The Long Walk, based on the 1979 Stephen King novel, imagines a dystopian America where young men walk endlessly, without a finish line in sight. The winner ultimately receives a cash prize and a single wish granted to him. Both the film and novel are a bleak cautionary tale. Yet, like King’s fiction, the adaptation maintains the heart and humanity amid the horror.
We spoke with Jordan Gonzalez, who plays #49, Richard Harkness, an aspiring writer who plans to publish a book about the long walk. Gonzalez discussed the source material, the comradery among cast members, and how he sees Harkness as an important documentarian and war journalist.
The interview contains some spoilers about The Long Walk.
Going into this, how familiar were you with the source material and King’s novel?
Jordan Gonzalez: I had read the novel quite a long time ago. I was a fan of the novel. I didn’t realize there were attempts to adapt it so many times. I also didn’t know that Lionsgate was adapting this version of it until an acting teacher of mine shot me a text and said I’d be great as any of these boys. I said I’d love to be part of it. I had gotten an audition the following week, but I was a massive fan of the novel. It was such a cool thing to be part of.
It seemed, to me at least, that the cast members really got along on set, and I think that shined through with the characters. What was it like working with the other young men in this film?
Jordan Gonzalez: We’re all super close. We’ve all been texting today, on opening day, congratulating each other. We knew from the start that the only way it was going to work was shooting it like a play, like [director] Francis [Lawrence] wanted to do. That allowed our own personalities to lean into the brotherhood that’s so important and the moral conflicts of this story.
We get along super well. We hung out all the time. We worked 14-hour days, walking 20 miles a day together. It would be hard to not lean into that bond together. It was such a fun opportunity to do with them.
How did you mentally prepare for the role, considering the novel’s bleak premise?
Jordan Gonzalez: It’s something you can only prepare for so much. Character-wise, Harkness is not in the novel very much, but the groundwork is laid out for him. I wanted to make sure that those characteristics King wrote about him are true and authentic, while figuring out how to stretch that out. He lasts much longer in the film than he does in the book, and he shows up in the film more often than in the book.
I was walking for my audition. I would go out in the morning and walk, in the evening and walk, and at lunchtime to walk to see how those different environments would affect my cadence, the way that I spoke and the way that I walked. I would carry things to see what that weight would feel like.
But you can only prepare so much. We shot the thing like a play. Whether or not you’re speaking in a scene, you have to be on all the time because we’re all in it together. The camera could catch you. You have to really show up for each other, which is really cool. You have to be snapped in.
When that first death happened, I was so physically jarred as Jordan the human being. You can only really prepare so much to see and hear a friend of yours get his ticket. On the day it happens, all of these emotions come up that you can’t expect.
They also gave me the journal that Harkness was going to write in. I purposefully chose to write in it throughout the whole film, up until I got my ticket. I have that journal with me today. I go back and read it. It has all these notes of what Harkness was experiencing and feeling. It has the names and numbers of all the kids and the order that they went, whether or not you saw it on screen.
Can you talk about Harkness as a character and how he's this writer and a documentarian?
Jordan Gonzalez: If I ever have the opportunity, I want to ask Stephen King if it’s a little piece of him that he left in this story. Also, in the same breath, for me personally, with all of the war allegories in this, journalism is extremely important, especially in an authoritarian, fascist government. It’s a really interesting juxtaposition for Harkness. He has this wonderful earnestness about him. Maybe on the surface he’s a young kid who wants to leave something behind that’s greater than himself in a world that’s constantly breaking him down. But there’s also this side of it where he’s willing to risk so much of himself, maybe not understanding that he’s going to lose his life, but he’s willing to put his life on the line to get the truth out.
Despite how grim this movie is, there’s also a lot of heart and some dark humor. Can you talk about the balance of tones?
Jordan Gonzalez: It was extremely important to drive home the relationship among the boys and allow there to be levity and some sort of humor. The novel is so brutal, bleak, and dark. The reality of the situation is that if you put a bunch of 18-year-old boys in a brutal environment where everything is so dark, they’ll most likely find a way to bring in some humor and levity to keep themselves sane and take themselves out of the bleakness. Harkness is totally one of those character. He runs up to the front. It brings true, youthful eyes to it.
You also have [Hank] Olson. He constantly riffs and says the craziest things and makes people laugh in these moments. It allows the air to really be taken out of the audience’s chest when someone gets a ticket. It allows a perfect crescendo for the film. If it was just death after death after death, I personally don’t think the film would work. It has to have this beautiful crescendo of highs and lows as we go through the walks.
What was it like filming Harkness’ death scene?
Jordan Gonzalez: It was one of the most gratifying but hardest things I’ve had to film. The beauty and the gift that Francis gave us of shooting chronologically was that when you do get your ticket, it’s your last day and you’re gone. You don’t get to spend much time with anyone. You don’t get to say your goodbyes as well as you’d like to.
The one day that we shot out of order, out of the whole time I was there, was my death. I still came to set that day because I wanted to see everyone. It was in the town below my death. [Production designer] Nico [Lepage] asked if I wanted to go see it. I didn’t know if I wanted to see it. I drove up in the golf cart, and it’s on this beautiful downhill. It overlooks the town where they hit the 100 miles. There was a train to my left and a huge cross on the hill that lights up in the morning. I just saw it, and there was this weight in my chest as I thought, alright, this is where he goes.
We shot it the next day. For me, I was unable as Harkness to carry my journal and record all the boys we lost on the hill. All Harkness wanted to do was remember these things. I asked about repeating the names and numbers of kids getting their tickets. A shot went off behind me, and I think it’s for me because I’m so locked in about these kids and remembering what happened. The warning goes off and I roll my ankle.
On the downhill, I am physically walking on the side of my ankle. That was something that I really wanted to do to drive the point home that he’s trying to keep on going, but he’s in a lot of pain. I had to shift my foot so I could ride on the side of my ankle. When you get to the hill scene, and the CGI is added and the bone is out, and he’s in so much pain, he’s ready to go.
I was worried as an actor because it’s my first death scene. I wanted to stay in that moment and be present in that pain. It was a moment of my career that I’m truly proud of. I was able to stay in that moment and look beyond the camera to my boys. They shared tears in exchange with me. I could look to them and really say my goodbye. I was thanking them for being on this journey with me.
You see that rifle. It’s right there. I started to say, “I’m going to go home now, boys,” and then boom, he’s gone. In one version of the edit, the train went by. For Francis, Nico, and I, that was Harkness going home.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Jordan Gonzalez: Another personalization for me was flowers. I chose to put a flower in Harkness’ jacket pocket. I remember getting to Winnipeg and seeing all these flowers. I think they were technically weeds, dandelions. Speaking of journalism and peacekeeping in war, the flower is always the symbol for peacekeeping. I wanted to drive that home with Harkness. As the flower starts to die, so does Harkness. Once the flower is gone, it’s his time to go.
I can’t thank Stephen King, [script writer] J.T. Mollner, Frances, and Nico enough for creating this world and allowing us to play. We got to choose our wardrobes. We got to choose our mementos for our bags. It was something deeply personal to each of us. There’s a lot of little things, that if you watch it over and over again, that really tie it all together and make, to me, a beautiful piece of art.
The Long Walk is currently in theaters.