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Maria Bello is hellbent on revenge in Lifetime’s “Big Driver”

On October 18, Lifetime will premiere their adaptation of the Stephen King novella Big Driver, starring out actress Maria Bello. Maria plays Tess Thorne, a mystery writer who drives to a convention in Massachusetts and is warned by a librarian to avoid the highway home. When Tess takes the alternate route as suggested, her tire blows out and she meets a trucker who she thinks will help her out. Instead, he brutalizes her sexually and physically, leaving her for dead. Tess survives, though, and decides that instead of going to the authorities, she’ll seek revenge.

Joan Jett and Olympia Dukakis also star in the film, although their roles are not known. Ann Dowd plays the librarian, Ramona Norville, who King describes as:

“…a broad-shouldered, heavy-breasted, jovial woman… with flushed cheeks, a marine haircut and a take-no-prisoners handshake…”
Ramona (also referred to as “Norville” in the novella) is, in fact, a lesbian, as she has a girlfriend and is described as taking “manly” interests in Tess’s drive and, at another time, “having quarterback strength” and wearing “man shoes.” I won’t spoil the plot but, basically, Ramona is Stephen King’s villainous lesbian.

I have no doubt Maria Bello will shine in her role as Tess, the writer-turned-kick-ass woman who refuses to be a victim; I just worry that ultimately a terribly depicted butch woman will be the one putting her through hell to get to that point.

Big Driver premieres on Lifetime on October 18.

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