Jim Mickle signs on to direct adaptation of Stephen King’s From a Buick 8

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The Stephen King novel FROM A BUICK 8 (pick up a copy HERE) was first published in September of 2002, and a cinematic adaptation of the story has been drifting in and out of development ever since. In 2005, it was announced that George A. Romero – whose film LAND OF THE DEAD had just been released – was going to direct FROM A BUICK 8, with Johnathon Schaech and Richard Chizmar writing the screenplay. King's frequent collaborator Mick Garris came on board to produce, and the project ended up getting passed from Romero to another master of horror, Tobe Hooper. Things fell apart when the Great Recession hit. In 2018, we heard that THE BOY's William Brent Bell would be writing and directing FROM A BUICK 8 for Hyde Park Entertainment. That plan didn't last long, because a year later the news broke that Thomas Jane was teaming with producer Courtney Lauren Penn to form a company called Renegade Entertainment, and they would be producing the adaptation, which didn't have a director attached.

Now the Jane-produced adaptation has found its director. Jane sat down for an interview on a Patreon-exclusive episode of the podcast The Kingcast, and during the conversation he revealed that Jim Mickle (MULBERRY ST, STAKE LAND, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, COLD IN JULY, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON) is the latest director to grab the wheel of A BUICK 8.

Jane said, 

Do you guys know Jim Mickle? He's pretty f*cking good. We've signed Jim Mickle on. It is [exciting], and we've got a couple of fantastic writers that Jim has worked with in the past, and here's the funny part. Everybody was so excited and we had meetings all around town, but if you'll recall, FROM A BUICK 8 is essentially about a platoon of state troopers in Pennsylvania, right. When the pandemic hit and then the craziness with the riots and all that and the anti-police stuff hit, we were like, 'Okay, maybe it's not the best time to pitch a story about a platoon of Pennsylvania state troopers.'"

So it sounds like Renegade Entertainment is going to be holding off on this adaptation for a little while, but it is interesting to hear that Mickle is set to direct it. While I'll probably always wonder what it would have been like if Romero or Hooper had directed the movie, I trust that Mickle will be able to do a good job with it – if he turns out to be the lucky filmmaker who gets to finally bring the story to the screen.

King's novel has the following description: 

Since 1979, the state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in the shed out behind the barracks. Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox had answered a strange call just down the road and came back with an abandoned 1953 Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and this one was… just wrong. As it turned out, the Buick 8 was worse than dangerous — and the members of Troop D decided that it would be better if the public never found out about it. Now, more than twenty years later, Curt's son Ned starts hanging around the barracks and is allowed into the Troop D family. And one day he discovers the family secret — a mystery that begins to stir once more, not only in the minds and hearts of these veteran troopers, but out in the shed as well, for there's more power under the hood than anyone can handle.

We'll keep you updated whenever we hear more about FROM A BUICK 8.