In this week’s edition of The King Beat, I regret that I can’t get write extensively about the exciting 4K UHD release of The Dead Zone that was just announced by Shout! Factory. There also isn’t time to celebrate either 45th anniversary of The Stand (which was on Tuesday) or the 20th anniversary of the collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes (which was this past Saturday). Simply put, there are too many other exciting developments happening in the world of Stephen King.
Instead of those topics, this week’s column features terrific news regarding Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of the novella “The Life Of Chuck;” an interview with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer; and an update from filmmaker Scott Derrickson regarding his long-in-development adaptation of “The Breathing Method.” Read on, and please join me in wishing a speedy recovery to Stephen King as he recuperates from hip replacement surgery.
Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck Is Reportedly Going To Start Production This Month In Alabama
At present, there is arguably no greater cinematic ally to Constant Readers than Mike Flanagan. After all, he’s the guy who has not only made two of the best Stephen King movies of all time within the last six years, but has made it his goal to create a proper and faithful adaptation of the Dark Tower saga. It’s impossible to not be thrilled about every move Flanagan makes in the King world – which is why it’s thrilling to learn that his next adventure is reportedly starting production later this month.
Gulf Coast Media has published an article saying that Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck is planning a mid-October start for principal photography down in Alabama – specifically in Baldwin and Mobile counties. Filming is expected to roll for four weeks. This will be the second time that Flanagan has made a Stephen King movie down in Alabama, as Gerald’s Game was shot in Mobile (which explains why the setting of the story is moved from Maine to the southern state).
The Life Of Chuck adaptation was first announced back in May, and it’s been reported that the film will star Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill (the latter just worked with Mike Flanagan on the new Netflix series The Fall Of The House Of Usher). The adaptation is based on the novella of the same name, which was first published in the 2020 omnibus If It Bleeds. A surreal bit of fiction, the story plays out in three distinct acts and each one goes backwards in time examining the life of the titular character.
If you’re curious about how filming is happening despite the on-going SAG-AFTRA strike, The Life Of Chuck received approval from the union last month. We don’t presently know the status of the movie when it comes to domestic and international distribution deals, but you can be sure that you’ll find release date news here on CinemaBlend as soon as it is confirmed.
Scott Derrickson Is No Longer Developing The Breathing Method And Names The Book That “Has Not Gotten The Treatment That It Deserves”
When Scott Derrickson was promoting The Black Phone in 2022, he spoke in interviews about how he was trying to keep hope alive for The Breathing Method – a Stephen King adaptation that he first became attached to make in 2012. There was expressed optimism, but now, a little over a year later, it seems that the project isn’t moving forward with his involvement.
Derrickson’s latest work is a segment in the new horror anthology film V/H/S/85 (which features a canon link to The Black Phone), and when I interviewed the writer/director about the project this week, I inquired about a Breathing Method update. Sadly, it now seems that the potential adaptation is out of his hands. Said the filmmaker,
I don't know where the rights are on that. I don't even know if it's in development now. I had a script developed with Scott Teems, who worked on the Halloween films and I think one of the Insidious films. And he did a great job, and I really loved that script, and it was very imaginative, and a really strong adaptation. It didn't end up going anywhere. I'm not involved with it anymore, so I have no idea where it's at.
This is a bummer given Scott Derrickson’s talent and clout as a genre director – particularly after he did such a terrific job adapting the work of Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son). I followed up by asking if there was potentially another King story that he’d like to bring to the big screen, and while Derrickson wouldn’t commit to any specific title, he named his favorite book from the author and provided a judgment on its cinematic legacy to date:
He's written so many books. I would have to really stop and think about it if there's a specific one that I could do, would do if I wanted to do any. But I do know he's a big Sinister and Black Phone fan, and I've communicated with him via email which is a great privilege... I'd have to think about that for a while. Look, I still think that The Stand has not gotten the treatment that it deserves. I do think it's his best book. I'll just say that.
It was only at the end of 2020 that the most recent adaptation of The Stand hit Paramount+ (then known as CBS All Access), but perhaps after a few more years, Derrickson could start lugging copies of the heavy tome to pitch meetings.
Read My Interview With Director Lindsey Beer Anderson About Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Which Streams This Friday
A few weeks ago, The King Beat led with a story from my interview with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines director Lindsay Anderson Beer – the filmmaker revealing that she specifically cast both Henry Thomas and Samantha Mathis in the movie because of their extensive respective Stephen King experience. With the prequel film now set to be released (available with a Paramount+ subscription starting this Friday, October 6), you can read more from our wonderful conversation, with highlights including her personal relationship with her movie’s source material, how she sees the film’s relationship with the previous Pet Sematary adaptations, and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
I'll start by asking what is your personal history both with Stephen King and with the novel Pet Sematary?
Yeah, I read Pet Sematary. It was the first Stephen King novel that I read. I was about nine years old, and I saw it on a library shelf, and I think I was like falsely lured in by the cover with pets <laugh>. But I read it in a night. I stayed up all night reading it and I just loved it, even though I was a kid and it was about an adult, but I loved the kind of absurdist, inner monologue of Louis and just the whole family drama of it. I was absolutely terrified but completely obsessed with it. And then I pretty much stole a copy of the movie from a family friend's library to sneak it, to watch it. And I made my sister watch it with me too. She hated it 'cause it was so scary, and I loved it so much, and we watched it over and over again.
In the making of this film, what was your relationship both with the 1989 film and the 2019 film?
For me, I felt like I wanted to do my own thing. So I just kept rereading the book and I saw that as my North Star, and I wanted to make a prequel to the book and kind of take... In the book, there's so much mythology that's hinted at, but it isn't really explained. And I felt like as a fan, there were questions that I wanted answered and I just was looking for threads that I could pull on to kind of weave together and tell a bigger picture of the origin of Ludlow.
Rewatching the 2019 Pet Sematary, I noticed that they don't have the tale of Timmy Baterman scene, but there is the short film that John Lithgow shot on set. What was your awareness of that short film and how much were you incorporating it into what you were doing with your movie?
You know what's funny: I did not even know that short existed until like way, way, way, way, way down the line in post when we were editing [laughs]. And the producer brought it up and I was like, 'Why did nobody flag this shit before? [Laughs]' But I actually love that short. I think they did such a good job with it.
One thing that strikes me is that this isn't a remake. You immediately get to the Micmac burial ground in the very first scene. How much were you able to lean on just the pop culture awareness of what Pet Sematary is in the making of this movie?
Yeah. I wanted to take the awareness of what we know about that and the tropes and kind of the mystical indigenous burial ground that had been used in those earlier movies and kind of subvert that and say that that's not what this was actually, and that's part of a conspiracy and a cover-up and superstition and things that get gets passed down. And for me, I feel like at the point where something becomes a trope, it's not interesting anymore. And I feel like we've kind of evolved beyond that as a society anyway. So that was one of the things that interested me about taking on this project, was being able to take what we know and then say, 'Well, forget what you know because we're gonna unearth this deeper mystery and secret.
I feel like it has aged somewhat in the sense of Poltergeist and even The Shining leaning on Native American mysticism. But actually one thing I really like about this film is the fact that you have indigenous characters. Was that something that specifically came out of that?
Yeah, exactly. To be able to kind of subvert that trope and tell a more complex and I think modern story to me, it's a very important to have point of view characters who were Native American. I also consulted with several Native American groups. I also let Isabella and Forrest, the actors who played them, really contribute a lot to their characters and have a very big say in them in a way that was unique compared to the other actors. But I think it's just really important for people to be involved in the telling of their own stories.
Recommendation Of The Week: Pet Sematary, Chapters 38-39
My King Beat reading recommendations are generally going to be limited to short stories and novellas, but I’m mixing things up this week in honor of the fact that Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is not a typical adaptation. Much like The Voyage Of The Demeter from this past summer, the new movie is not based on an independent work, but instead a section of a larger piece – specifically Chapters 38 and 39 of Pet Sematary.
Shortly after the death of young Gage Creed, his father, Louis, is a broken, emotional mess, and he goes to visit with his neighbor Jud Crandall. Jud knows that his friend is considering taking his son’s body up to the notorious, cursed burial ground, and he tries to convince Louis to rethink the plan by telling him a terrible story from when he was a young adult and witnessed the horrible resurrection of a young man Timmy Baterman. The DNA of this tale is the basis for Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, though the adaptation makes significant changes.
I’ll be back next Thursday here on CinemaBlend with another edition of The King Beat, so stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, you can check out my Adapting Stephen King column, which chronicles the full history of the author’s books on screen.
