Behind maybe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare, horror icon Stephen King has to be one of the most adapted writers in the history of film and TV. The past five or six years have seen a healthy second wave of interest in the Maine author, resulting in films such as It and Gerald’s Game, and TV series such as Castle Rock and The Outsider.
Does that renewed passion for King’s tried-and-true storytelling seem to be slowing down at all? Of course not! Because with the release of the prolific writer’s 11th anthology of short stories and novellas comes another slew of announcements, showing that Hollywood creatives are keen to claim their stake in the horror empire as quickly as possible.
If It Bleeds, released in May of this year, compiles four previously unpublished King novellas, all of which have already been optioned by a baffling array of film and TV creators. The titular third story revolves around the character of Holly Gibney, a recurring figure in the Kingverse played by Cynthia Erivo in HBO’s The Outsider miniseries, and in other King books like Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers.
Deadline has already reported that with this new addition to Gibney’s ongoing arc, another HBO limited series could very well “bleed into” the existing TV depictions of the character.
More concretely, Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky has already bought the rights to The Life Of Chuck, an existential novella in the anthology. Whether Aronofsky will direct the film itself is unknown as of yet, but his production company Protozoa was at least quick to snap up the concept.
The anthology’s opening story Mr Harrigan’s Phone has already been bought by a powerhouse producing trio made up of Netflix, mid-budget horror company Blumhouse, and camp TV auteur Ryan Murphy, who has worked in this arena before on the anthology series American Horror Story.
And finally, Ben Stiller of all people is set to produce, direct, and star in a film adaptation of Rat’. Stiller will likely play the role of a beleaguered writer who makes a deal with a demonic rat being to cure his writer’s block, which is hilarious because clearly Stephen King has never dealt with a serious bout of writer’s block in his goddamn life.
All four tentative projects sound fairly exciting, but one does begin to wonder how much King is too much King. Just look below, at the announced production slates for film and TV adaptations of King’s work. Is that not kind of crazy??
Whether you’re a King obsessive, a scaredy cat, or somebody in between who might be tempted to watch one of these adaptations if the mood’s right, it looks as though the next five years of horror will give us a million different shades of King to choose from.
