Stephen King Directing A New Movie?
Stephen King has expressed that he wishes to head back to the director's chair.
The King wants to return to a kingdom he could not conquer over three decades ago, and we’re here for it. 35 years after directing the critical failure, Maximum Overdrive, arguably the most famous horror writer of all time, Stephen King, wants to return to the director’s chair to adapt one of his works to the big screen. When asked what he would want to do the most, he stated, “I’d love to direct another picture because Maximum Overdrive was like, ‘Earn while you learn.'”
According to Fangoria, the author is ready to helm that caliber again. With as much movie experience as the man has had since Maximum Overdrive, we would say that he has a much better shot at leading a film with far more success. The writer has nearly 90 films based on his novels and short stories and has included stars such as Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, and Ewan McGreggor.
To celebrate the arrival of John Lee Hancock’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Mr. Harrigan’s Phone on Netflix, the author did an interview where he talked about his favorite movies adapted from his work. He also addressed his experience writing the source material, writing the screenplay, and his one venture into the director’s chair. When asked what he would like to do again in the future.
Maximum Overdrive follows the story of the Earth passing through the tail of a comet, and previously inanimate objects come to life, most notably a slew of semi-trucks attacking the main characters. Stars that appeared in the film include Emilio Estevez (The Mighty Ducks and Young Guns), Pat Hingle (Batman and Batman Returns), and Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandolorian and Better Call Saul). The film is most famous for having been a troubled production, with Stephen King admitting that he was using a heavy amount of cocaine and didn’t know what he was doing; another crew member said that while they didn’t see him using coke, he was always drunk, including drinking beers at the six-thirty a.m. roll call.
While Maximum Overdrive didn’t land with critics or audiences, it didn’t hurt his brand as he handed directing duties over to professionals and the next decade saw classics like Stand by Me (Kiefer Sutherland and Corey Feldman), The Running Man (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Misery (James Caan and Kathy Bates), and Shawshank Redemption (Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins). Stephen King’s work has also made it to the small screen with adaptations in the mini-series form of Salem’s Lot and It (which gave us the iconic Pennywise, the clown played by Tim Curry). And his works have spawned comic book lines, most notably the Dark Tower series following the gunman and featuring easter eggs in many of his other works.
Even though Stephen King is renowned for his work as an author, and movies like The Shining and Pet Semetary destroyed our sleep schedules as children, his work behind the camera has had much less success. It makes us wonder what another chance would look like, would it be a better experience for everyone involved? Would the production be less messy and result in a great film? And what project would he choose to adapt to the screen? None of this is known yet, but after decades of scaring the masses, Stephen King has earned another shot.
