Stephen King just got richer. His latest, the four-story novella ‘If It Bleeds’, published in April, has scored three film options from some pretty big names. The fourth story is expected to also land an option in the near future.
The first story, “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” will be written and directed by John Lee Hancock (‘The Little Things’). The film will be produced by Netflix, Jason Blum/Blumhouse, Ryan Murphy, and Carla Hacken.
A teenager finds that a dead friend’s cell phone that was buried with the body still communicates from beyond the grave.
“Rat,” was optioned by Ben Stiller, who intends to produce, direct, and star in this project.
“Rat” centers on a writer named Drew Larson with an acclaimed short story to his credit. He’s given himself over to academia because every time he tries to turn a good idea into a novel, things go seriously bad – mentally, physically, or both.
“Rat” has been compared to W. W. Jacobs’ classic short story, “The Monkey’s Paw.”
Cynthia Erivo in The Outsider – HBO
“The Life of Chuck” was optioned by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa. Aronofsky is only expected to produce.
“The Life of Chuck” is three separate stories linked to tell the biography of Charles Krantz in reverse, beginning with his death from a brain tumor at 39 and ending with his childhood in a supposedly haunted house.
The fourth story, “If It Bleeds,” hasn’t been optioned yet, but it expected to be a hot ticket. It stars the character, Holly Gibney, from the “Bill Hodges” trilogy– ‘Mr. Mercedes’, ‘Finders Keepers’, and ‘End of Watch’– which was adapted as the Audience Network TV series, ‘Mr. Mercedes’, and ‘The Outsider’ which was made into an HBO miniseries released earlier this year.
Justine Lupe portrayed Holly on ‘Mr. Mercedes’, while Cynthia Erivo played her in ‘The Outsider’.
Previously, King’s 1982 novella, ‘Different Seasons’ also spawned a slew of adaptations. “The Body” became Rob Reiner’s ’80s coming-of-age classic ‘Stand By Me’. “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” was adapted into Frank Darabont’s box office flop, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Despite its failure at the time, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is now seen as a masterpiece and is beloved by the masses. And Bryan Singer turned “Apt Pupil” into a film in 1998. That film also flopped, but unlike ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, it has not found a following in the years since. The fourth story in ‘Different Seasons’, “The Breathing Method” has never been adapted.
Have you read ‘If It Bleeds’? Are you excited that these stories are getting turned into movies?
Source: Deadline
