NEW YORK (AP) ā Stephen King recently about the new film adaption āThe Life of Chuck," his latest book āNever Flinchā and other topics.
Here are highlights from that conversation.
On 'The Life of Chuck'
Over time, King has developed a personal policy in how he talks about the adaptations of his books. āMy idea is: If you canāt say something nice, keep your mouth shut,ā he says. Every now and then, King is such a fan of an adaptation that heās excited to talk about it. Thatās very much the case with Mike Flanaganās new adaptation of Kingās novella of the same name published in the 2020 collection
āThe Life of Chuck,ā which Neon releases in theaters Friday (nationwide June 13), there are separate storylines but the tone-setting opening is apocalyptic. The internet, like a dazed prize fighter, wobbles on its last legs before going down. California is said to be peeling away from the mainland ālike old wallpaper." And yet in this doomsday tale, King is at his most sincere. āThe Life of Chuck,ā the book and the movie, is about what matters in life when everything else is lost. There is dancing, Walt Whitman and joy.
āIn āThe Life of Chuck,ā we understand that this guyās life is cut short, but that doesnāt mean he doesnāt experience joy,ā says King. āExistential dread and grief and things are part of the human experience, but so is joy.ā
On his life as a moviegoer
So vividly drawn is Kingās fiction that itās offered the basis for some 50 feature films. For half a century, since Brian De Palmaās 1976 film āCarrie,ā Hollywood has turned, and turned again, to Kingās books for their richness of character, nightmare and sheer entertainment. He's also a moviegoer, himself.
āI love anything from āThe 400 Blowsā to something with that guy Jason Statham,ā King says, speaking by phone from his home in Maine. āThe worst movie I ever saw was still a great way to spend an afternoon. The only movie I ever walked out on was āTransformers.ā At a certain point I said, āThis is just ridiculous.āā
On contemporary anxieties
The kind of climate change disaster found in āThe Life of Chuck,ā King says, often dominates his anxieties.
āWeāre creeping up little by little on being the one country who does not acknowledge itās a real problem with carbon in the atmosphere,ā King says. āThatās crazy. Certain right wing politicians can talk all they want about how weāre saving the world for our grandchildren. They donāt care about that. They care about money.ā
On social media, King has been a sometimes critic of President Donald Trump, whose second term has included battles with the arts, academia and Over the next four years, King predicts, āCulture is going to go underground.ā
In āNever Finch,ā Holly Gibney is hired as a bodyguard by a womenās rights activist whose lecture tour is being plagued by mysterious acts of violence. In the afterward of the book, King includes a tribute to āsupporters of womenās right to choose who have been murdered for doing their duty.ā āIām sure theyāre not going to like that,ā King says of right-wing critics.
On āNever Flinchā
King, 77, has now written somewhere around 80 books, including the just released The mystery thriller brings back Kingās recent favorite protagonist, the private investigator Holly Gibney, who made her stand-alone debut in āIf It Bleeds.ā Itās Gibneyās insecurities, and her willingness to push against them, that has kept King returning to her.
āIt gave me great pleasure to see Holly grow into a more confident person,ā King says. āShe never outgrows all of her insecurities, though. None of us do.ā
āNever Flinchā is a reminder that King has always been less of a genre-first writer than a character-first one. He tends to fall in love with a character and follow them through thick and thin.
āIām always happy writing. Thatās why I do it so much,ā King says, chuckling. āIām a very chipper guy because I get rid of all that dark stuff in the books.ā
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
