Mike Flanagan on ’The Life of Chuck,’ adapting Stephen King and his plans for 'The Dark Tower'

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Stephen King might be the preeminent master of horror, but underneath the scares lies the beating heart of a writer in love with being alive.

That is very much on display with The Life of Chuck, Mike Flanagan’s big screen adaptation of King’s novella of the same name that was featured in his 2020 short-story collection If It Bleeds.

Told in three parts, The Life of Chuck, which opens in theatres across Canada this Friday, casts Tom Hiddleston as an ordinary accountant named Charles “Chuck” Krantz who leaves his mark on seemingly everyone as the possible end of the world eerily grows nearer.

With a supporting cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamill, Mia Sara, Karen Gillan, Matthew Lillard, Jacob Tremblay, Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, Annalise Basso and Kate Siegel, the film was a surprise winner at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it took home the coveted People’s Choice Award.

The prize is considered an early predictor for Oscar attention (past winners have gone on to be nominated in key categories at the Academy Awards with past People’s Choice picks like Green Book, 12 Years a Slave and The King’s Speech taking home Best Picture).

“With The Life of Chuck, people reflect on their own lives and the lives of people they’re close to,” TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said after its win. “When you come out of a movie having that kind of emotional reaction, that’s what often prompts a vote.”

King, who doesn’t always weigh in on the cinematic adaptations of his books, described the movie as “a happiness machine.”

Flanagan, who has twice before adapted King with Doctor Sleep (a sequel to The Shining) and Gerald’s Game, says he grew up loving the author’s works because he thought he liked being scared right before bedtime. It was as he got older that the 47-year-old filmmaker says he realized King is a storyteller whose works are filled with love and empathy.

“He’s always writing about love, even in the scariest stories,” Flanagan tells Postmedia in an interview from Vancouver, where he is in the midst of shooting a series based on King’s horror novel Carrie for Amazon.

Life of Chuck, he says, resonated with him because it encapsulates what matters most in life, which is remembering to be joyful, always having gratitude and most of all, finding the time to dance.

“This was one that hit me right in the heart,” Flanagan says.

Below, Flanagan, who has made a string of horror hits on TV, including Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher, spoke more about his adaptation of The Life of Chuck and why his upcoming version of King’s Dark Tower series might be the most ambitious thing he’s ever tackled.

You’ve had a lot of success in the horror realm with your Netflix shows and your adaptations of Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game. Life of Chuck is a more sentimental story. What made you want to adapt it?

I was so in love with the story. I read it in April 2020, right after the lockdown, just as the world was falling apart, but it made my heart leap with optimism and joy and this bittersweet appreciation and gratitude for my life. We live in a scary, cynical world and this story comforted me so much during such a scary time when I read it. I wanted this to exist in the world for my kids because I knew at some point they might need this too. So I dreamed of trying to create the feeling that I had when I read it for someone else watching it in the theatre.

You’re in the midst of a Carrie revamp. You’re going to do the Dark Tower. What’s the appeal for you about Mr. King’s works?

Stephen King is my favourite author, bar none and by a mile and has been since I was a kid. When I was younger, thought it was because it was so scary and so visceral and so entertaining, but as I got older, I realized he’s my favourite author because he is at his heart an optimistic humanist who writes stories about empathy. I realized that It is one of my favourite books not because of the scary clown, but because of the friendship of these kids. Stories like Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption, which have changed me as a person, come from the same beating heart of a man who is known for terrifying people, but who is not writing about horror … Pet Sematary is one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever read, but it’s about parental love and grief. The Stand isn’t about the virus or Randall Flagg or evil, it’s about the courage and bravery of ordinary people standing up against all odds with no witness and no hope for victory. That’s Stephen King to me. Stephen King is a profoundly optimistic person who writes beautiful stories that are cloaked in darkness. That’s a fascinating landscape. It’s been a real joy to love his work my whole life and now get to translate it as many times as he’s allowed me to. It’s been very very cool.

Do you have a dream book of his you’d like to tackle?

It’s the Dark Tower … that’s the big one. It’s the one that ties it all together. It’s the journey of a life and existence. That’s the number one. There are so many of his that live in my heart. A sentimental favourite that I’ve always looked at is Hearts in Atlantis. The one that got away was Revival. I wrote an adaptation of that one that I loved. I wish it could have made its way to the screen. I hope someday that it does. But yeah, Dark Tower— 100%.

And you’re going to adapt Dark Tower next. It is King’s magnum opus. It has encompassed eight books and ties into many of his other works. So what will that look like?

It’s got to be a series then it also has to have movies. The perfect way to do it is five seasons and two movies, but there are a lot of different ways it can go. It’s such an intimidating undertaking, but we’re setting it up now to begin as a series and we’ll see where it goes.

The Life of Chuck is now playing in theatres.

mdaniell@postmedia.com