Adapting ‘1922’ Novella Into a Film Made Stephen King ‘Anxious’

So far this year, two of Stephen King‘s most beloved properties got the feature film treatment with The Dark Tower and IT. Additionally, fans also got two TV series based on his stories with Spike’s The Mist and Audience Network’s Mr. Mercedes. Another adaptation on the way, 1922, comes to Netflix on October 20, with the author claiming news of the prospect made him “anxious.”

The film chronicles the telling of a man’s confession of his wife’s murder. The tale is told from the perspective of Wilfred James, the story’s unreliable narrator who admits to killing his wife, Arlette, with his son in Nebraska. But after he buries her body, he finds himself terrorized by rats and, as his life begins to unravel, becomes convinced his wife is haunting him.

Thomas Jane, Molly Parker, Dylan Schmid, Kaitlyn Bernard, Brian D’Arcy James and Neal McDonough star in the adaptation.

“With 1922, was I a little surprised that somebody wanted to make it? I was, and I was also pleased by the challenge of it and anxious to see what would come out,” King recently revealed to Vulture.

“1922 reminded me of was a film called There Will Be Blood…”

King’s name is often directly linked to the world of horror, having crafted dozens of horrifying tales for over 40 years. Those expecting 1922 to be another one of his scary stories might be in for a surprise, as the author compared the final product to an Academy Award-winning movie.

“And you know, what 1922 reminded me of was a film called There Will Be Blood,” King confessed. “It has the same kind of flat, dead-eyed, affect to it, so it made for a really good suspense picture, and it’s a movie that won’t leave my mind. It has this sort of poisonous effect, it just sort of sticks there because some of the images are so good.”

The author has written the inspirations for a variety of drama films, like Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, but 1922 blends multiple genres for its unique tale.

“…it won’t leave my mind.”

Fans of Stephen King might have been most excited for those more popular stories to get adaptations, but King might be most excited for fans to see 1922 than anything else.

“The one you want to watch for is, Netflix did an adaptation of 1922 from Full Dark, No Stars,” the author told Yahoo! Movies. “I think that’s going to be out in October or something, and man, I saw a rough cut of that and it won’t leave my mind. That is super creepy!”

That’s not the only adaptation coming to Netflix in the near future, with Gerald’s Game hitting the streaming service Friday.

King endorsed, “Gerald’s Game is terrific, I’ve seen that.”

“I’ve been prolific enough so that I don’t feel upset about it.”

Before the end of the year, there will have been six King stories adapted for a live-action format, from movies to TV series. With IT breaking box office records, we’re sure to see even more King stories getting adaptations, something the author wholly endorses.

“I think part of my laissez-faire attitude [towards adaptations] comes from A) I’m doing okay financially so I can afford to take a risk, and B) I’ve been prolific enough so that I don’t feel upset about it,” King told Vulture.

Additionally, the sheer volume of stories he’s published makes him less protective of those stories being adapted.

King continued: “Take a guy like William Peter Blatty when Friedkin made The Exorcist: That was his baby, so it was probably an extremely important event in his life. Same thing with Ira Levin, who did Rosemary’s Baby. He was terrific, but he only wrote four novels, so when Polanski wanted to make Rosemary’s Baby, Levin was very anxious that he follow the book very closely, right down to the kind of shirts that the John Cassavetes character wore. I’m not that guy, I’m just not.”

You can check out 1922 for yourself when the film debuts on Netflix October 20.