You can’t plan for the incredible career path that led Judy Greer to “The Long Walk.” With Lionsgate‘s nerve-wracking new horror movie, the multi-faceted actress is now on her second Stephen King adaptation — opening in theaters September 12.
At IndieWire’s special early screening at AMC Century City in LA, Greer was light-footed and fun for a Q&A delivered to a packed house full of her and King’s fans.
“He’s really good at writing books, that guy’s super talented,” Greer quipped of the legendary author. “But if I could go back and do it all again, I just wish I could have been in the movie more. Not because I wish I had a bigger role, but just because I loved being on set.”
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In “The Long Walk,” Greer plays Ginny Garraty, an agonized mom who is forced to watch her son embark on an endless march designed for almost-certain death. Also known for her stand-out horror turns in “Jawbreaker,” “Halloween” (2018), and more, Greer is magnetic opposite Cooper Hoffman as her son and the film‘s main protagonist, No. 48 Raymond Garraty. Despite the subject matter, the pair had a blast acting together, and Greer is already dying for you to see Lionsgate’s behind-the-scenes footage.
“I loved those boys,” she said. “They all cared so much about the movie in a way that, when I was starting out, I felt like the people I was working with did not care as much about acting in the film and the storytelling. It was really an inspiration to watch them work.”
Published a decade after it was written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, “The Long Walk” hasn’t been adapted before. Directed by Francis Lawrence (“The Hunger Games”) and written by JT Mollner (“Strange Darling”), Lionsgate’s film features several changes that make it a singular work of art.
“He wrote the screenplay so quickly,” said Greer, who learned Mollner spent just two weeks on the first draft of “The Long Walk” earlier that day. Greer loves King’s novel but she praised Mollner’s version for different reasons. The screenplay leaves out a lot but it says just as much and felt “original” to Greer.
“I think he said he did two rewrites after the initial table read with the cast and then that was it,” she said. “But that’s the fun, and that’s kind of the cheating element [with adaptations]. I can read all this backstory and even though a director or screenwriter will be like, ‘We’re not using a lot of that,’ I still use it.”
Greer loved collaborating with Lawrence, too. Last year, IndieWire gave big praise to the director for his work on Lionsgate’s “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” When it came time to take “The Long Walk,” Greer said the “Hunger Games” filmmaker was essential to creating a joyful production environment that has made the upcoming movie an emotional sleeper cell. “The Long Walk” is building serious buzz ahead of its release later this month, and some early reactions have already called it the best Stephen King movie ever made.
“[Lawrence] loves actors and if you’re not in the industry, you might think, ‘Well, of course a director would love actors!’ — but they don’t always love us. It’s weird,” Greer said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m just in the way and Francis is not one of those people.”
She continued, “I just think that for someone who has made movies of the scale that he has, to still be focused on the character and still be directing the acting, is impressive to me.”
Before “The Long Walk,” Greer played a misguided gym teacher trying to help out Chloë Grace Moretz’s “Carrie.” The actresses appeared together in Sony’s mixed-bag remake of the prom queen slasher from 2013. The original Brian de Palma movie from 1976 put King on the Hollywood map, but its lesser sophomore year still gives Greer a unique accomplishment.
“I have now been in movies for both of his first novels in theory,” she explained. “This was his first book he’s ever written, ever, ever, ever. But the first book released was ‘Carrie,’ and I was in that one too. He’s iconic and he writes stories that are really grounded. I mean, they’re horrific and some are supernatural — but I think what makes him so popular, and what makes people longtime Stephen King fans, is the characters he writes.”
King has looked back on his first novel, penned when he was just 19 and still a student at the University of Maine, as being from an angrier time in his life. Asked how her perspective has shifted over her career — from starting out as an amateur who “wasn’t good” in high school to providing the magnificent beating heart of “The Long Walk” — Greer said she still feels some of that same youthful melancholy that haunted King. And yet, she’s optimistic.
“I feel cynical, but I also feel really hopeful,” she said. “I understand the business so much more and I understand who I am so much more and what I bring to something. So, in that sense, I’ve expanded my feelings about Hollywood, but I also think it’s dark because the business is changing.”
She continued, “I’m really trying so hard to go to the movies and I really want movies to still exist in theaters and I want people to watch TV shows once a week again.”
In her live conversation with IndieWire, Greer reflected on her text-forward acting process, recommended King’s nonfiction “On Writing,” and shared her thoughts on being a scene stealer for more than 30 years. In 2025, Greer’s ambitious as ever — and she’s seeking her own starring role in a major blockbuster.
“Something I’ve never done is a real just straight-up action movie, where I’m running a lot,” Greer said. “I don’t want to run a lot, but I want a woman with a slightly better body than me to be running a lot with a wig on her head. But then I would do the acting parts.”
Greer said she’d like to be in something like “Jason Bourne.” “But that might not be a Lionsgate film, so I shouldn’t have said that one,” she joked. “Like a Lionsgate action movie is my dream job.”
