Rose Red is a 2002 American television miniseries scripted by horror novelist Stephen King, directed by Craig R. Baxley, and starring Nancy Travis, Matt Keeslar, Julian Sands, Kimberly J. Brown, David Dukes, Melanie Lynskey, Matt Ross, Emily Deschanel, Judith Ivey, and Kevin Tighe. It was filmed in Lakewood, Washington. The plot focuses on a reputedly haunted mansion located in Seattle, Washington, named Rose Red. Due to its long history of supernatural events and unexplained tragedies, the house is investigated by parapsychologist Dr. Joyce Reardon and a team of gifted psychics.
Conceived as a feature film, writer Stephen King pitched the idea for Rose Red to Steven Spielberg in 1996, envisioning it as a loose remake of Robert Wise's 1963 film The Haunting (which itself was based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House). In 1999, a feature film remake of The Haunting was released, after which King's script was revised and expanded into a miniseries. In writing the teleplay, King incorporated a variety of influences, including elements of Jackson's novel as well as the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. The setting changed from Los Angeles to Seattle after the production team secured the Thornewood Estate in Lakewood as a shooting location. Rose Red was filmed in the fall of 2000 in Seattle and Lakewood with principal photography concluding in mid-December. Post-production lasted approximately six months, during which various special effects were implemented into the series.
ABC provided Rose Red with a $200,000 marketing campaign, which included extensive advertising. In addition to television commercials, an elaborate campaign was launched to make the fictional mansion and its history appear real: This included a fake website for the fictional Beaumont University, the university featured in the film, as well as the publication of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001), a novel purportedly written by the fictional character of Ellen Rimbauer, the wife of the estate's owner, and edited by the miniseries' fictional protagonist, Dr. Joyce Reardon.
Rose Red premiered in the United States on ABC on January 27, 2002, running for three consecutive nights, during which it accrued a viewership of over 18.5 million.
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