One of my most highly anticipated upcoming films is the Mike Flanagan-directed Stephen King movie The Life of Chuck, and we’ve learned that NEON will release it in theaters on May 30, 2025.
The Life of Chuck is “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.”
It’s also described as “a Stand By Me for the multiple lives within each of us, pulled between our dreams and down-to-earth pragmatism.”
The movie has been met with glowing reviews and it sounds like it’s the movie of 2025 that audiences won’t want to miss.
The film stars Tom Hiddleston in the lead role, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), 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.
Hiddleston 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 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.
