The Stephen King train just keeps on chugging, with more and more of the horror maestro’s works heading for feature-length adaptations following the runaway success of It (and not at all the miserable performance of The Dark Tower, which we should all just forget about). Netflix has made another grab at King’s sprawling canon, following adaptations of Gerald’s Game and 1922, by securing a deal for In the Tall Grass, a novella written by King and his son, fellow bestselling horror author Joe Hill. This news comes from Deadline, who also says actor James Marsden is in talks to star.
The film will be written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, best known for the sci-fi sleepers Cube and Splice, as well as directing episodes of prestige television like Lost in Space, Westworld, and six episodes of Hannibal. Originally published in two parts in consecutive issues of Esquire magazine in 2012, the novella concerns two college-age siblings on a cross-country journey who hear a small boy crying for help in a cornfield in Kansas. After entering the vast field, they learn that there may in fact be no way out. It only gets weirder from there.
King’s stories have been turned into movies pretty much since he first started publishing them, but there’s been a marked upswing in adaptations following the success of Andy Muschietti’s It, which grossed more than $700 million worldwide. There are no fewer than eight feature films in various stages of development based on his work, not to mention an entire series, Castle Rock, which is set in his fictional universe. As for Hill, yet another adaptation of his groundbreaking graphic novel series Locke & Key is in the works, and dear heavens do we want that to be finally happen.
No word on when In the Tall Grass is expected, but we’re waiting with cautious bated breath.
Images: Stephen King
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
The biggest horror news right now
- An appreciation of the low-budget King adaptation Children of the Corn!
- A guide to all the Lovecraftian gods in Stephen King’s work!
- Count the King references in the new Castle Rock trailer!
