Oculus co-writer and director Mike Flanagan has lined up his next project: he will write and direct a feature film adaptation of Stephen King‘s novel Gerald’s Game. Deadline is reporting that Flanagan has once again collaborated with writing partner Jeff Howard on the script and Intrepid Pictures will produce as they did on Oculus and Flanagan’s upcoming Somnia.
While I haven’t read Gerald’s Game myself, a quick glance at the synopsis illustrates why this particular King property is right in the director’s wheelhouse. The story involves a couple with a troubled marriage, horrifying apparitions that appear to the wife, voices in her head brought on by hallucinations and a devastating past memory that once again rears its ugly head. If any of you saw Flanagan’s latest feature Oculus, I’m assuming these themes all sound vaguely familiar.
Deadline also reports that Flanagan originally had planned to begin production on Diver later this summer but that film has been put on hold with the intention of beginning physical production on Gerald’s Game this fall instead. Diver is a supernatural story about a team of people who enter into the minds of the recently deceased with the hopes of discovering clues and information to solve crimes.
Flanagan has been outspoken regarding his admiration for Stephen King especially while talking about his last film Oculus and he issued a statement regarding “Gerald’s Game” that echoed that sentiment saying, “In the tradition of ‘Misery’ and ‘Dolores Claiborne,’ ‘Gerald’s Game’ is one of the most intense and compelling novels I’ve ever read, and this has been a dream project for many years. Trevor and I are very excited to help translate that experience for an audience.”
[HT: Deadline]
