There are multiple Stephen King-centric stories to emerge from this past week pertaining to some anticipated upcoming Stephen King movies. And there was an update from writer/director Mike Flanagan regarding how his adaptation of The Dark Tower series is co-existing with his developing Exorcist movie.
Not only has Flanagan been talking about The Dark Tower, but he’s made a couple of fantastic revelations about his new movie The Life Of Chuck (based on the Stephen King novella of the same name), and we have some major behind-the-scenes news regarding director Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk, which has started production and added to its cast. The King Beat is here to catch you up on all of the developments. Let’s dig in!
Mike Flanagan’s Description Of Tom Hiddleston’s Big Dance Sequence In The Life Of Chuck Will Make You Want To See The Movie Immediately
Anyone who has read “The Life Of Chuck” has long known that dancing would be a crucial element of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation. After all, the middle section of the three-part story is entirely about an impromptu bit of body moving in public when the titular character gets caught up in the music being played by a busker. That being said, it’s nonetheless fascinating to learn how Flanagan is approaching the sequence in the adaptation – and based on his recent comments, it’s going to put broad smiles on the faces of anyone who watches it.
The most recent episode of the podcast Talking Scared features a number of professional storytellers discussing their favorite Stephen King short stories, and in the 30 minute interview with Mike Flanagan, the filmmaker goes into deep detail about the Life Of Chuck dance sequence. In the movie, Tom Hiddleston is playing the titular Chuck Krantz, and his performance is evidently so delightful that it actually left Flanagan’s face hurting from smiling too much. Said the writer/director,
It's one of those that you read it in a book where dancing is described. And I think King did a really good job with that. You read it in a script where dancing is described. But when you see it and hear it, and we're talking, it's a five-and-a-half minute scene. It's substantial... I've watched people when they watch this, and even people who have seen the movie dozens of times and worked on it... when we were on set filming, it took four days to shoot it, and my face hurt from smiling that long, that sustained, for four straight days. Like, my cheeks hurt by Friday. And, that's the thing I see, is you watch this smile break out over everybody who's, who's watching it.
This description of the sequence in the new film is exactly what one would hope for. The second section of the novella is all about celebrating the random joys of life, with Chuck finding himself caught up in the moment listening to music and finding a wonderful dance partner in a beautiful stranger who also happens to be walking by. It’s a sequence full of effervescence, and it sounds as though Mike Flanagan has worked particularly hard to capture it on screen.
The filmmaker also helped clarify why it is that the movie is earning comparisons to Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption – which is a film that can be described as an antidote to cynicism. Flanagan explained that his approach for The Life Of Chuck was to make the work sweet but not overbearing:
That joy comes in and it's not saccharine and it's not forced at all. It's kind of undeniably purely joyful. And there are so few opportunities in storytelling to exist in a moment utterly devoid of cynicism and not trying to force an emotional reaction where you're presenting something so purely what it is that the natural human response is to put down the guards and just let yourself be happy to experience it.
If that sounds like it is a very different mode for Mike Flanagan – a filmmaker best known for his work in the horror genre – you’re not wrong, and he said as much in the interview, adding,
I've never worked on anything that had that opportunity. I'm going the other way. I'm way more interested in making people uncomfortable and scared. [Laugh], you know? That's my whole business. And so to exist in a story that was just bringing forth this kind of earnest and bittersweet and realistic and honest joy and introspection. It's my favorite movie I've ever gotten to work on for that reason.
That’s a terrifically exciting sentiment given the extreme quality of Mike Flanagan’s filmography – but that’s not the only cool update that we have from him this week about his new Stephen King adaptation.
Mike Flanagan Reveals One Key Way The Life Of Chuck Will Differ From His Previous Stephen King Adaptations
Mike Flanagan’s love of Stephen King’s work is unquestionable, and it’s obviously reflected in his work. Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep feature details that are changed from their respective source material, but they are primarily very faithful adaptations. There is, however, one thing that the upcoming Life Of Chuck has that those two movies don’t, and that’s voice over narration that brings King’s words directly to the screen.
In the Talking Scared interview, Neil McRobert highlights a particularly beautiful passage from “The Life of Chuck” about the character reflecting on his impromptu dance while dying from cancer, and while discussing the material, Mike Flanagan explained how the film adaptation demanded that the prose being directly brought to the screen:
Frequently, when you look at things like that, the concept of narration in a movie, it's wildly improperly used, and it's a crutch in a lot of cases. It's unnecessary or it's distracting. This is one of the only times in my life where I looked at it and said, 'It is essential to this story that King's prose be driving and structuring the movie.' And I'm so glad that, that we did it that way. I don't want to spoil who narrates the film, but that's a big part of it. And having the right voice to these words is critical.
Continuing, he added that there is plenty in the story that is visually captivating in The Life Of Chuck, but that voice over narration was a necessary component in bringing it together. Said Flanagan,
It's a literary experience that has some incredible cinematic weight to it. It's visually incredible to watch the stars burn out or to watch a wonderfully classically choreographed dance number or two. All that is there. But then more than any other thing I've ever worked on, the prose was essential. And not just as a King fanatic, not just as a Constant Reader, but just for this particular story, it had to be there.
The Life Of Chuck is set to make its world premiere this fall at the Toronto International Film Festival, and being a completely independent production, it does not yet have theatrical distribution. Fingers are crossed that will change following its Canadian debut and that the movie will find its way to theaters before the end of the year.
Francis Lawrence's The Long Walk Has Started Production And Has Added Seven New Actors To The Cast
It was just a little over a week ago that we learned about the plans for Edgar Wright’s new remake of The Running Man to go into production this fall… but that isn’t the only Stephen King film that is rolling cameras here in the second half of 2024. Also moving forward at a surprisingly fast clip given decades of false starts is The Long Walk, which not only started production a few days ago, but has also added a number of new actors to its cast.
Principal photography on The Long Walk is underway up in Manitoba, Canada this week, and Deadline is reporting that seven new actors have come aboard for roles in the film opposite stars Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson (who joined the cast back in June). There aren’t any details about any of the characters that the performers will be playing, but the ensemble now includes Jojo Rabbit’s Roman Griffin Davis, Spontaneous’ Charlie Plummer, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Ben Wang, Jordan Gonzalez, and Joshua Odjick.
Of the new actors in the film, Odjick is the only one with Stephen King history on his resume, as he also has an unspecified part in the HBO IT prequel series Welcome To Derry, which is on track to premiere in 2025.
One of Stephen King’s “Bachman Books” (the books that he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman), The Long Walk is a dystopian tale about an endurance competition that sees a collection of teenage boys challenged to start walking along a highway and not stop until only one of them is left standing. They have to maintain a constant four mile per hour pace lest they receive a warning, and receiving three warnings or trying to make an escape is punished with execution.
The film is director Francis Lawrence’s follow-up to last year’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, and the script has been written by JT Mollner. Lionsgate is set to produce and distribute the film, and if production is starting now, that means there is a good chance we’ll get to see the finished work at some time in 2025 (an official release date has not been set).
Recommendation Of The Week: “Willie The Weirdo”
“Willie The Weirdo” is a unique inclusion in Stephen King’s 2024 collection You Like It Darker in that it’s not so much a short story or novella as it is a character profile. The titular Willie is a 10-year-old kid who isn’t quite right in the head, and his relationship with his strange, dying grandfather only exacerbates his “weirdness.”
First published in June 2022’s Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern before being included in King’s new omnibus, “Willie The Weirdo” is a perfect example of how the author can successfully get under the skin of readers with simple characterization and the exploration of some freaky sensibilities when it comes to death. He may just be a pre-teen, but Willie is drawn in such an intense way that you’d probably head to the other side of the street if you saw him walking towards you on the sidewalk.
That brings an end to this week’s edition of The King Beat, but I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with the latest roundup of news from the world of Stephen King, so stay tuned.
