How Mike Flanagan Will Make ‘Carrie’ Really feel Like a New Story

Horror and literature followers alike can be excited to listen to that seasoned Stephen King cinematic universe storyteller Mike Flanagan has one thing new deliberate for his Carrie adaptation. The eight episode mini-series proposed by Amazon was an thought Flanagan initially balked at. He instructed Variety, “I initially thought, ‘Why? It’s been performed.”

You possibly can’t blame him for hesitating; the e-book has already been tailored a number of instances. However after giving it appreciable thought, he stated, “I discovered a solution to that query, and it made me very excited.”

He then turned to somebody who clearly wanted to be a part of the dialogue: famed horror creator Stephen King, who Flanagan has had a fruitful working relationship with—together with on his present function The Life of Chuck.

“However once I went to Steve, his reply was ‘Why?’ His first response was, ‘Go away her alone. She’s been by sufficient.’ But it surely’s that factor the place the extra data I may share, and sending him the bible and the plan for the present, he may see the factor we had been attempting to do this was new.” Flanagan defined. “Then he stated with out gifting away an excessive amount of, ‘Ohh, now I’m , simply as a fan. I’m excited to see the place this goes.’ As soon as he stated sure, then we had been off, as a result of if Steve had stated no, I wouldn’t do it. So the connection has developed, however he’s at all times remained extremely respectful of separating the e-book and the film.”

The Physician Sleep filmmaker seeks to modernize the narrative we find out about Carrie’s battle to slot in, not simply in school however at house. How that may remodel within the digital age knowledgeable his take. “The factor I’d say is the unique story is half a century previous and it’s great. Its themes had been about youth and bullying and the results of that. I consider that in right this moment’s fashionable world, the facility of what it means to be a bully, the breadth of that and the influence of bullying, have modified loads,” he stated.

“The central tenets are nonetheless the identical, however it’s about rather more than Carrie White,” Flanagan teased, hinting that whereas different on-screen variations centered on Carrie, he plans on deeper explorations of the opposite characters and world round her as nicely.

“I can’t actually speak about what we’re doing, I can solely actually speak about what we’re not doing. We’re not retelling the story because it’s been instructed, and we’re not making a present about telekinesis. It’s in there, however that’s not what it’s about,” he stated, ruling out about leaning an excessive amount of into Carrie’s supernatural inclinations. “There’s a model of it the place Carrie White carries a tragic superhero origin story that goes horribly mistaken. I really feel like they’ve performed that, too.”

This new model of the story will seemingly tie into how social buildings have change into extra poisonous, within the age of on-line platforms turning into locations of radicalization even when children go away faculties. “We’re centered far more on the destruction of a neighborhood by these very fashionable instruments. What occurs in a world the place the web has created an setting of perceived anonymity? Carrie White within the locker room in each iteration is a horrifying scene,” he stated. “Carrie White within the locker room when folks have telephones of their palms is a complete completely different factor.”

That undoubtedly brings to thoughts modern youth-centered dramas similar to Adolescence however by the use of Stephen King Horror—and we are able to’t wait to see what Flanagan comes up with.

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