Writer-director Mike Flanagan says his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist is “going in a different direction from Frank Darabont's cult favourite. Update: When it was announced that writer-director Mike Flanagan is poised to adapt another Stephen King story, The Mist, one obvious question might have been ‘why?’. Frank Darabont already brought a bold take ... The Mist | Mike Flanagan “going in different direction” from Frank Darabont’s 2007 film
Writer-director Mike Flanagan says his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist is “going in a different direction from Frank Darabont's cult favourite.
Update: When it was announced that writer-director Mike Flanagan is poised to adapt another Stephen King story, The Mist, one obvious question might have been ‘why?’. Frank Darabont already brought a bold take on the same material to the screen in 2007. Does the world need a new take on a cult horror classic?
Over the past few days, Flanagan has been providing answers to that question on Bluesky (via Dark Horizons). “I love Darabont’s film, and there’s zero point in remaking it,” the filmmaker wrote. Which is why I’m going in a different direction.”
To another message, he replied, “I learned a long ago never to try to predict what the fans will or won’t argue about (everybody needs to relax, frankly; I just saw a whole chain of people foaming at the mouth over fan-made AI slop posters for The Exorcist)… but yeah, this isn’t a retread. The differences start page 1.”
Roughly a week previously, Flanagan said he’d had similar questions when he tackled such projects as The Haunting Of Hill House, The House Of Usher and other adaptations. “I’ve been lucky so far in my career to only take on projects I’m excited about.”
Given the number of other things Flanagan’s working on, it maybe some years before we see his take on The Mist, previously about a Maine community huddling in a supermarket as unholy forces emerge from the ether one day. Whatever new angle the filmmaker has on King’s tale, he promises that it’ll be “great.”
“If there wasn’t an excellent answer to “why,” I wouldn’t do it,” he said.
Our original story follows…
Filmmaker Mike Flanagan’s seeming mission to adapt everything Stephen King has ever written continues. Having already made Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep and The Life Of Chuck, all based on King stories, Flanagan is said to be about to write and direct a new take on The Mist.
Originally written in the 1970s, The Mist was most famously adapted by writer-director Frank Darabont in 2007. Largely taking place in a supermarket as supernatural forces descend on a small town in Maine, it features a committed lead performance from Thomas Jane and one of the most bracing conclusions in horror history. If you’ve seen the movie, you probably haven’t forgotten it.
Sadly, The Mist wound up as Darabont’s last feature film; he’s largely busied himself with TV work since, including a couple of episodes of Stranger Things.
There was also a TV series based on the same material released in 2017, though it’s perhaps the movie, made on a lean $15m-ish budget, that is most widely remembered. Himself a serial adapter of King stories, (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile came before it), Darabont boldly diverged from the original novella.
All of which makes us wonder what fresh angle Flanagan can bring to The Mist's lean premise. His earlier King adaptations benefited from not having been adapted before; a new take on The Mist will inevitably compared with Darabont’s effort. We’ll have to wait and see on that front. (A hat-tip to Deadline for reporting on the project, in the works at Warner Bros.)
Flanagan also has lots of other projects on the boil. He’s currently deep in a rebootening of The Exorcist, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (among others) and due out in 2027. He also has an eight-part adaptation of Carrie on the go, and a TV series based on the voluminous saga, The Dark Tower. Those are, of course, both works by Stephen King.
More as it comes in.
