Mike Flanagan to Make a “Very Different Type of Adaptation” with ‘The Mist’

Frank Darabont’s The Mist is, quite simply, a five-out-of-five adaptation of Stephen King‘s story that follows a town swallowed by a mist filled with monsters. The shocking creature feature is jam-packed with creepy crawlies of all types, features a good handful of knockout performances, and features one of the most devastating endings of the last few decades. It’s basically perfect.

Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) knows this. He was ready for the confusion from fans when his feature adaptation of The Mist was announced. He knew many would declare that The Mist didn’t need a new take. He was ready for that.

During SDCC, the beloved filmmaker spoke with EW to offer some insight into his approach to the King story.

Flanagan told the outlet that, with Gerald’s Game it was about, “How do we take this impossible book and get it onto a screen?” Doctor Sleep was about taking Kubrick’s version of The Shining and making it “harmonize” with the world of King’s novels. And with The Life of Chuck, “It was very much, how do I just do the book?”

Adds Flanagan, “With Carrie and with The Mist, they’ve both been done spectacularly well already as feature films. So with Carrie, it was very much about finding a new path, trying to find something new to build. The Mist is the same.”

Continues Flanagan, “It’s [The Mist] one of the most brutal movies I’ve ever seen. That ending is jaw-dropping. My way into the story, through the story, and out of that story is very different. When I presented that to Steve [King] — that was also important because he loves Frank’s movie — it’s like, Why are we doing this? What are we gonna do that justifies itself? So it’s a different type of adaptation for me.”

As some of you may know, King’s story originally ends with the survivors driving off into the mist…a stark contrast from the gut-punch Darabont delivered. I’d expect Flanagan won’t attempt that same sort of brutality with his ending.