Mike Flanagan will take on another Stephen King project withThe Life of Chuck,set to star Tom Hiddleston (Thorfranchise) and Mark Hamill(Star Wars).
Based on a short story in King’s collectionIf It Bleeds, published in 2020, the adaptation joins Flanagan’s previousDoctor Sleep, released in 2019. An adaptation of King’s follow-up toThe Shining, Flanagan’s film spun off from the written work by King andStanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 film adaptation. Flanagan also adapted King’s novelGerald’s Gameas a feature film, released on Netflix in 2017.
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According toDeadline, Flanagan will direct, write, and produceThe Life of Chuckfor Intrepid Pictures. King’s work tells the story of a man, Charles Krantz (played by Hiddleston), who dies young of a brain tumor, working the story backward through his life to occurrences in his childhood haunted house. According to production insiders, the project will draw on the tones and mood of previous King adaptations likeStand By Me,The Shawshank Redemption, andThe Green Mile.
The film is slated for the Cannes market for FilmNation, where another King adaptation is likely to be in high demand, continuing a long line of audience successes that began with 1976’sCarrieand persisted through many of-revisited films in the past five decades, includingThe Shining,Salem’s Lot,and Pet Sematary. The recent blockbuster success of King’sIT, adapted into two feature films released in 2017 and 2019, shows that audiences are still hungry for more from the classic “King of Horror.” Despite this, the audience response to Flanagan’s previous feature film directorial effort,Doctor Sleep,was less than expected, leading to some setbacks in proposed related projects, including aprequel toThe Shiningthat never happened.
Flanagan’s recent projects include Netflix’s upcomingFall of the House of Usher, based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe, as well as previous Netflix hitsMidnight Mass,The Haunting of Bly Manor, andThe Haunting of Hill House. While his recent adaptation ofThe Midnight Club, based on a novel by another horror much-loved horror author Christopher Pike, failed to hit the mark and land a second season, Flanagan recently began making things for Amazon, includinga series adaptation of King’sThe Dark Towerstill in early stages.
With horror audiences on both streaming platforms and in theaters anxious for more from Flanagan and King,The Life of Chuckseems like an excellent opportunity to once again meld King’s subject matter with Flanagan’s ability to tell a subtle and horrifying story on screen.
