A Stephen King Miniseries Was A Production Nightmare Thanks To One Key Location

Stephen King’s 1990 Novell’s “The Langoliers” is really very strange. It includes a group of nine airline passengers, which wakes up during the red eye to find that everyone else has disappeared. They land safely at Bangor, Mainen (Natch) Airport and find that everyone has disappeared there too. The world looks strangely muted, lifeless. None of the machines work. Passengers conclude that their aircraft flew through the time portal, which placed them on a regular basis. They hear a ghostly sound on the horizon, and one of the passengers suggests that the sound comes from the Langoliers, an imaginary monster from which his abuser told him. Langoers are coming to get them. They eat naughty boys.

It turns out that the Langolers are real (!) And their job is to eat the world in the present. Of course, people stay in the present, but when the present is over, giant black meatballs have to eat the world. Nine people’s passengers need to find a way to get the airplane in the air again and fly back through the timer before the Langolers arrive to eat them too. There is also a blind child in the story with psychic powers and an angry yuppi who goes crazy.

This KooKy story (which was first released in the “Four Midnight” collection) was customized to TV miniors in 1995, and is just as strange as the story that inspired it. Bronson Pinchot gives a great spotless performance like crazy yuppi, and stars opposite Dean StockwellDavid Morse and Patricia Wettig. The mini -seater was filmed on a really small Bangor, Maine Airport, as writer/director Tom Holland and producer David Kappes hoped to get authenticity in the series. Unfortunately, the airport was still in use at the time of shooting, which made shooting scenes a massive headache. Drama covered with Portland Press Herald 4 September 1994.

Can be seen by looking at “Langoliers” everyday authenticity of that airport. It doesn’t look like a series. It has that strange purgatorial, ultra -bound quality of an empty regional airport. Bangor International AirportThe place of relatively low traffic is hardly decorated, except for framed generic meals and images that evoke a local agriculture.

According to Portland Press Herald, the “The Langoliers” movie, two -part, four -hour mini -series, lasted about two months, and production was not so good that I could only close the airport for shooting. As such, the actors had to practice their scenes in front of a few hundred passengers who always passed. Actor Kate Maberly had a few scenes where she was covered with blood, and Herald told how fun she was while walking in front of the audience.

Kappes stated that production staff investigated other airports about potential photography, including Pittsburgh Airport, and the then new Denver airport, but Bangor was a more truthful Stephen King’s original story. “They were closed,” he said, “but they were wrong. They weren’t bangor. Bangor is supposed to happen. By working here, it brought a reality that really helped the story.”

But shooting at an active, open airport did not cause a small amount of problems. Miniseries Production Manager Charles Miller was borrowed by complaining about noise; It is difficult to get pure sound when full -size jet machines are constantly departing and landing. The actors and production staff had to stay in the motel that was right next to the airport, so the noise did not stop when the crew left the series to rest. Everyone would smell shower fuel.

Herald gave Charles Miller quite glowing, thanking his ability to rob everything as capable of him. Miller drove around the airport in miniature vehicles that typically see during the trip, only his vehicle was changed, especially faster. One can imagine that Miller and the crew (about 130 people in Toto) are as if a karting competition around the corners. He pointed out, “This is just one worse job than this, and it is a location manager. […] I know. I’ve also been one of them. “Miller was given special attention as he, Like Stephen King, is the reputation -home. According to the Herald article, much of the crew and extras were original reputationers. In fact, even the cinematic catering service was a local BBQ mogul that had used to visit the transfer team.

All in all, despite the noise and exposure to the public, the comfort of shooting an active airport exceeded the problems. When everyone slept within walking distance of the series, preparation and shooting were fast. In addition, production had access to an airport to the Angar of the Second World War, where they could build a fake airplane and any artificial interior they needed. Miller pointed out that they were able to bring the actual vintage aircraft, cut into pieces to use their series. The only thing they really needed to do was to find a way for the air conditioner that size of that size.

Herald describes widely spread local workers, all of whom gathers to make mini -Serials in their city, which rarely gets Hollywood visitors. The actual mini -seater is as strange as the book, however And it’s not widely loved, even a movie. It sports only 48%approval rating in Rotten Tomatoes (based on 21 reviews), and some critics complain that there is not enough time during the four -hour run. Regardless of the quality of the direction and dialogue, Bangor Airport played miraculously.