The unexpected director Stephen King called the “most talented in the world”
Endorsements from Stephen King hold a lot of weight, and luckily enough, for many creators out there, he is always willing and ready to give them out. On social media, for instance, King repeatedly proves his position as a man of immense consumption and shows it off, revealing all the reasons why something moved him in the way that it did.
Although he enjoys creations across all formats and genres, his social media is a particularly insatiable haven for horror lovers, which is not all that surprising considering he is, well, Stephen King. Nevertheless, over the last year, his favourites have included an array of horror stories, from Infested, Barbarian, MaXXXine, and A Quiet Place: Day One to In A Violent Nature and Late Night With The Devil.
Of the latter, he said: “It’s absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Your results may vary, as they say, but I urge you to watch it when you can.”
Clearly, therefore, King is a lover of psychological thrillers and enjoys a good plot twist when it’s revealed that everything is not what it seems. This is particularly prominent in Late Night With The Devil, which also plays on audience expectation while toying with the traditional notion of the spectator watching from the safety of their own home.
Considering King’s storytelling prowess and ability to infuse horror with deep-seated psychological unease, it would take a filmmaker with a knowledge of nuance and confidence in provocative themes to bring one of his stories to life. Though often character-driven, almost all of his stories centre around intense and visceral existential themes, all complicated in their unique ways and done justice only by directors who understand the layers within his texts.
There are a handful of names that would likely come to mind when discussing filmmakers who could adapt one of King’s stories for the big screen, but, in his mind, there is only one who would be suitable for the gig. “I’ll tell you who I would love to work with sometime, not work with, but wouldn’t think twice if he wanted to make one of my things into a movie. You know this movie Melancholia?” he once told Deadline, flirting with the idea of one day working with Lars Von Trier.
Melancholia has been hailed as one of his most accomplished works, exploring themes of depression and existential dread within the broader context of a cosmic catastrophe. King isn’t the only one who became endeared to the movie; many figures have said its aesthetics and themes lingered in their mind long after the credits rolled. For King, however, it also demonstrated a filmmaker who would be more than capable of matching up to his own values.
Expanding on his appreciation for Trier, he said: “I made an American miniseries out of his Kingdom Hospital. I think he’s the most talented, amazing director in the world and I would love to see what he did. And, again, I would stand aside and say, go to it and have a great time.”
It’s not too difficult to understand where King is coming from on this one. Although there are a number of contemporary filmmakers who could likely do the job and do it well, Trier does have a keen sense of the kind of boundary-pushing needed to appropriately and accurately bring King’s stories to life on screen. His narratives often also go beyond what is expected from a viewer, evoking emotional and visceral responses that exist bone-deep, something that King understands well.
