When one hears that writer/director Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, The Fall of the House of Usher) is adapting a Stephen King short story, they probably assume he would be tackling one of the prolific author’s horror tales. However, his upcoming film, The Life of Chuck, is a fantastical, life-affirming, extraordinary story about an ordinary man, Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddleston). Flanagan is a master at infusing genuine, heart-wrenching emotion into even the scariest series, so it’s no surprise that The Life of Chuck received rave reviews and won the People’s Choice Award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
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When speaking with ComicBook, Flanagan revealed that wanting to make a movie for his children served as a major influence on his process of crafting The Life of Chuck.
“It kind of informed why I wanted to make it to begin with. I had first read the story in April 2020, so it was right as as the Covid shutdown had hit, and having to kind of explain to my kids what was happening in the world, and trying to kind of hide from them the degree to which I felt anxiety and dread and keep them optimistic and keep them hopeful. I didn’t know how to do that.” Then Flanagan revealed, “The story that Stephen King wrote did that for me.”
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Flanagan Credits Lack of Studio Input for The Life of Chuck‘s Personal Touch
With The Life of Chuck’s star-studded cast, Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejifor (12 Years a Slave), Karen Gillian (Avengers: Endgame), and Mark Hamill (Star Wars: A New Hope), and its A-list creative team, the film has all the trappings of a studio’s award season darling. However, The Life of Chuck was made independently, which Flanagan claims is why he could keep the idea of making the movie for his children so close to him throughout the process.
“I was so moved by [the story]. It immediately struck me as, I want there to be a movie that can do this for my kids the way I felt when I read it,” Flanagan confirmed. “So, they were always kind of the engine for it, and it informed every, every creative choice. My audience was them, for the longest time. And we didn’t have a studio kind of involved to point me any other way. So it got to stay pure that way.”
The film’s purity has served it well thus far. Pre-release, The Life of Chuck already has an 88% positive score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with many of them praising Flanagan’s earnest and sincere storytelling. The ability to make such a strong film in such a different genre than what he’s celebrated further cements Flanagan as one of the strongest filmmakers working today.
Horror fans needn’t fret, however. Flanagan will reteam with King back in the horror space next on Amazon’s Carrie remake series. He also promised that The Dark Tower series is still coming along. Flanagan told ComicBook he’s been “moving it forward“, however the scope of the project demands a slow, steady pace of execution.
The Life of Chuck opens in select theaters on June 6th, then everywhere on June 13th.
