Stephen King is an incredibly prolific author, but he is also very effective at getting movie deals. King’s latest book, a collection of four novellas titled “If It Bleeds,” already produced three movie deals since it got published in May. The buyers? Darren Aronofsky, Ben Stiller, and Blumhouse/Netflix.
The scoop comes from Deadline, stating that three out of the four tales in the book have already been snapped up for movie adaptations. First up is Darren Aronofsky’s production company Protozoa optioned “The Life of Chuck,” with Aronofsky aboard as a producer. The story begins with a man dying of a brain tumor at 39 before going back in time and telling his life’s story in reverse.
Ben Stiller optioned the story titled “Rat,” reportedly to both produce, direct and star in. “Rat” follows a frustrated writer named Drew Larson, whose every idea causes something terrible to happen. While out on a cabin to finish his latest story, Larson makes a Faustian bargain with a rat to get over writer’s block, but realizes he accidentally traded success for the life of a loved one.
Then there’s “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” which was optioned to Netflix, with Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy attached to produce the film, and John Lee Hancock (“Saving Mr. Banks“) set to write and direct. This story is said to be close in tone to “Stand By Me,” only with a bit more of the supernatural.
“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” is about a teenager named Craig who does odd-jobs for the town’s newest citizen, an elderly and eccentric billionaire named Mr. Harrigan. The story is centered around the release of the first iPhone, and one day Craig starts getting messages from the iPhone he gifted to Mr. Harrigan. The only problem is that Mr. Harrigan is dead, and the iPhone was buried with him.