Cell
Short description
Clay Riddell is a comic book artist who has just sold his work when a signal travels across the world's mobile phone networks. Anyone using a phone at that moment turns violent and bloodthirsty. Clay, who does not carry a phone, escapes the initial wave and joins other survivors, including Tom McCourt and a young woman named Alice, as they try to make their way through the chaos. Clay's goal is to reach his wife and son and find out whether they are still alive.
The film adapts Stephen King's novel of the same name, with King himself credited on the screenplay alongside Adam Alleca. Tod Williams directed, following The Door in the Floor in 2004 and Paranormal Activity 2 in 2010. John Cusack plays Clay and Samuel L. Jackson plays Tom; Isabelle Fuhrman, Owen Teague, Clark Sarullo and Anthony Reynolds also appear.
Cell was released in 2016 and runs 98 minutes. It earned about 1 million dollars worldwide, a modest figure for a production with this cast and source material. On TMDB it holds a rating of 4.7 out of 10 from roughly 1,200 votes, which suggests viewers received it poorly.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the episode where the main characters reach the school, a vocalise (a musical piece for voice without words) performed by Eduard Khil plays from the cell phones.
- While sitting on his son's bed, Clayton Riddell, played by John Cusack, sees a painting on the wall depicting a ship battling a storm. The exact same painting hangs in the room of the protagonist in the film '1408' (Mikael Håfström, 2007), based on a story by Stephen King, which also starred this actor.
- In the book, the character Tom McCourt is white, and he is opposed by the black Ragged Man. In the film, it is the opposite—McCourt is played by Samuel L. Jackson, and the Ragged Man is played by Joshua Mikel.
- At the beginning of the film, an announcement for flight No. 1408 to Los Angeles is heard at the airport. This is a reference to the film '1408' (Mikael Håfström, 2007), based on a story by Stephen King, which, like 'Cell', also starred John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.
- Actor Stacey Keach, who plays Charles Ardell, also played Dr. Michaels in the film 'Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return' (Kari Skogland, 1999), the sixth installment of the 'Children of the Corn' film series based on the works of Stephen King.
- Samuel L. Jackson plays one of the survivors of an apocalypse caused by the use of cell phones. In Matthew Vaughn's film "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2015), the actor plays a villain attempting to orchestrate a similar end of the world.
- In early December 2015, nearly two years after filming ended, John Cusack was asked when the premiere would be and if a trailer was planned for the near future. The actor wrote on Twitter: "Stephen King and I have been pushed aside from all this, so I have no idea." Approximately one month after Saban Films acquired the distribution rights, a trailer for the film was released in April 2016. The reaction of viewers and critics to the trailer was mixed.
- This is the second film based on a Stephen King book starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. The first was Mikael Håfström's "1408" (2007). It is the third Stephen King adaptation in John Cusack's acting career. In 1986, Rob Reiner's film "Stand by Me" was released, based on King's novella "The Body" (1982) and featuring Cusack.
- In 2009, Stephen King announced that he had finished working on the film's screenplay and, due to numerous requests from readers, had rewritten the ending.
- Eli Roth was originally set to direct the film, but he left the project due to creative differences.
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