Bryan Singer directed this Brandon
Boyce adaptation of Stephen King's novella about teenager Todd Bowden (Brad
Renfro), who discovers Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen)
living in his California hometown. Fascinated with Dussender's wartime
atrocities, Bowden blackmails the former death-camp commandant by promising
to keep his identity a secret in exchange for Holocaust horror tales, or, as
Todd puts it, "everything they're afraid to show us in school." Dussander
complies, and as the weeks pass, their tense confrontations become
increasingly malevolent. This is the third film to derive from King's 1982
book of four novellas, Different Season. The others are Stand By Me (1986,
from "The Body") and The Shawshank Redemption (1994, from Rita Hayworth and
the Shawshank Redemption, leaving only one remaining unfilmed tale in the
book ("The Breathing Method"). Signet felt King's "Apt Pupil" to be so
intense and horrifying that editors asked him to leave it out of the 1983
paperback. A 1987 attempt to film "Apt Pupil" (with Rick Schroder and Nicol
Williamson) ended when funding ran out. Shown at numerous 1998 film
festivals (Venice, Toronto, Chicago, Sitges, Tokyo). | Ian McKellen | Kurt Dussander |
| Brad Renfro | Todd Bowden |
| Bruce Davison | Richard Bowden |
| Elias Koteas | Archie |
| Joe Morton | Dan Richler |
| Jan Triska | Isaac Weiskopf |
| Michael Byrne | Ben Kramer |
| Heather McComb | Becky Trask |
| Ann Dowd | Monica Bowden |
| Joshua Jackson | Joey |
| David Schwimmer | Edward French |
| Mickey Cottrell | Sociology Teacher |
Genre/Type - Drama, Horror, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Drama
Produced by - Bad Hat Harry / Phoenix Pictures / Tri-Star
Release - Oct 23, 1998 (USA)
Released by - Sony Pictures Entertainment
Running time - 111 min.
Der Rosengarten (1989, Fons Rademakers)
Murder By Numbers (2002, Barbet Schroeder)
Pasazerka (1963, Witold Lesiewicz, Andrzej Munk)