Mike Flanagan, the modern horror maestro behind projects like The Haunting of Hill House and Hush, is quickly becoming the go-to for film and TV adaptations inspired by the work of Stephen King. And while the reason may seem obvious to those of us who have enjoyed Flanagan’s adaptations of the horror master, the director has an opinion on why he’s the right person to deliver more of King’s extensive catalog. Per the director himself, it has to do with trauma.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about his latest film, the big screen adaptation of King’s short story, The Life of Chuck, Flanagan explained that it is no coincidence that he gels so well with King’s work. In fact, their future collaboration was sparked long ago, when a young Flanagan was introduced to a certain dancing clown for the first time. Explaining how the trauma of watching the Tim Curry-starring mini-series of It led to him turning to King’s novels, Flanagan said:
“When
It
came out on ABC, all my friends had a slumber party to watch it — and I pretended to be sick so I could go home. My God, I was traumatized. But I found that if I could will myself to make it through a scary scene without covering my eyes, I was getting braver in controlled increments. That exercise afforded me something I could carry into my life — when I was scared of public speaking or talking to a girl. By college, I’d become difficult to scare. And by the time I wanted to make horror movies, it all started to look like the ones and zeros in
The Matrix
. I’m so ensconced in the mechanics of the genre, it is very rare that a movie affects me.
I couldn’t watch horror movies as a kid. They scared me too much.
To try to hang out with my peers, I thought I could read scary books to get braver. Stephen King was one of the first authors that I encountered, and I learned the hard way that it’s much scarier on the page. And, yes, the clowns and monsters are terrifying. But it only works because of his incredible humanistic care for the characters. He’s always been my hero as a writer.”
Flanagan’s Upcoming Film is Definite Proof That His Future Holds More of Stephen King’s Universe
The Life of Chuck is Flanagan’s third film from the King universe, with The Dark Tower series adaptation following next. During his interview, Flanagan expanded on why he’s become the proper auteur, according to industry executives and probably King himself. In one of the best examples of King’s approval, Flanagan helped the author be more forgiving of Stanley Kubrick’s film version of The Shining: when Flanagan made Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, he was able to bring his vision to life, along with King’s own views and Kubrick’s iconic film. Per Flanagan’s comment on a key encounter with King:
“We brought
Doctor Sleep
to screen in Maine, and I sat next to him in his hometown theater in Bangor. I didn’t look at the screen at all. I just kept trying to subtly gauge any reaction. If he nodded, I thought, ‘Great, it’s working!’ If he sighed or shifted, it was like, ‘Oh, he hates it!’ And that was a
long
movie. Two and a half hours later, he leaned over and said, ‘You did a great job.’ I just about died. Then he drove me to his house. We ate pizza and chatted in his library. He’s the nicest.”
When we were doing
The Life of Chuck
, we talked a lot before production. He has an enormous amount of approvals on things like casting and other details. But when the movie goes, he stays very far away. He says, ‘The movie’s yours and the book is mine.’
Unfortunately, Flanagan also shared that one of his dream projects in the King-verse has now been shelved. But perhaps it’s all for the best because he also confirmed that this has left him free to work on the one story of King’s that seemed impossible to film; The Dark Tower. Flanagan said:
“I wrote a script for Stephen King’s
Revival
, one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, but it fell apart. That’s gone now because I have
The Dark Tower.
Stephen doesn’t like to have you sitting on more than one thing at a time. It means something’s not getting made.”
The Life of Chuck
is yet to receive a release date.
