Cooper Hoffman at the 'Long Walk' special screening in L.A. on Monday. Phillip Faraone/WireImage Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment After breakout performances in 2021's Licorice Pizza and 2024's Saturday Night, Cooper Hoffman leads The Long Walk, a dystopian horror film about a group of teenage boys competing in a government contest where they must maintain a certain walking speed or be shot. The film is based on a 1979 novel from Stephen King - the first he ever wrote - and has taken decades to finally make it to the big screen. "When they tell you that a movie's never been done like this, when they tell you this movie's been very hard to make, the competitive side of me wants to make it," Hoffman told The Hollywood Reporter at The Long Walk's L.A. premiere on Monday. Related Stories Movies Leonardo DiCaprio Details How He Pursues Hollywood's Top Directors: "I Let Them Know I'm Ready and Game If They Are" Lifestyle Emmy Awards 2025: A Complete Guide to Events and Parties (Updating) Francis Lawrence, who helmed three of the four Hunger Games movies as well as 2023's The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping, serves as director on the project, which has further fueled comparisons to the Hunger Games material. Hoffman said he didn't think about the similarities between the two stories when working on the film, though, noting, "I thought a lot more about another Stephen King adaptation, Stand By Me." Lawrence also had a special link to Hoffman, as he had directed his late father Philip Seymour Hoffman in those Hunger Games films. "He was very kind about my father, which was very sweet," the younger actor said," but we developed our completely own relationship which was awesome." The boys - including co-stars David Jonsson, Ben Wang, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer and Roman Griffin Davis - walked "15 miles some days, some days were like 32" during shooting, recalled Jonsson, which Judy Greer, who plays the mother of Hoffman's character, admitted to some jealousy of. "I'm a big walker, I really love it and they all lost weight and I was jealous about that," she teased. "Breathing fresh air and people handing them Gatorades - when I'm walking by myself in the heat, no one's handing me anything." Joshua Odjick, Ben Wang, Jordan Gonzalez, Mark Hamill, David Jonsson, Cooper Hoffman, Roman Griffin Davis, Charlie Plummer, Garrett Wareing and Judy Greer at the premiere. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Lionsgate On the other side of the walkers is Mark Hamill's Major, who rides in an armed Jeep and enforces the brutal rules of the contest. Upon reading the script, the actor said he was "totally repelled - I said, 'I'm not doing this, it's way too violent, I hate it.' And then I ordered the book and was like oh, it's just the premise that's ghastly; it's an attention grabber to get to the real heart and soul of the movie which is the experiences of these young walkers. And that's where the heart [is], their experiences are incredible - the friendships, the rivalries, it's fantastic. It really belongs to the walkers, I'm just a guy you love to hate." Wang, who is among the stars of the currently filming Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, also explained how the message from that franchise is "a little bit different" than this film. "I think what's special about this film, about this story, is these boys aren't trying to kill each other," he said. "In fact, really the only thing that they do, with a few exceptions, is help each other along, because they realize that's the only way that they're going to make it to the next mile is by holding each other up. So despite how bleak the premise is, it's actually, I think, a very hopeful movie because it's about the most hopeful part of human nature." The Long Walk hits theaters on Friday. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Regina Hall Leonardo DiCaprio Details How He Pursues Hollywood's Top Directors: "I Let Them Know I'm Ready and Game If They Are" memoir Charlie Sheen's Wild New Memoir in 10 Sentences international Amsterdam Doc Fest IDFA to Celebrate Susana de Sousa Dias, Explore Institutions, Disconnection trailer Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson Start a Neil Diamond Tribute Band in 'Song Sung Blue' Trailer Zoey Deutch Zoey Deutch Plays Jean Seberg in Richard Linklater's 'Nouvelle Vague' Trailer From Netflix international Canadian Industry's Roadmap for Real Change: "It's Not About Statements. It's About Measurable Progress" (Exclusive) Regina Hall Leonardo DiCaprio Details How He Pursues Hollywood's Top Directors: "I Let Them Know I'm Ready and Game If They Are" memoir Charlie Sheen's Wild New Memoir in 10 Sentences international Amsterdam Doc Fest IDFA to Celebrate Susana de Sousa Dias, Explore Institutions, Disconnectio