{"id":51259,"date":"2017-10-04T01:54:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T01:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=51259"},"modified":"2017-10-04T01:54:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T01:54:47","slug":"make-successful-stephen-king-movie-geralds-game-director-mike-flanagan-tells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=51259","title":{"rendered":"How to make a successful Stephen King movie? ‘Gerald’s Game’ director Mike Flanagan tells all!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Warning: This post contains spoilers for the film version of Gerald\u2019s Game.<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n

When Mike Flanagan started production on his dream project \u2014 an adaptation of Stephen King\u2018s \u201cunfilmable\u201d 1992 novel Gerald\u2019s Game <\/em>\u2014 last year, he had no idea that he\u2019d be part of 2017\u2019s great King-aissance. The calendar year has brought such major motion pictures as The Dark Tower<\/em> and the reigning horror blockbuster, It<\/em>, as well as TV adaptations of Mr. Mercedes <\/em>and The Mist<\/em>. Even though it\u2019s coming at the tail end of this fresh wave of King adaptations, Gerald\u2019s<\/em> Game<\/em>, which premiered on Netflix last week, <\/em>has arguably received the best reviews of the bunch. <\/em>And this film\u2019s critical success, along with It\u2019<\/em>s monster box office, means we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more Stephen King real soon. \u201cAs a lifelong fan, I love it because I\u2019m getting new King stuff every couple of weeks,\u201d Flanagan raves. \u201cI hope what it does is shake loose a lot more opportunities to get his other properties made that, even a year ago, people would be reluctant to take on.\u201d We chatted with the rising horror star \u2014 whose credits include such well-reviewed frightfests as Hush <\/em>and Ouija: Origin of Evil <\/em>\u2014 about the secret to making a great Stephen King adaptation and some of the notable differences between King\u2019s book and his film.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n

Yahoo Entertainment: One of the interesting things about this current Stephen King boom is that it hasn\u2019t just been a string of horror movies in a row. It has encompassed a sci-fi\/fantasy film with The Dark Tower<\/em>, a detective yarn with Mr. Mercedes<\/em>, a ghost story with It<\/em>, and now a chamber room thriller with Gerald\u2019s Game<\/em>. It really speaks to his range as a novelist.
\nMike Flanagan: <\/strong>Oh, yeah. He\u2019s capable of so many different things when it comes to characters, suspense, and tone. His library is so diverse. It\u2019s lovely to see people discover Mr. Mercedes<\/em>, which I\u2019m loving, and then going out to see It<\/em> and having a completely different experience<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The odd film out in this case is The Dark Tower<\/em>, which wasn\u2019t very widely seen. Maybe more people will come to it on DVD or via the planned TV series.
\n<\/strong>I have high hopes for the TV series. I\u2019ve heard a rumor that the series is going to be based on Wizard and Glass<\/em>, which is my favorite of the book series. So if that\u2019s the case, I\u2019m all in. But that\u2019s an almost impossible property to adapt, and having just done Gerald\u2019s Game<\/em>, I feel confident saying that! I\u2019m still amazed that people would try [adapting] The Dark Tower<\/em>. It\u2019s like trying to adapt a mountain; I don\u2019t know how you\u2019d approach it.<\/p>\n

Having just come off your own challenging adaptation, what\u2019s the secret to getting Stephen King right?
\n<\/strong>The secret for me, even just as a fan, is to stay as close to the book as you can. Then, when you come up to elements that aren\u2019t easy to translate cinematically, rather than try to reinvent the wheel or take off in some other direction, the best thing you can do is ask yourself, \u201cWhat was the experience emotionally that I had when I read this? And if I can\u2019t do literally what\u2019s on the page, how can I still protect that emotional experience and be true to the experience of reading it?\u201d That keeps the train on the tracks. The further away you get from the experience of reading the book, the more likely you are to see an adaptation go off the rails.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, what was your experience of reading Gerald\u2019s Game <\/em>for the first time?
\n<\/strong>I first read it in college when I was 19. I had started reading Stephen King in the fifth grade and declared him my favorite author, so I had been catching up on his stuff for years and finally got to Gerald\u2019s Game<\/em>. I remember putting the book down and exhaling for a solid minute. It was so visceral; I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever been dive-bombed into the psyche of a character as completely as I was with that book. Outside of all the terrifying stuff, what I thought was incredible about it was what it had to say about survival and female empowerment, as well as the lasting effects that abuse and trauma have on women in particular. I put it down and thought that if someone could re-create the experience I just had reading this on film, what a movie that would be.<\/p>\n

But I also thought it was unfilmable! [Laughs<\/em>] Still, it wouldn\u2019t leave me alone, and for the next 19 years it kept turning over in my head until I started to see a version I thought would work. I carried the script around in my bag to meetings, and if someone said, \u201cHey, what\u2019s your dream project?\u201d I\u2019d pull it out. So it\u2019s a real dream come true for me to have made it. I don\u2019t think it would have happened without Netflix taking an interest and Stephen getting behind it.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about some of the changes you did make to the book, starting with the casting of Bruce Greenwood. He\u2019s a very different Gerald than the one described on the page, much more fit and movie star handsome. Reading the book, I pictured someone like John Carroll Lynch in the part.
\n<\/strong>We talked about him! It\u2019s interesting, the person who first suggested Bruce to me was Stephen King. I had put together a list of actors, whittled it down to a top five, and Bruce was on it. Stephen had worked with Bruce on another project and said, \u201cI would love to see Bruce Greenwood tackle this.\u201d It is very different from the character in the book, but I figured if Stephen was talking him up, he wouldn\u2019t be too upset.<\/p>\n

Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n