Director Mike Flanagan’s upcoming film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck has found a home at NEON. They are in the process of “closing a distribution deal” to acquire the film in the wake of it winning the People’s Choice Award at TIFF.
The film is said to “likely be released in the summer of 2025.” After all of the amazing things that I’ve heard about this movie, I hate that we are going to have to wait that long to watch it.
The Life of Chuck is said to be “one of the all-time great Stephen King adaptations.”
The movie stars Tom Hiddleston and it tell “three separate stories linked to tell the biography of Charles Krantz in reverse, beginning with his death from a brain tumor at 39 and ending with his childhood in a supposedly haunted house.”
The film is described as an apocalyptic version of It’s a Wonderful Life, and King, who has seen the film, says that it’s “a happiness machine.”
Hiddlestone previously talked about the film, saying: “Well, he’s written something very tender and very wise. I think there is a great wisdom in the soul of the story, which is that it takes courage to hold on to what is good in a world that feels like it’s falling apart.”
When talking about the disaster aspect of the story, Flanagan explains why this one is different: “A disaster movie has people meeting the end while running from tidal waves, and this story has people sitting quietly holding hands looking at the stars.”
Hiddleston went on to say: “The life of every human being is a constellation, as expressed in this film. There are certain moments which will burn most brightly as individual stars.
“Sometimes it feels like the world is going to hell in a handcart, and it’s full of pain and suffering, and it is—but there are moments of deep joy and deep connection.”
The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as a school teacher trying to apply logic to the planet’s troubles; Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy) is his ex, a hospital worker determined to save everyone she can; Matthew Lillard (Scream) is a construction worker neighbor who finds zen amid the chaos; and Carl Lumbly (Alias), plays a funeral director who has dedicated his life to easing people through death.
The cast also includes Mark Hamill, David Dastmalchian, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange), and Jacob Tremblay (Doctor Sleep), as well as Mia Sara, Trinity Bliss, Harvey Guillen, Rahul Kohli, and Heather Langenkamp.
