Apt Pupil

Apt Pupil is a 1998 film, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro. The screenplay by Brandon Boyce is adapted from a novella of the same name by Stephen King, originally published in Different Seasons (1982). The endings of the two works differ drastically, however. Shortly after the appearance of Stephen King's Different Seasons collection, which has also spawned the Oscar-nominated The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, Richard Kobritz acquired the production rights. However his attempt to have the story filmed was delayed when his first choice to play Kurt Dussander, the nazi war criminal, James Mason, died in 1984 and his second candidate, Richard Burton, died after being approached for the role. Nicol Williamson finally took the part and, in 1987, with director Alan Bridges and a teenaged Ricky Schroder as Todd, filming began. That production foundered for financial reasons, and when Kobritz secured more finance the forty minutes of usable footage... full article at wikipedia