Carla Gugino on Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

What could possibly get horror fans more excited than the triple-header combo of author Stephen King, director Mike Flanagan (OCULUS, HUSH) and actress Carla Gugino? How about the triple-header combo collaborating on GERALD'S GAME? The novel many have labeled as "unfilmable". Does that sound like a fun time at the movies, or what?

Carla Gugino recently had this to say about the NetFlix original movie:

“It was one of the hardest, most challenging shoots I've ever done, which is saying a lot. I've definitely chosen some material that's been really challenging. We shot six weeks in Alabama. I think Mike is absolutely the man for the job.

Continuing, she said:

“It's one of the most fulfilling things I've done. I love this woman…you're dealing with something that has elements of horror, but also is really more of a thriller, in the vain of a Misery. And she is also dealing with this childhood sexual trauma with her father, and those are all tricky tones to find together. (Flanagan) has also reworked things to where her personality does split, but it's in a different way than that is in the novel. I think it might end up being more clear for a film.”

The actress also said that she was able to track her character's mental disintegration due to the film being shot chronologically, adding: 

“Every step of the way, one of the things (Flanagan) said to me, which directors very rarely say, was, ‘I want you to take ownership over this, this is as much yours as it is mine’…I'm really excited about it.”

The novel's synopsis goes a little something like this:

GERALD'S GAME (adapted for the screen by Flanagan and Jeff Howard) also stars Carel Struycken, Henry Thomas, and Bruce Greenwood as Gerald. The Netflix original movie does not yet have a set release date.