Stephen King has thrown his approval on a new movie adaptation of one of his books, calling it “one of the good ones”.
While the author is mainly known for writing horror novels, including Misery, The Shining, Carrie and The Stand, throughout his career he has also written novellas removed from the genre, including The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and Stand by Me.
One such novella is The Life of Chuck, which featured in King’s 2020 collection If It Bleeds. The film adaptation has been directed by Mike Flanagan, the Haunted of Hill House creator who previously translated King’s novels Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep for screen.
The film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Friday (6 September), with 76-year-old King, who this week discovered that 23 of his books had been banned in Florida, telling his fans: “This is one of the good ones. It’s sad, has a touch of the paranormal, but it’s also joyful and life-affirming. Maybe not what you’d expect from me, but there ya go.”
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who appears in the film alongside Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan, said of the film on X/Twitter: “Mike Flanagan’s unique, moving, genre-bending & life affirming The Life of Chuck , which he wrote & directed based on Stephen King‘s novella, is unlike anything Mike & Stephen have ever done before.”
He called it “a feel-good apocalypse movie”.
The film has been met with praise from viewers, also, with TheWrap hailing it as “magnificent” and Collider calling it “a contender for being crowned the best King-originated film ever made”.
Over the years, there have been several adaptations of King’s books that were mauled by the critics. These include a 2013 remake of Carrie, which was released,The Dark Tower (2017) and a recent version of Firestarter (2022).
King himself famously disliked Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, once describing the 1980 release as “a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it” and branding the director’s version of Wendy – played by Shelley Duvall opposite Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance – “one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film”.
There is currently no release date for The Life of Chuck.