David Morse Talks Stephen King Adaptations From 'The Green Mile' To 'Revival'
Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Green Mile” is finally available on 4K Blu-ray. To celebrate, actor David Morse sat down with CinemaBlend’s Asst. Managing Editor Eric Eisenberg to discuss not only the making of “The Green Mile” but his entire catalog of Stephen King adaptations that he’s been a part of throughout his career, from “The Langoliers” mini-series to his audiobook reading of “Revival.”
Transcript
00:00 And he was a giant.
00:01 He put football players to shame with that body of his.
00:05 So that was the thing that was intimidating.
00:06 Not the height, just the power.
00:08 (upbeat music)
00:11 - Well, actually I do wanna go to just the start
00:18 of your relationship with Stephen King,
00:20 which is the Langoliers back in 1994.
00:23 - Northern Lights over California at this time of year.
00:27 - Who knows, the weather's been really freaky this year.
00:29 - When you signed on for that project,
00:30 what was your familiarity with his work?
00:32 - You know, I read a little bit.
00:33 I'm not sure that, you know, I'd read a little
00:37 and I liked him and read short stories.
00:39 I was, you know, I wouldn't know if,
00:41 I wouldn't say at that time I was a huge fan.
00:43 I just, I liked reading him.
00:44 I liked, and I liked the Langoliers short story
00:46 when I read that.
00:48 And at the time I really needed a job
00:50 and I was happy to get a job.
00:52 And over the years, I really have come to appreciate Stephen
00:56 as an author and as a really fascinating human being.
01:00 - Did he spend a good amount of time on set?
01:02 How much time did you get to spend with him?
01:04 - There was one day that I saw him on the set
01:07 and he's actually in a scene in it,
01:09 out the runway out there with the touch and go's
01:12 of the Air National Guard out there going all day long.
01:15 - So give us your report, Craig.
01:19 Tell us how much money you made for us.
01:22 - We didn't actually talk, but I saw him out there
01:24 and I was like, wow, that's Stephen King.
01:26 Unusual looking guy, but that's Stephen King.
01:29 - And I mean, 28 years on, I mean,
01:30 how do you reflect on that experience?
01:32 Because very much like "The Green Mile,"
01:34 it is a very intimate cast that's spending a lot of time
01:37 together in really one primary location.
01:40 - Yeah, very two different experiences though,
01:43 I have to say.
01:44 Like I said, it was, you know,
01:45 that story is supposed to be, it's totally silent.
01:47 You know, it's, we're eight seconds behind, you know, time.
01:50 Somehow we've gotten this and the Langoliers are coming.
01:54 We don't know what they are, but they're coming
01:55 and people can hear them.
01:57 And I'm afraid there was a little bit
02:00 of unhealthiness on that set.
02:02 It didn't, it wasn't a great experience,
02:06 although I'm always happy to be acting
02:08 and I'm always happy to be with other actors,
02:10 but it was not a great experience.
02:12 But we were up there in Maine, I love Maine,
02:15 but it was totally the opposite with "The Green Mile."
02:18 Even though there was a tension on the set
02:20 because we knew that this was behind schedule
02:23 and it was gonna be a long process.
02:25 There was a real bonding that happened between all of us.
02:28 And it helps because everybody is so fantastic.
02:31 They're great human beings.
02:32 They're really fantastic actors.
02:34 Everybody's at the top of their game
02:36 and we're in this completely beautiful story.
02:39 So it was, like I said, two different things.
02:42 - From what I understand, the scenes on "The Green Mile"
02:45 actually were filmed in scene order.
02:46 Basically you were playing out the movie.
02:49 How much did that ultimately influence the experience of,
02:52 I mean, like you said, you got the chance to bond
02:53 with all these other actors,
02:55 but you also had like, after Edward Delacroix dies,
02:59 like that's the end of Michael Jeter's time on set.
03:01 Like what was that experience like?
03:03 - Yeah, it's so unusual to do something like that.
03:06 I mean, almost always it seemed like I would always get,
03:09 when I get my script and there's the most emotional scene
03:11 in the movie, that would be the first thing
03:13 they wanna shoot.
03:14 You know, I don't even know everybody's names.
03:16 I haven't met them,
03:17 but somehow I have this relationship with them
03:19 and I've gotta be emotional about all of them.
03:21 And that, but because of money and budget and time,
03:24 that's how we do it.
03:26 It's a real luxury to have, you know,
03:30 your world unfold together and get to live it out.
03:34 And so it was great.
03:35 - Well, actually one interaction
03:38 I wanted to specifically ask about is working
03:41 with Sam Rockwell as Billy the Kid,
03:43 because that's an intense performance.
03:45 And from what I understand, he kind of stayed
03:47 in the headspace even when cameras weren't rolling.
03:49 Plus there's also that scene where he spits the chocolate
03:52 in your face.
03:54 Kind of what was it like just working with him?
03:56 - Well, I didn't know anything about him at the time.
03:59 We learned pretty quickly about him because he is,
04:03 I mean, you've seen the work, his work over the years.
04:06 He is, you know, he just knocks it out of the park.
04:09 It doesn't matter what he's doing.
04:10 But the thing that I loved about him
04:15 with all of the stuff he had going on,
04:17 we had studied the similar acting method
04:20 with a guy named Bill Esper.
04:23 So we were kind of working in the same mold.
04:26 And so with him, it was particularly, particularly fun.
04:30 (upbeat music)
04:33 - You can come in here on your legs.
04:39 But you go out on your backs.
04:41 - You being 6'3", I imagine you're used to the experience
04:44 of kind of viewing down on your co-stars.
04:46 Was it weird working with James Cromwell
04:48 and Michael Clark Duncan on the coffee highway?
04:51 - I'll tell you, the very first movie I ever did
04:53 was called "Inside Moves," where my character
04:55 had to become a professional basketball player.
04:58 He's just kind of a street basketball player.
05:00 And over comes stuff from an operation.
05:03 And my first real experience among giants,
05:07 as we played with the real Golden State Warriors,
05:11 my character became on the team, Golden State Warriors.
05:16 That's where I felt like I was another planet
05:18 working with all of them.
05:20 And then, you know, Michael was only an inch taller
05:22 than me, actually.
05:23 And I was 6'4" at the time.
05:25 I'm on the way down.
05:26 I'm 6'3" now.
05:28 But he would have been on the way down too
05:30 if he'd hung around long enough.
05:32 So I was a little bit, I wasn't so uncomfortable.
05:37 The only thing about Michael Clark Duncan
05:38 was he was 350 pounds of muscle.
05:42 I mean, he was a giant.
05:45 He put football players to shame with that body of his.
05:48 So that was the thing that was intimidating.
05:50 Not the height, just the power.
05:52 - Moving on next on the timeline,
05:53 there's "Hearts in Atlantis,"
05:55 which is an interesting performance
05:56 because there's a lot of parallels
05:58 that exist between that movie
06:00 and some of the other Castle Rock, Stephen King adaptations.
06:03 I'm curious, did you use Richard Dreyfuss' performance
06:06 in "Stand By Me" as a reference?
06:07 Like, what was kind of your headspace for that?
06:09 Also, just playing the older version of this character
06:11 we saw for most of the film.
06:14 - Yeah, no, I didn't really, you know, with Richard.
06:17 No, 'cause that's not really helpful to do stuff like that.
06:21 No, you just have to put your attention on the character.
06:25 But I did get to know Anton a little bit,
06:30 another actor who unfortunately, you know,
06:33 his life ended way too soon.
06:35 You see, I just watched that again for something else.
06:38 And God, he's so lovely in it.
06:41 And it's another lovely movie.
06:43 And that's Stephen King.
06:46 It comes from Stephen King's heart and imagination,
06:49 his world, and there's often a real beauty to it,
06:53 to his stories.
06:55 - One thing, and this isn't a movie yet,
06:57 but another book from Stephen King
06:59 that I have to ask about is "Revival,"
07:01 because I love your audio book reading.
07:04 And that book, absolutely, like the end of that book
07:07 completely destroyed my brain for a good week.
07:12 What was your experience just reading that book
07:14 and then recording it?
07:16 - You know, I hadn't read a Stephen King book before.
07:20 I was thrilled to get it,
07:21 just to, you know, do another Stephen King thing.
07:23 And I, you know, we're talking about Maine.
07:25 I grew up in New England, Boston,
07:27 and I'd go every summer up to Maine.
07:29 That's part of my childhood.
07:31 And the story all took place in Maine.
07:33 So I got, I was familiar with the accents,
07:35 you know, that world, and get to just dive into it.
07:38 One of the great things about doing those books
07:40 is you get to be all the characters, you know,
07:43 and that's fun.
07:44 And it gives you such great characters to play.
07:46 And that climax that you're talking about
07:48 is a real, honest to God, Stephen King climax.
07:52 You got one book going along,
07:54 and then there's Stephen King, you know, pouring it on.
07:58 And to do it, you know, the woman who produced it,
08:02 she, you know, we were sort of playing with
08:04 how far should I really go with this?
08:06 How sort of emotionally into it should I go?
08:09 And she was like, "Well, let's just record it.
08:12 Let's just go for it.
08:12 Just do it, go."
08:14 So I did, I just went for it.
08:16 And I was a little sweaty afterward,
08:18 but it was fun to take that.
08:20 - Well, I mean, honestly, I want to see "Revival" as a film.
08:22 And if you want me to play that feature role,
08:25 that would be-
08:26 - That would be great.
08:27 Yeah, I would love to play a role on that.
08:28 - That'd be cool.
08:29 Yeah, unfortunately that is my time.
08:31 But again, thank you so much for taking the time today.
08:33 It was really wonderful talking with you.
08:35 - Thanks, very happy to talk to you.
08:36 (upbeat music)