NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� 鈥檚 first editor, Bill Thompson, once said, 鈥淪teve has a movie camera in his head.鈥�
So vividly drawn is King鈥檚 fiction that it鈥檚 offered the basis for some 50 feature films. For half a century, since Brian De Palma鈥檚 1976 film 鈥淐arrie,鈥� Hollywood has turned, and turned again, to King鈥檚 books for their richness of character, nightmare and sheer entertainment.
Open any of those books up at random, and there鈥檚 a decent chance you鈥檒l encounter a movie reference, too. Rita Hayworth. 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz.鈥� 鈥淪ingin鈥� in the Rain.鈥� Sometimes even movies based on King鈥檚 books turn up in his novels. That King鈥檚 books have been such fodder for the movies is owed, in part, to how much of a moviegoer their author is.
鈥淚 love anything from 鈥楾he 400 Blows鈥� to something with that guy Jason Statham,鈥� King says, speaking by phone from his home in Maine. 鈥淭he worst movie I ever saw was still a great way to spend an afternoon. The only movie I ever walked out on was 鈥楾ransformers.鈥� At a certain point I said, 鈥楾his is just ridiculous.鈥欌��
Over time, King has developed a personal policy in how he talks about the adaptations of his books. 鈥淢y idea is: If you can鈥檛 say something nice, keep your mouth shut,鈥� he says.
The most notable exception was Stanley Kubrick鈥檚 鈥淭he Shining,鈥� which King famously called 鈥渁 big beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside.鈥� But every now and then, King is such a fan of an adaptation that he鈥檚 excited to talk about it. That鈥檚 very much the case with Mike Flanagan鈥檚 new adaptation of King鈥檚 novella of the same name published in the 2020 collection
In 鈥淭he Life of Chuck,鈥� which Neon releases in theaters Friday (nationwide June 13), there are separate storylines but the tone-setting opening is apocalyptic. The internet, like a dazed prize fighter, wobbles on its last legs before going down. California is said to be peeling away from the mainland 鈥渓ike old wallpaper.鈥�
And yet in this doomsday tale, King is at his most sincere. 鈥淭he Life of Chuck,鈥� the book and the movie, is about what matters in life when everything else is lost. There is dancing, Walt Whitman and joy.
鈥淚n 鈥楾he Life of Chuck,鈥� we understand that this guy鈥檚 life is cut short, but that doesn鈥檛 mean he doesn鈥檛 experience joy,鈥� says King. 鈥淓xistential dread and grief and things are part of the human experience, but so is joy.鈥�
Stephen King, the humanist
It鈥檚 telling that when King, our preeminent purveyor of horror, writes about doom times, he ends up scaling it down to a single life. While darkness and doom have, and probably always will, mark his work, King 鈥� a more playful, instinctual, genre-skipping writer than he鈥檚 often credited as 鈥� 鈥淭he Life of Chuck鈥� is a prime example of King, the humanist.
鈥淎n awful lot of people assume, because he writes so much stuff that鈥檚 so scary, they kind of forget the reason his horror works so well is he鈥檚 always juxtaposing it with light and with love and with empathy,鈥� says Flanagan, who has twice before adapted King (鈥淒octor Sleep,鈥� 鈥淕erald鈥檚 Game鈥�) and is in the midst of making a 鈥淐arrie鈥� series for Amazon.
鈥淵ou forget that 鈥業t鈥� isn鈥檛 about the clown, it鈥檚 about the kids and their friendship," adds Flanagan. 鈥溾�楾he Stand鈥� isn鈥檛 about the virus or the demon taking over the world, it鈥檚 ordinary people who have to come together and stand against a force they cannot defeat.鈥�
King, 77, has now written somewhere around 80 books, including the just released The mystery thriller brings back King鈥檚 recent favorite protagonist, the private investigator Holly Gibney, who made her stand-alone debut in 鈥淚f It Bleeds.鈥� It鈥檚 Gibney鈥檚 insecurities, and her willingness to push against them, that has kept King returning to her.
鈥淚t gave me great pleasure to see Holly grow into a more confident person,鈥� King says. 鈥淪he never outgrows all of her insecurities, though. None of us do.鈥�
鈥淣ever Flinch鈥� is a reminder that King has always been less of a genre-first writer than a character-first one. He tends to fall in love with a character and follow them through thick and thin.
鈥淚鈥檓 always happy writing. That鈥檚 why I do it so much,鈥� King says, chuckling. 鈥淚鈥檓 a very chipper guy because I get rid of all that dark stuff in the books.鈥�
Contemporary anxieties
Dark stuff, as King says, hasn鈥檛 been hard to come by lately. The kind of climate change disaster found in 鈥淭he Life of Chuck,鈥� King says, often dominates his anxieties.
鈥淲e鈥檙e creeping up little by little on being the one country who does not acknowledge it鈥檚 a real problem with carbon in the atmosphere,鈥� King says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 crazy. Certain right wing politicians can talk all they want about how we鈥檙e saving the world for our grandchildren. They don鈥檛 care about that. They care about money.鈥�
On social media, King has been a sometimes critic of President Donald Trump, whose second term has included battles with the arts, academia and Over the next four years, King predicts, 鈥淐ulture is going to go underground.鈥�
In 鈥淣ever Flinch,鈥� Holly Gibney is hired as a bodyguard by a women鈥檚 rights activist whose lecture tour is being plagued by mysterious acts of violence. In the afterward of the book, King includes a tribute to 鈥渟upporters of women鈥檚 right to choose who have been murdered for doing their duty.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e not going to like that,鈥� King says of right-wing critics.
The original germ for 鈥淭he Life of Chuck鈥� had nothing to do with current events. One day in Boston, King noticed a drummer busking on Boylston Street. He had the vision of a businessman in a suit who, walking by, can鈥檛 resist dancing with abandon to the drummer鈥檚 beat.
King, a self-acknowledged dancer (though only in private, he notes), latched onto a story that would turn on the unpredictable nature of people, tracing the inner life of that imagined passerby. In the film, he鈥檚 played by Tom Hiddleston. Chuck first appears, oddly, on a billboard that haunts and confuses a local teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who's struggling to get his students to care about literature or education with the possible end of the world encroaching.
Sincerity for a cynical world
It鈥檚 a funny but maybe not coincidental irony that many of the best King adaptations, like 鈥淪tand By Me鈥� and 鈥淭he Shawshank Redemption," have come from the author鈥檚 more warm-hearted tales. 鈥淭he Life of Chuck,鈥� which won the People鈥檚 Choice Award last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival, is after a similar spirit.
When King reached out about attending the TIFF world premiere, Flanagan was shocked. The last time King had done that for one of his own adaptations was 26 years ago, for 鈥淭he Green Mile.鈥� That movie, like 鈥淭he Shawshank Redemption,鈥� was a box-office disappointments, King recalls, a fate he's hoping 鈥淭he Life of Chuck鈥� can avoid.
鈥淗e views this movie as something that鈥檚 a bit precious,鈥� says Flanagan. 鈥淗e鈥檚 said a few things to me in the past about how earnest it is, how this is a story without an ounce of cynicism. As it was being released into a cynical world, I think he felt protective of it. I think this one really means something to him.鈥�
The Stephen King industrial complex, meanwhile, keeps rolling along. Coming just this year are series of 鈥淲elcome to Derry鈥� and 鈥淭he Institute鈥� and a film of 鈥淭he Long Walk.鈥� King, himself, just finished a draft of 鈥淭alisman 3.鈥�
If 鈥淭he Life of Chuck鈥� has particular meaning to King, it could be because it represents something intrinsic about his own life. Chuck's small, seemingly unremarkable existence has grace and meaning because, as Whitman is quoted, he "contains multitudes鈥� that surprise and delight him. King's fiction is evidence 鈥� heaps of it 鈥� that he does, too.
鈥淭here are some days where I sit down and I think, 鈥楾his is going to be a really good day,鈥� and it鈥檚 not, at all,鈥� says King. 鈥淭hen other days I sit down and think to myself, 鈥業鈥檓 really tired and don鈥檛 feel like doing this,鈥� and then it catches fire. You never know what you鈥檙e going to get.鈥�
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
