Certain directors throughout film history have become known for their specific ability to adapt a certain writer, standing head and shoulders above any other adaptations. Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh had this with Shakespeare, David Lean with Noel Coward and Charles Dickens, Robert Bresson with Georges Bernanos. Similarly, Mike Flanagan has become the preeminent adapter of Stephen King, bringing his work to the screen in faithful but also uniquely cinematic ways. Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck — his last three feature films, are all excellent King adaptations. Now he’s taking King to TV, where Flanagan has had immense success with series like Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House. This time, it’s the classic and heartbreaking early King novel, Carrie.
“It initially started as a conversation that Amazon initiated, and they said, ‘Hey, would you have any interest in Carrie?'” Flanagan told MovieWeb in a recent interview. “And I had to think about it, because my first instinct is always — why? It’s been done perfectly by De Palma, it’s then been done three other times after the fact. Why do it again?” He explained:
Carrie White is a story about high school violence and bullying, and that feels immediate and important today, unfortunately, even more kind of sharply relevant than I think it was when he wrote it. So there felt like a chance for some true modernization beyond just changing the time period, and to use it to talk about the issues that affect high school kids in America today.
“You know,” elaborated Flanagan, “Carrie White walking through a metal detector is interesting to me. Carrie White with social media. The iconic scene in the locker room is very different when people have phones in their hands. So that was the first germ of an idea, like, there is room for this to actually have a lot to say that’s very relevant. And I can’t spoil the changes that we made in order to kind of find a story that felt like it needed to be told. But we made some pretty substantial changes.”
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What Stephen King Thinks of Flanagan’s Carrie Adaptation
Flanagan continued:
“When I brought it to Stephen King — because that’s the other side of this, if Steve says no, he doesn’t want to see it happen, we’re not going to do it; I’m not about to do that in that relationship. And so when I mentioned it to him and said,
‘What do you think about
Carrie
for TV?’ He said, ‘Well, why? Leave her alone
. She’s good, she’s done. I’d rather we focus on other things.'”
“But when I sent him kind of the layout of how I saw it could work, he really liked it,” added Flanagan. “And he came back and said, ‘Actually, yes, I think this is interesting, and I think this could be really relevant and could be really exciting.’ And so that was when I said yeah, we should do this. I can’t talk more about it, other than we’re in the writers’ room. We’re having a great time, and I think we’re going to tell a story that will be surprising and impactful, very relevant to our modern society and to issues in our country.”
16:19
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“My oldest son is 14 years old,” explained Flanagan on a more personal note, “and I look at him as I’m working on this story, and think it’s important for his generation. I think there’ll be something in there that I hope will be useful to them in this world. But yeah, I’m really glad we’re doing it. I’m having a blast.” Flanagan concluded:
”
But it was a surprise to me as well that it emerged as a priority. Because my initial reaction was, why do it?
Which, in fairness, I had the same reaction when we first talked about adapting
The Turn of the Screw
for
[The Haunting of] Bly Manor
. It’s been done dozens of times, that thing is just worn out. Why? Why approach it? And we found an approach that made it feel like, yes, absolutely, this is a story worth telling. So, yeah, I think it’s going to be very, very interesting for people, and I think it’ll be surprising.”
In the meantime, Flanagan’s Life of Chuck is coming to theaters in early 2025. He just wrote his first novella, as well, called Rare, Fine, and Limited. The 80-page story is part of Find Familiar Spirits’ exclusive line of tequila, Macabre Spirits, from Matthew Lillard and Justin Ware. You can pre-order and find more information about it here.
- Release Date
- November 16, 1976
- Runtime
- 98 Minutes
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Studio