is one of my favorite Stephen King books and films and I hope that the remake will be just as utterly terrifying as the original movie.
The road in front of Dr. Louis Creed’s rural Maine home frequently claims the lives of neighborhood pets. Louis has recently moved from Chicago to Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their children and pet cat. Near their house, local children have created a cemetery for the dogs and cats killed by the steady stream of transports on the busy highway. Deeper in the woods lies another graveyard, an ancient Indian burial ground whose sinister properties Louis discovers when the family cat is killed.
Pet Sematary is scheduled to begin shooting this summer and is slated for release on April 19, 2019. What do you think about John Lithgow taking on the role of Jud?