Stephen King's Twisted Thriller REST STOP is Being Adapted Into a Film
We’ve got another Stephen King film adaptation coming our way! Legendary Pictures has picked up the rights to King’s short story Rest Stop, which was originally published in the December 2003 issue of Esquire Magazine and ended up in his short story collection Just After Sunset.
The studio has also hired Her Smell director and Christopher Robin writer Alex Ross Perry to write and helm. Craig Flores (300, 300: Rise of an Empire) is producing.
The film is described as a “propulsive cat and mouse thriller, the plot follows the twisted journey of two women after a fateful encounter at a highway rest stop.” Here’s a more detailed description of the story, which is sure to have some changes as it’s adapted to film:
Author John Dykstra, who writes under the pen name Rick Hardin, has had too much beer to drink at his mystery writer's group meeting and desperately needs to find a rest stop on his return from Jacksonville to Sarasota. There is only one other car at the rest stop, and he overhears its occupants in the ladies' bathroom. He hears a woman's and a man's voice coming from the bathroom, and the sounds of domestic abuse.
Dykstra is too timid and frightened to act, but he assumes the mentality of his alter-ego, Hardin, and attacks the man with a tire iron. Hardin calls the police and orders the woman to leave the scene in the car, and much to her protest, Hardin smashes the man's glasses to ensure the man doesn't follow him on the road in retaliation.
After some time, Hardin mentally reverts to Dykstra, who begins to vomit out the side of his vehicle when the adrenaline rush of the incident wears off. He stops at a gas station and thoroughly searches to make sure the man has not followed him. Upon returning home, Dykstra locks his doors and activates his burglar alarm system.
As a fan of King’s work, I can’t wait to see how this series turns out.
Source: Deadline