Stephen King’s latest collection of stories just came out last April, but three of those stories are already getting the film treatment. Yesterday, Deadline announced that three of the stories from If It Bleeds have been picked up for film adaptations.
If It Bleeds is a collection of four novellas from the master of horror. The three stories set to be adapted are Mr. Harrington’s Phone, Rat and The Life of Chuck.
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Ben Stiller optioned Rat with the intention to produce, direct, and star in the film. The story follows a frustrated writer named Drew Larson who wrote an acclaimed short story. He turns to academia because every time he comes cup with a new book idea, something terrible happens. Now he has a new idea for a Western, and heads out to an old family cabin in the woods determined to get it done. When horrible storms begin at the cabin, Larson bargains with a rat to alleviate his writer’s block. Larson comes to believe that it was all a dream. But soon after returning home, he finds that what he traded was success for the life of a loved one…
Director Darren Aronofsky has optioned Life of Chuck, and boarded the project as a producer. The Life Of Chuck is the story of Charles Krantz, who life is slowly ending at age 39 of a brain tumor. Krantz’ story follows different chapters of his life, segmented into eerie sections.
Netflix, Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy will team to bring the story, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, to the streaming giant. John Lee Hancock (The Highwaymen) is set to write and direct the film, with Jason Blum, Murphy and Carla Hacken producing. A young man is hired by Mr. Harrigan, for odd jobs and eventually befriends him. After a few years, the young man purchases a cell phone for Mr. Harrigan as a gift. After Mr. Harrigan’s death, as a final farewell, the kid places the phone in his friends pocket for burial. After become lonely and sad one evening the teen leaves Mr. Harrigan a voicemail and begins getting responses from the grave.
Stephen King’s latest novella If it Bleeds is now available wherever books are sold. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror.
