Many of Stephen King's stories are set in the town of Castle Rock in the state of Maine. When his novella "The Body" was made into the movie "Stand by Me", the town of Castle Rock is now in the state of Oregon. Does anyone know the reason for this drastic change of location? Setting the story in Maine might explain why two of the four boys have French last names (Duchamp, Lachance) since Maine is next to Quebec, but Oregon is a long way from French Canada.

Question

Many of Stephen King's stories are set in the town of Castle Rock in the state of Maine. When his novella "The Body" was made into the movie "Stand by Me", the town of Castle Rock is now in the state of Oregon. Does anyone know the reason for this drastic change of location? Setting the story in Maine might explain why two of the four boys have French last names (Duchamp, Lachance) since Maine is next to Quebec, but Oregon is a long way from French Canada.

Question #146344. Asked by Ampelos.
Last updated Nov 21 2018.
Originally posted Nov 21 2018 8:43 AM.

akg1486
Answer has 8 votes

Currently Best Answer

akg1486
15 year member
91 replies avatar

Answer has 8 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.

IMDB lists one possible explanation based on the poor geography knowledge of the screen writers. But it's careful to list it as "unconfirmed".

An unconfirmed explanation of why the setting was changed from Maine to Oregon is that one of the screenwriters misunderstood the novella's reference to "Portland" being nearby.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092005/trivia?item=tr3172972

Another possible reason, and now I'm guessing, is this: the production company had chosen Oregon as the location (

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092005/trivia?item=tr2431593) for other reasons (i.e. financial reasons) and worried that viewers would complain that the landscape (mountains, vegitation, architecture) doesn't look like Maine. Saying that the story takes place in Oregon removes such risks.

Nov 21 2018, 10:12 AM

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