John Carpenter Has No Interest In Adapting Another Stephen King Story

Filmmaker John Carpenter and author Stephen King are often considered some of the greatest minds in the world of horror in regards to their specific mediums. The two collaborated when Carpenter adapted King's novel Christine into a feature film in 1983, but while that film is considered one of the filmmaker's classics, he shared recently that he has no interest in adapting another one of the author's works.

When asked by Consequence of Sound if the director was interested in adapting more of King's works, Carpenter joked, "No, oh, hell no. Are you kidding? That's work. I don't want to do that."

The director's response might have been joking in nature, but seeing as he hasn't directed a film since 2010, there was clearly truth to his comments.

Carpenter might not have interest in doing a Stephen King adaptation at the moment, but he was, at one point, attached to bring King's Firestarter to life, an opportunity he sounds disappointed to have missed.

"I would have loved to do that one," Carpenter said of the adaptation. "That was a great one."

Carpenter also confirmed that King has always distanced himself from adaptations of his works, while also supporting their production, saying of King's involvement on Christine, "He just said do what you wish."

The story of Christine revolves around a nerdy high school student buying a '58 Plymouth Fury, which he begins to obsess over. When some bullies damage the car, the car comes to life to seek revenge for the damages. The film might not be as horrifying as some of Carpenter's other films, but it's still a film he's proud of.

"Oh, sure, I'm proud of it," Carpenter claimed of the film's lack of horror elements. "I'm proud of the performances in it, and I'm proud of some of the sequences with the car. Sure, I like it. It's not my best movie, but it's not my worst movie, so what the hell."

In recent years, Carpenter has been focusing more of his time and energy on musical projects, having released the albums Lost Themes and Lost Themes II, which were released under the concept of the tracks being themes for films that haven't yet been made.

You can check out Carpenter on tour with his musical projects in the coming months in a city near you.

[H/T Consequence of Sound]