Last week, popular author Stephen King made an interesting admission: He only left one film as an adult, and it was Michael Bay’s transformers back in 2007. While making that revelation on Twitter, he encouraged others to share the titles where they hit their own breaking point, and among the hundreds who have responded to the prompt are a few filmmakers and actors.
It’s not uncommon for people to get to a point while watching a bad movie where they feel like “life’s too short for this” and you obviously know how to count The Walking Dead Laurie Holden on this list (who has her own connection to Stephen King by starring in Frank Darabont’s adaptation of The fog). Holden recalled being a kid and barely able to keep up Can’t stop the music – the pseudo-musical biopic about The Village People, released in 1980:
Can’t stop the music I lasted 8 minutes and I was a kid…June 27, 2022
Steve Van Zandt – best known as the lead guitarist for the E Street Band and for his appearances in The sopranos and Lilienhammer – couldn’t remember the exact title of the film, which he couldn’t get through in the cinema, but based on his description it’s pretty easy to identify as 2007 I am Legend (funny that Steve Van Zandt and Stephen King left the movies in the same year). Apparently, it wasn’t so much the quality of the film that made him drop out as his concern about what would happen to Will Smith’s canine companion in the story:
I forgot the name. Some dystopian future movie starring Will Smith. When I saw that he had a dog, I left him. I wasn’t a huge Will Smith fan at first, but I wasn’t going to hang around for an hour and a half and be nervous because something horrible happened to the dog. https://t.co/Ha6uBHzQqcJune 27, 2022
Screenwriter Michael Starrbury who wrote Mister & Pete’s inevitable defeat and the fourth episode of Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries when they see us, revealed his one-walk-out storyline didn’t actually see him get up from his seat and leave the theater. Watching 2004 Van HelsingStarrbury chose to step out mentally by taking a nap on purpose:
I would have walked out of Van Helsing but it would have been like riding on Ambien so I just took a nice nap. I don’t even know if the movie is bad but I know I was bored, AF. https://t.co/u77uIqmJKNJune 28, 2022
Commentator/host/reporter/actor Keith Olbermann responds to Stephen King’s exit request tweet took trailers back to 1990 and the theatrical release of The Godfather Part III. It’s a different kind of walk-out story, as Olbermann reveals that he only left the cinema temporarily and ended up returning to his seat, curious as to whether the film could actually get any worse:
Godfather 3rd night after the premiere in LA. Then I went back knowing it was going to get worse. And it did. Room full of Godfather fans all cheering when daughter was shot and laughing when mom screamed.June 27, 2022
Bruce Miller, the Creator/Executive Producer of The story of the maidalso cited a theatrical experience from 1990, but one that was far more obscure than The Godfather Part III. Apparently, the film that pushed Miller to the limit was Armando Acosta’s Romeo and Juliet, an adaptation by William Shakespeare filmed with feral cats. The cast includes legends like John Hurt, Vanessa Redgrave, Ben Kingsley and Maggie Smith, but Miller found (and still feels) it was unbearable:
I left Romeo/Juliet. It was Romeo and Juliet retold with cats. To this day, I feel like I made the right decision.June 27, 2022
Oscar-nominated composer Shawn Patterson (The Lego Movie) Stephen King responded with not just one story, but two. The first one he cites was 2018 The Snowman — which was critically bludgeoned upon its release — and 2020 Caponewhich he regards as “one of cinema’s biggest failures/disappointments”. [he’s] ever seen.”
The Snowman with Michael Fassbender. Capone with Tom Hardy. I would say Capone was one of the biggest failures/disappointments in cinema I’ve ever seen.July 3, 2022
Personally, I’ve never stepped out of a film as an adult, but that’s largely because I’ve spent my entire adult life as a film critic, and I feel I have a professional responsibility to see whatever I see through the end. That being said, I’d be lying if I said I’ve never felt the desire (disease as the latest source of inspiration).
The positive side of all this is that the urge to leave a movie before it’s over is generally rare, and we can always hope that every upcoming movie we see on the big screen will be one that does binds us to us seats in fascination and joy.