Samuel L. Jackson Quote of the Month: May 2010

The original Stephen King short story that 1408 is based on was a hoot. I actually listened to the audio version, which is read by King himself. The most memorable line was from a mysterious voice on the phone that terrorizes the protagonist: "This is ten! Ten! We have killed your friends! Every friend is now dead!".

Well, you had to be there. And King says the line perfectly.

Anyway, the point is that our good friend Sam doesn't get such menacing lines as this, which is a pity. But his role of Hotel Manager Gerald Olin (which, if I remember correctly, was practically nonexistent in the short story) allows him to give dire warnings to John Cusack's skeptical writer Mike Eslin:

Mike Enslin: [Olin gives Enslin the room key] "Most hotels have switched to magnetics. An actual key. That's a nice touch, it's antiquey."

Gerald Olin: "We have magnetic cards also, but electronics don't seem to work in 1408. Hope you don't have a pacemaker."

Mike Enslin: [into his tape recorder] "General manager claims that the phantom in room interferes..."

Gerald Olin: "I have *never* used the word 'phantom'."

Mike Enslin: "Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, spirit? Specter?"

Gerald Olin: "No, you misunderstand. Whatever's in 1408 is nothing like that."

Mike Enslin: "Then what is it?"

Gerald Olin: "It's an evil fucking room."