Ready for an enigma? Because Stephen King fans have spent most of February dealing with a doozy. It began mid month when the news broke that Mike Flanagan – known among Constant Readers for making Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep and The Life Of Chuck – had signed a deal with Warner Bros. that will see him tackle a new adaptation of The Mist. Naturally, this caused a bit of controversy among King fans, specifically those who love writer/director Frank Darabont’s film from 2007, and that led Flanagan to explain himself this week: he says that he’s not making a traditional remake, and he is instead “going in a different direction.”
But here’s the rub: if Darabont’s movie already exists as an extremely faithful take on the source material, what can we expect from Flanagan’s approach? I’ve opted to use this week’s edition of The King Beat to address that question, as I have a collection of theories about what the filmmaker is cooking up. Along with the news that a new King short is about to have a U.S. premiere next month in Los Angeles, there’s a whole lot to discuss, so without further ado, let’s dig in!
I Can Imagine At Least Four Ways That Mike Flanagan Can Put A New Spin On The Mist
To date, faithfulness to the source material has been a key part of what has made Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptations so successful. He hasn’t been afraid to make certain alterations when they are called for (always a necessity when translating a story across mediums), but his first instinct is typically to take what was written on the page and bring it to the big screen. That “take” on The Mist already exists, though, which means Flanagan will have to try something a bit more radical.
In an exercise of speculation, I put some thinking into how Flanagan might approach the material – understanding both his passion and sensibilities – and while I have no idea if any of these are right, I have four theories about the path he may end up traveling with the project…
Beyond The High Concept Plot, Everything Is New
When you break it down, the plot of The Mist is very straightforward: a small town is besieged by an eldritch fog full of man-eating monsters, and a collection of people trapped together see a dangerous mix of fear and religious fervor make the situation a billion times worse. In King’s version, said town is in Maine, and the principal characters are trapped in a supermarket, but those are details that can be radically changed and thusly kick start a new narrative based on the same basic narrative hook.
What if it’s a much more diverse community where tensions are already high due to ugly prejudices? What if the story weren’t set in a supermarket, but instead a location with far fewer resources? Those are simple changes that can cascade into whole new directions and set Mike Flanagan’s The Mist apart significantly from the Darabont film.
The Story Gets A Super Modern And Topical Update
You know what was a long time ago? The year 1985, when The Mist was included in the short story collection Skeleton Crew (which itself was five years after the novella was first published in the 1980 collection Dark Forces). You know what was also a long time ago? The year 2007 when Frank Darabont’s movie first premiered in theaters. The world has changed a hell of a lot in the time since those versions of the story, and that alone might be enough creative fuel for Flanagan to work with.
As scary as the monsters are in Stephen King’s tale, the humans are far, far worse, as extreme fear drives people to make extreme decisions, and the results are horrific. It’s not difficult at all to see how this material reflects the radical conflicts we see in communities everyday here in the mid-2020s, and simply updating the setting of The Mist might be enough to set Flanagan’s vision apart from previous versions.
The Story Of The Mist From A Completely Different Perspective
My final theory is my most extreme, and while I have little doubt that it will ultimately be the direction chosen for the new take on The Mist, I figure I’ll throw it out into the universe anyway. In the Stephen King story, it is suggested that all the monster horror is a direct result of a local military base experiment called the Arrowhead Project, which opened a portal to another dimension and let some awful creatures into our world. We only vaguely learn about what actually happened, but perhaps that makes it solid fodder for Mike Flanagan.
Rather than being a remake, this version of The Mist would be more of a prequel and be set at the military base where the Arrowhead Project is being conducted – perhaps echoing the themes of Jurassic Park by questioning the conflict point of morals and possibilities in scientific exploration.
An Arrowhead Project Prequel
The big bad news here is that it might be quite a while before we learn if any of these theories turns out to be right. While Mike Flanagan may now be committed to making The Mist and has already worked out his personal approach, he’s a filmmaker currently in the midst of juggling a number of other projects, including the Carrie limited series, his Exorcist movie for Universal Pictures, and his epic effort to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. All that being said, as more interesting information about the project comes to light in the coming weeks, months, and years, you can be sure that you’ll be able to find analysis of it here on CinemaBlend.
Japanese Short Film The Dedication, Based On The Stephen King Short Story, Has A U.S. Premiere Date And A Trailer
Stephen King is unquestionably an American writer (very little of his work is set outside the United States), but there is also no questioning his international appeal. In addition to his books selling around the globe, there have been multiple foreign language adaptations of his works produced, including 2003’s Julie Ganapathi (based on the novel Misery) and 2007’s No Smoking (based on the short story Quitter’s Inc). It adds an additional degree of scope to his already epic legacy, and upcoming west coast premiere of the short film The Dedication will see it grow further.
Per Desert Sun, the new work – directed by filmmaker Adrienne Lunson – will be screening as part of the upcoming Golden State Film Festival next month on March 5 at the TCL Chinese Theater. The Japanese-language movie is based on the short story of the same name featured in the 1993 omnibus Nightmares & Dreamscapes, and you can watch the trailer for it below:
In The Dedication, a mother who works as a hotel housekeeper celebrates the publication of her son’s first novel, which is published with a dedication to her on the first page. While discussing the momentous event with a co-worker, she ends up confessing a long-held secret involving paternity, black magic, and murder. The new adaptation, titled Kenji in Japan, is one of the final movies to be produced from King’s famous Dollar Baby Program, which came to an end in the final month of 2023.
If you live in Los Angeles and/or plan to be in the city on March 5, you can to see The Dedication by going to the Golden State Film Festival website and purchasing a ticket for the 6:00 pm Japanese Shorts Block.
That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of The King Beat, but if you’re the kind of person who is evermore in need of new things to read about when it comes to Stephen King, fear not: I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with a brand new column examining all of the latest news going on involving the author’s works and adaptations. In the meantime, you can explore the long history of King in movies and television via my series Adapting Stephen King.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
