Maximum Overdrive
Short description
A comet passing near Earth leaves a trail that brings machines to life, turning everyday devices into attackers. Cars, trucks and other equipment begin acting on their own, and the danger soon centers on a group of travellers and workers trapped at a roadside truck stop and gas station. Led by Bill Robinson, they find themselves surrounded by a pack of driverless trucks and must fight back with whatever weapons they can find. The film is based on Stephen King's short story "Trucks."
Maximum Overdrive was released in 1986 and marked Stephen King's debut as a director, with King also writing the screenplay. Martha De Laurentiis produced. Emilio Estevez plays Bill Robinson, with Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardley Smith, John Short and Ellen McElduff among the credited cast of 28. The production had a budget of about 10 million dollars and returned roughly 7 million at the worldwide box office.
On IMDb the film holds a rating of 5.4 from around 40,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 5.8 from fewer than 900 votes. A critics' rating of 4 out of 10 from 14 reviews places it below both audience scores. The film runs 98 minutes and mixes action, horror and science fiction.
What's left behind the scenes
- An accident occurred during filming when a mechanical lawnmower actually went out of control. As a result, operator Armando Nannucci lost an eye. He filed a lawsuit against Stephen King for $18 million. The case was later settled out of court.
- For a scene where an ice resurfacer drives across a baseball field, director and screenwriter Stephen King asked that a bag of fake blood be placed next to the baseball player who would be run over, so that the blood would get onto the ice resurfacer and then be imprinted on the grass. During filming, however, the bag burst too early and splattered blood everywhere, creating the impression that the player’s head had literally exploded. King was delighted with the resulting scene, but censors demanded it be cut from the film.
- Rumor has it that George A. Romero lent a hand to directing a significant portion of the film – at least while King was trying to overcome his cocaine addiction. Many Romero fans have noted that the film 'Maximum Overdrive' clearly bears Romero’s mark – for example, in the camera angles and editing. King has never commented on this topic, but mentioned that Romero was constantly on set and that King himself repeatedly sought his advice.
- The truck stop set was built a short distance from Wilmington, North Carolina. It looked so realistic that some passing trucks tried to stop and park there, and the film crew had to put up signs stating that filming was in progress.
- The film's musical score was provided by AC/DC, a band chosen by Stephen King himself.
- Stephen King, a former cocaine addict, later admitted that he was “not of sound mind” throughout the entire time the film was being made and often did not realize what he was doing. He also noted that he would like to try his hand at directing again someday, but only when sober.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
