John Lee Hancock to adapt Stephen King’s Mr. Harrigan’s Phone for Netflix

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

There are certainly no shortage of Stephen King adaptations out there, and today brings the announcement of several others. "If It Bleeds," the latest collection of novellas from the prolific writer, features four stories, including Mr. Harrigan's Phone, and producers Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum are teaming up with Netflix to bring the tale to life.

John Lee Hancock, best known for SAVING MR. BANKS and THE FOUNDER, has been tapped to write and direct a feature-film adaptation of Mr. Harrigan's Phone, which tells the story of a teenager who befriends and does odd jobs for a retired, older man. After a lotto ticket which the man gave the teenager pays off, he buys Mr. Harrigan his first smart phone. When Mr. Harrigan passes away, the teenager places the phone in the older man's pocket before he's buried, but is later shocked when he recieves a text from beyooooond the grave. Spooky.

Now, I mentioned that "If it Bleeds" features four stories, and it would seem that the other stories in the collection have been optioned as well. Rat, which focuses on a frustrated writer who makes a Faustian bargain with a rat to overcome a bout of writer's block, has been optioned by Ben Stiller, who is slated to produce, direct, and star in the project. Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa banner has optioned The Life of Chuck, which focuses on a man who dies of a brain tumor at 39 and whose life is segmented into several supernatural chapter breaks. At this time, Aronofsky is only onboard the project as a producer. The final tale, If It Bleeds, revolves around Holly Gibney, a character who was most recently seen in the HBO limited-series The Outsider played by Cynthia Erivo. A deal hasn't yet been made for this story, but HBO could snap it up should they desire to bring the series back in some fashion. This has been your Friday evening edition of Every Stephen King Story Must be Adapted.