LionsgateOver the weekend, The Long Walk treadmill challenge screening went ahead, and now one attendee has spoken about their experience. According to Lionsgate, the ‘hardest part’ of it wasn’t what you’d expect.
The Long Walk started as a novel written by horror icon Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. On the surface, it’s a dystopian story about 100 teenage boys forced to walk at 4mph. If they stop, they are killed, and must keep going until only one man is standing.
But at its core, it’s a metaphor for the horrors of war, with themes about blind patriotism, state power, and the way society sacrifices its youth for senseless causes. Francis Lawrence has directed a new movie based on the story, and it doesn’t hold back on the brutality.
Lionsgate decided to put a select group of early viewers in the shoes of the characters: they had to walk faster than 3mph for the entirety of The Long Walk (108 minutes), or else get pulled out of the theater.
The Long Walk treadmill challenge was no walk in the park
You might think that walking non-stop for an entire movie would be physically demanding, but according to Lionsgate, the hardest part was the emotional side of things.
Speaking with IndieWire, Briana McElroy, the studio’s head of worldwide digital marketing, said, “The emotion is the hard part. We wanted audiences to put themselves in these characters’ shoes, and watching people connect with that idea has been so, so exciting.”
IndieWire’s Alison Foreman was one of the small group who took part in the treadmill screening at LA’s Culver Theater on August 30, and she’s now spoken about her experience.
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Even before the event began, Foreman estimated that they’d end up walking approximately five miles throughout the course of the film. Actors stepped in as drill sergeants, wearing aviator sunglasses (even in the darkness of the screening room).
For context, The Long Walk is a deeply harrowing film, one that’s left audience members in tears. As Dexerto’s Cameron Frew said in his five-star review, “it’s a gruelling endurance test that’s also an immensely moving privilege… I cried multiple times.”
This proved difficult during the treadmill challenge, with Foreman’s account supporting McElroy’s comments.
“Disturbing and graphic moments pepper The Long Walk like buckshot, and as the going got tougher for Ray and his pals, I had a harder and harder time managing my own balance,” she wrote.
“The treadmill was narrow. My shoes had made me cocky. And still, the torture pressed on. I almost paid the price during what I consider to be the most emotional scene in the movie, when my glasses flew off but I continued to walk and cry in place.
“The friendliest jailer of the bunch grabbed them from the floor for me, and the Other Allie leaned in carefully from her treadmill to ask if I was OK.”
Even watching the attendants was an emotional ride, with McElroy adding, “I was watching from the wings and I was feeling the emotion too. I was very impressed with everybody and their stamina. Like, I’m crying, my eyes are blurry, and I just can’t imagine walking through it.
“The idea of what these boys went through in the book, the relationships they formed and tested by trying to win, then joining them in that by treating the stakes as 100% real in a theater, that just means everything to us.”
Although it was difficult on all fronts, Foreman confirmed everyone in the theater made it to the end. It’s not a spoiler to say The Long Walk characters aren’t so lucky.
The Long Walk hits cinemas on September 12. Until then, check out our list of the best horror movies ever made and what else is dropping this year with our 2025 movie calendar.