In the fall of 1981, a few days before filming was to start on SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, author Ray Bradbury wandered quietly through the streets of Green Town, an idealized version of his autobiographical, turn-of-the-century mid-American town that had been built on the Disney Studio lot.
Bradbury glanced over the shop window displays, moved past a slowly turning barber pole, admired the vintage cars, and looked up at the two simple wood frame houses where his youthful heroes, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, would live.
There were tears of joy in Bradbury's twinkling eyes, and an ear-tickling grin of absolute pleasure. A mere 25 years after he had originally intended, his parable of two adolescent boys and a soul-snatching carnival was about to be brought to life.
Nearly 18 months later-following a troubled and costly production schedule that saw thefilm all but taken out of director Jack Clayton's hands in postproduction Bradbury wept again, this time at the conclusion of the lengthy sessions at which James Homer's dynamic score was recorded. It's not difficult to imagine that Bradbury's tears were due as much to joy as relief. The intervening months had been difficult for the entire crew, with the project marred by dissension among the key creative talents and a preview screening deemed so disastrous by studio chiefs that the release of the film was delayed by six months.
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