Samuel L. Jackson checks Cusack into King's evil room, 1408!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a bit of interesting casting for the adaptation of Stephen King's short story, 1408, which was adapted by Matt Greenberg and is currently being polished by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.

For fans of Stephen King's short story, there really was only two major characters. There's the ghost chasing author, Mike Enslin, who makes a living writing about supposedly haunted places. He hears rumor about a haunted room in the Hotel Dolphin, room 1408. He goes to investigate and the horror begins. Enslin is being played by John Cusack... great pick and the first King adaptation for Cusack since STAND BY ME.

The short story isn't very long, the second half of which is just Enslin "experiencing" the room. Just him and the room. The first half is the hotel manager trying to talk him out of staying in the room. I know that won't translate the same to the film... I'm sure we won't have the first half of the movie being an argument about whether or not to stay in a certain hotel room. But there were only two characters we get any great exposure to. Cusack is one and it lookes like Sam "The Man" Jackson is the other.

I love Samuel L. Jackson and I'd love to see him in every movie, but I have to be honest... I don't think he's the right pick for this character. At least as he was written in the book. Sam Jackson has a level of control and strength in his personality, in his eyes, and this character isn't nearly that strong. When I read the character I was thinking more along the lines of Paul Giamatti. The character has a little strength, but certainly not the kind of control.

That being said, I don't know how Greenberg or Alexander/Karaszewski are handeling the character in the feature film. I'm happy to see Samuel L. Jackson in anything, so I will look forward to him in this flick and he is an actor afterall. It's his job to pretend to be some other kind of person, but my knee-jerk reaction is above. I still get a really good vibe off this project. Love the short and love the talent attached.