Secret Window
About the Film
Reeling from his wife’s affair and a brutal case of writer’s block, mystery author Mort Rainey holes up alone in his lakeside cabin in rumpled, unshaven despair. His fragile quiet shatters when a soft-spoken stranger, John Shooter, turns up on his porch and flatly accuses him of stealing a story.
Shooter’s demand for “proof” curdles into menace — pets and people start dying, and Mort can’t get anyone to help or believe him. As the deadline for that proof runs down, the line between author and antagonist blurs toward a dark, twisting revelation. Based on Stephen King’s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp plays Mort Rainey, a once-successful novelist unravelling in the wake of divorce and creative paralysis — glasses askew, hair a mess, half-living in a bathrobe. Depp leans into the character’s frayed, funny, increasingly unnerving edges as Mort’s grip on reality slips.
Cast & Crew
Cast
Mort RaineyJohnny Depp
John ShooterJohn Turturro
Amy RaineyMaria Bello
Ted MilnerTimothy Hutton
Ken KarschCharles S. Dutton
Sheriff Dave NewsomeLen Cariou
Tom GreenleafJohn Dunn-Hill
Crew
DirectorDavid Koepp
ScreenplayDavid Koepp
Based onthe novella by Stephen King
MusicPhilip Glass, Geoff Zanelli
CinematographyFred Murphy
ProducersGavin Polone, Ezra Swerdlow
“The only thing that matters is the ending. It’s the most important part of the story, the ending. And this one… is perfect.”
— John Shooter, Secret Window
Filming Locations
- North Hatley, Quebec, Canada
- Lake Massawippi, Quebec
- Lac-Sacacomie, Quebec
- Lake Gale & Bromont, Quebec
More about this film
Trivia
- Adapted and directed by David Koepp from Stephen King’s novella “Secret Window, Secret Garden” (Four Past Midnight, 1990).
- The film’s ending deliberately diverges from King’s novella, where the outcome for the characters is reversed.
- Philip Glass composed the score together with Geoff Zanelli.
- Koepp reused ocean b-roll from The Lost World: Jurassic Park for one shot.
