Johnny Smith: "Bless me"? Do you know what God did for me? He threw an 18-wheeled truck at me and bounced me into nowhere for five years! When I woke up, my girl was gone, my job was gone, my legs are just about useless... Blessed me? God's been a real sport to me!
English teacher Johnny Smith has awakened from a coma five years after a terrible car accident. Thankfully, he's still alive. But for some reason, he has contracted a psychic ability of which he had never had before. He's lost everything since that accident, but has the ability to see into the future. Sometimes it's a good thing. A really good thing. But then there are other times when it's not such a good thing at all.
On October 21, 1983, five films made their debut on big screens across the United States. They were "The Right Stuff", "Under Fire", "The Osterman Weekend", "All the Right Moves", and "The Dead Zone". None of them were incredibly victorious at the Box Office. Out 100 top grossing films that year, "The Right Stuff" pulled ahead of them all and ranked #33, but it was "The Dead Zone", a film based on a Stephen King novel, that was close behind, the difference in sales being a little over $425,000. "The Dead Zone" ranked #37. Interestingly enough, two of the three films that fell between those two rankings were also films based on Stephen King novels: "Christine" (ranked #35) and "Cujo" (ranked #34).
"Rabid" (1977). "The Brood" (1979). "Scanners" (1981). "Videodrome" (1983). All four of those films are of the horror/sci-fi genre and all four were directed by David Cronenberg who then went on to direct the featured film for this blog, "The Dead Zone". Although David was very experienced at screenwriting, it was Jeffrey Boam who wrote the screenplay for this film, his second achievement in writing for the big screen, his only writing project during 1983.
Even though "The Dead Zone" didn't do as good at the Box Office as "Christine" or "Cujo", "The Dead Zone" won the coveted prize of Best Horror Film at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA Awards. At that ceremony, actor Christopher Walken was nominated for Best Actor, David Cronenberg was nominated for Best Director, and Jeffrey Boan's script was nominated for Best Writing.
Oscar winner Christopher Walken starred in the lead role as "Johnny" and Brooke Adams played opposite him as "Sarah". Co-stars included such talented actors as Tom Skerritt as "Sheriff Bannerman", Herbert Lom as "Dr. Sam Weizak", Anthony Zerbe as Roger, Colleen Dewhurst as "Henrietta Dodd", and legendary Martin Sheen as "Greg Stillson".
Filmed entirely in Ontario, Canada at such towns as Orono, Stouffville, Whitevale, and Niagara-on-the-Lake, here are some other bits of behind-the-scenes information you might find interesting...
1. When Stephen King wrote the story for his novel, he loosely based it upon the life of famous psychic Peter Hurkos. Hurkos claimed to have acquired his alleged powers after falling off a ladder and hitting his head.
2. David Cronenberg wanted to change the name of Christopher Walken's character: "I'd never name someone 'Johnny Smith'", he quipped, but in the end it was left as is. The book does specifically mention how it sounds like a fake name.
3. Bill Murray was Stephen King's choice for the part of Johnny.
4. Hal Holbrook was Cronenberg's original choice to play Sherrif Bannerman, but executive producer Dino De Laurentiis (who was uncredited for this film) rejected this idea as he had never heard of Holbrook at the time.
5. One of only three David Cronenberg films that do not have a score by his friend, composer Howard Shore. This was due to studio politics in which Paramount wanted a more familiar composer to write the music for the film. Michael Kamen, who had written the music for the film Venom (1981) for the studio, was chosen instead.
6. During the time Michael Kamen was composing the music for the film in London, he would play the score on the piano in his home. He received several complaints by his neighbors who asked, "Can you please stop playing that music? I can't sleep and it's giving my family nightmares."
7. Cronenberg fired a .357 Magnum loaded with blanks just off camera to make Smith's flinches seem more involuntary; this was Christopher Walken's own idea.
8. David Cronenberg had to re-shoot the scene in which John Smith has his first premonition. It showed a little girl's room burning and a small E.T. doll could be seen on one of the shelves. The scene had to be re-shot when Universal Pictures threatened to file a lawsuit against them.
9. The "sweat" on Christopher Walken's face during the "burning bedroom" sequence was in fact a flame-retardant chemical that had been sprayed onto him. The resulting effect, which hadn't been anticipated, looked surprisingly dramatic on film.
10. A stuntman was severely burned around the legs and groin when a squib went off too near him during the shooting of the WWII flashback sequence.
11. The gazebo where the murder took place was built for the film, and was later donated to the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where it was filmed and is now a favourite spot for wedding photographs.
12. Greg Stillson (played by Martin Sheen) has damning pictures taken of him by a photographer. That photographer was played by Sheen's son, Ramon Estevez.
13. When "The Dead Zone" was released in other countries, the title changed a bit... Translated, it was called "Last Connection" in Finland, "Dark Forces" in Norway, and "Death Zone" in Poland.
And now you know.
Has Christopher Walken seen his own work in "The Dead Zone"? Maybe. Maybe not. He once said, "I make movies that nobody will see. I've made movies that even I have never seen." As for Martin Sheen, he's probably seen the film, but this was certainly a different kind of film for him as he doesn't really like "scary" movies. On the subject, Martin said, "I don't like scary films. I watched 'Psycho' (1960) for the first time... alone in the house at night. That was a mistake. I had to call my friend to come over." "The Dead Zone" isn't such a scary film, is it? I'll let you decide.
The following are picture stills following the story line of the film, beginning with pictures of the key characters...
And now a bit of the story line...
Dr. Sam Weizak: How - how do you mean?
Johnny Smith: It was like... a blank spot, a dead zone.
Dr. Sam Weizak: First of all, tell me, did the boy, in fact, drown?
Johnny Smith: His father wanted him to play hockey. I talked him out of it. The boy's alive.
Dr. Sam Weizak: Ah. Yes. Don't you see how clear it is? Not only can you see the future, you can...
Johnny Smith: I can change it.
Dr. Sam Weizak: You can change it, exactly.
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