Stephen King’s ‘Gerald’s Game’ Adaptation Gets September 29 Release Date

Author Stephen King is having a great 2017, with half a dozen of his works being adapted into various movies and TV series. His controversial story Gerald’s Game has been turned into a film by Netflix, which will debut on the streaming service on September 29.

The film will make its official premiere in Austin at Fantastic Fest, which will take place the last week of September. The film was directed by Mike Flanagan, who has previously directed Hush and Ouija: Origins. Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Bruce Greenwood and Kate Siegel all star in the film.

The book’s synopsis is as follows:

“Once again, Jessie Burlingame has been talked into submitting to her husband, Gerald’s, kinky sex games—something that she’s frankly had enough of, and they never held much charm for her to begin with. So much for a “romantic getaway” at their secluded summer home. After Jessie is handcuffed to the bedposts—and Gerald crosses a line with his wife—the day ends with deadly consequences. Now Jessie is utterly trapped in an isolated lakeside house that has become her prison—and comes face-to-face with her deepest, darkest fears and memories. Her only company is that of the various voices filling her mind… as well as the shadows of nightfall that may conceal an imagined or very real threat right there with her…”

Those who are familiar with the story know how shocking it is that the film could be adapted into a feature film, not only due to its sexual content but also because the narrative is told mostly from the perspective of Jessie herself, who is alone in a room. Despite the challenges the project brought on, Flanagan claims to have finally found a way to bring the story to life.

“It had taken me years to come up with a mechanism that I thought would make it somatic without changing the books,” the director revealed to the Post Mortem podcast. “The temptation to make big changes in an adaptation of a story like that was huge and I really didn’t want to do that.”

One reason Flanagan might have found success was due to the years he spent analyzing the story, taking every change he could get to adapt it.

“When I first moved to Los Angeles, I carried a hardcover in my bag whenever I would take general meetings,” Flanagan confessed. “Anyone who’d ask me what my dream project was, I’d pull it out, and [the response I’d get was] either they were familiar with the book and said it’s unfilmable, or it wasn’t available.”

Gerald’s Game hitting Netflix on September 29 is great news for Stephen King fans, as it wasn’t expected to hit the service until later in the year.