Movies
Spielberg Originally Wanted Stephen King to Write ‘Poltergeist’?!
There’s a fantastic article up on EW right now about the untold stories of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King‘s (almost) collaborations, which is where we got yesterday’s news that Spielberg, who outright owns the rights to the book, is hoping to at least produce an adaptation of King’s The Talisman. There’s another gem in there too.
During their chat with both King and Spielberg, EW uncovered the fun fact tidbit that Spielberg had originally wanted King to co-write Poltergeist with him!
“I wanted him to help me out with the script and sort of write it with me, but he was unavailable,” Spielberg told the site. King added to the story, “It didn’t work out because it was before the internet and we had a communication breakdown.”
King continued, explaining why he took so long to get back to Spielberg, which killed the potential collaboration: “I was on a ship going across the Atlantic to England.”
Spielberg ended up writing Poltergeist with Michael Grais and Mark Victor, and Tobe Hooper was of course brought on board to direct – with Spielberg producing.
Don Mancini is hard at work scripting a brand new Chucky movie, which will take the franchise is an unexpected new direction according to the voice behind killer doll Chucky.
Don’t expect the new film to pick up from where the series left off, Academy Award nominee Brad Dourif teased at the Creep I.E. Cinema panel hosted by Bloody Disgusting this weekend.
“If I know Don, I would say what he’s going to do is something completely different that I hadn’t thought of, that nobody had thought of,” the actor tells the audience.
It’s worth noting that the upcoming film is still in early development. So much so that Dourif has heard multiple different ideas for the ninth film in Mancini’s Chucky universe. “There is actually going to be another film made,’ Dourif explains, “I’ve heard maybe three pitches —that’s not a detail, and I’m not saying what they are—but they’re all different.”
Emmy nominee Fiona Dourif was on hand to prevent her dad from spoiling any plot details, of course.
As we reported back in April, Don Mancini is aiming to make Chucky scary again in the brand new Chucky movie that will finally bring the (original) killer doll back to the big screen. Mancini’s plan is to return the franchise to the tone of Curse of Chucky as well as the first two original Child’s Play movies, once again dialing back the comedy and hijinks.
Brad Dourif voiced Chucky in all of the original Child’s Play movies as well as more recent installments Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky, and all three seasons of the TV series. And Dourif doesn’t plan on giving the character to anyone else anytime soon. He recently told the crowd at Spooky Empire, “Nobody’s doing Chucky but me.”
Stay tuned for more updates on all things Chucky.