This Stephen King Movie Was So Bad That The Writer Sued
In 1992, New Line Cinema released a film adaptation titled Stephen King’s The Lawnmower Man. But this story was nothing like the author’s original story, so the author sued the film’s distributor and invented a crazy new one. history.
The story was first published in 1975 by ‘Cavalier’ magazine under the title ‘The Lawnmower Man’.
A lawn mower with a will of its own
The story is about Harold Parkette, a father who hires a company to mow his overgrown yard.
However, the peculiar man who comes to tend your lawn apparently works for the Greek god Pan and has a lawnmower with a mind of his own.
When the man strips naked to eat the grass clippings, in full view of any curious neighbor who cares to look, the father calls the police. The police arrive at the residence too late, making Harold the lawnman’s final sacrifice.
I just started
But according to Stephen King, the 1992 film adaptation was nothing like this story. He sued the film distributor for using his name in the title and for marketing purposes. King won the lawsuit, but this was not the end of the movie.
Allied Vision, which owned the film rights to the play, hired writers Brett Leonard and Gimel Everett. The duo combined King’s story with their own script.
crazy script
The new story was about a mentally handicapped man, Jobe Smith. Jobe maintains the lawn as a job. In addition, experiments are being carried out on man with injections that are supposed to make him more intelligent.
He develops abilities such as telekinesis and mind reading through these injections, which he uses to get revenge on the people who once hurt him. In the end, the man decides to transform into a being of pure energy, to merge into the internet.
In the fall of 1991, King got hold of a copy of the crazy script, and he and his lawyer began lobbying Allied and New Line to remove his name, but Allied took no notice.
new packaging
In late May 1992, King filed a lawsuit against New Line to have his name removed from the film, seeking damages.
To resolve the issue, the court ordered New Line to issue new packaging or ‘cakes’ to the retailers that sell the tires, along with a certified mail claim that the retailers actually use them.
private detectives
In June 1993, King sent private investigators to the video stores to find out if New Line had followed court orders. And guess what: King’s name was still visible on almost ninety percent of the tapes that were reviewed.
This, of course, much to the frustration of the author, who once again dragged New Line back to court.
A symbolic effort
The dealer was found to have made only a token effort to comply with the original court directive. The court ordered New Line to pay the author $10,000 a day until his name was nowhere to be seen.
But to this day you can still get videotapes with ‘Stephen King’ in the name.