The Dark Half
All actors and roles (10)
All team (117)
Short description
Thad Beaumont is a college professor and respected novelist who has kept a secret from his readers: the violent horror novels published under the name George Stark are also his. When the double life is exposed, Thad stages a symbolic funeral for his alter ego and intends to focus on serious writing. Instead, killings begin in his surroundings, and the violence he invented appears to have taken on a life of its own, drawing Sheriff Alan Pangborn of Castle Rock into the investigation.
The film is an adaptation of Stephen King's novel, directed and written by George A. Romero. It is the tenth of the fourteen features he directed, arriving after Two Evil Eyes and before Bruiser. Timothy Hutton plays both Thad and Stark, with Amy Madigan as his wife Liz, Michael Rooker as Pangborn, and Julie Harris, Robert Joy and Kent Broadhurst in supporting roles. The production involved 28 credited cast members and 117 credited crew.
Released in April 1993 on a budget of 15 million dollars, the film earned about 11 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6 out of 10 from nearly 19,000 votes, and on TMDB 6 out of 10 from 485 votes. A critics' rating of 5.9 out of 10 from 37 reviews places it close to the audience scores, indicating a mixed but not dismissive response across all three.
What's left behind the scenes
- The Toronado, a luxury car from General Motors, was never sold with a four-speed manual transmission.
- According to Stephen King, the story of this film is partly autobiographical, as it describes events that prompted him to create the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
- The film's release was delayed by two years due to the bankruptcy of the distribution company.
- In the scene where Ted is writing in his study with sparrows on the window, his pencil constantly changes: it is either very sharp or completely blunt. In the same scene, Ted cuts his hand.
- All filming took place in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These locations were chosen due to their proximity to director George A. Romero’s home.
- When George Stark holds Ted Beaumont's twins, he has a Colt 1911 in his hands, as he does throughout the film. However, when Ted gets closer, George is holding a Beretta 92FS. After Beaumont takes one of the twins, Stark’s weapon, which he tucks into his belt, is a Colt 1911 again.
- The film was released in Germany under the title Stark.
- Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, Pennsylvania at 60 S. Lincoln Street, served as the college in the film.
- Approximately 2,000 birds were released during the filming of the film's finale.
- “The Dark Half” was Stephen King’s last novel before he finally gave up drinking. His predisposition to alcoholism and desire to overcome it are reflected in his books in the form of a split personality motif.
- The villain George Stark's name is a reference to the infamous serial killer Charles Starkweather.
- Filming the movie took 94 days.
- The original novel features a character named Wilma, whose catchphrase is “Just call me Billy.” This is, of course, a reference to a character with the same name from the story The Crate, which was included in the film Creepshow (1982), also directed by George A. Romero.
- When Stark opens a straight razor, threatening Marian in her apartment, it is accompanied by the sound of clashing knives. Opening a straight razor is generally silent.
- John Hurt and Michael Gough were considered for cameo roles.
- A total of 4,500 red-eared finches were used in the film. The birds consumed 100 pounds of feed and 57 liters of water each shooting day.
- Ted Beaumont emphasizes the letter ‘s’ on the blackboard twice. However, in subsequent shots, there are more underlines.
- Royall Dane's final film.
- According to director George A. Romero, working with actor Timothy Hutton was sometimes quite difficult. Hutton even left the set for a few days during filming.
- George Stark, Ted's alter ego, is supposedly from Oxford, Mississippi, which is in Lafayette County. His car's license plate incorrectly indicates Harrison County, which is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, at the opposite end of the state from Oxford.
- In the prologue of the film, young Ted Beaumont writes a story titled “There Are Tigers Here Too.” This is the title of one of Stephen King’s stories included in the collection “Skeleton Crew” (1985). Some sources claim that “There Are Tigers Here Too” was the writer's first story.
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