A movie based on the Stephen King story Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is set to be released through the Netflix streaming service on October 5th, and while we’re still waiting to see a trailer for the movie, Netflix has just released a batch of images to give us an early look at what Mr. Harrigan’s Phone has in store for us. The mixture of stills from the film and behind-the-scenes shots can be seen at the bottom of this article.
The story Mr. Harrigan’s Phone was included in King’s book If It Bleeds, which you can buy at THIS LINK. Written and directed by John Lee Hancock (The Little Things), the film will center on
Craig, a young boy living in a small town, who befriends an older, reclusive billionaire Mr. Harrigan. The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away, the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone, and finds himself able to communicate with his friend from the grave through the iPhone that was buried with him.
Jaeden Martell (It), Donald Sutherland (Salem’s Lot 2004), Joe Tippett (Mare of Easttown), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Into the Dark: New Year, New You), Cyrus Arnold (8-Bit Christmas), Bennett Saltzman (A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas), Alexa Niziak (Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin), Conor William Wright (Search Party), and newcomer Colin O’Brien star.
Martell is playing Craig, with Sutherland as Mr. Harrigan, Tippett as Craig’s father, “who is left to raise his only son alone after the death of his wife”, and Howell-Baptiste as Craig’s caring and concerned teacher, Ms. Hart.
O’Brien is taking on the role of “Young Craig”, while Arnold plays Craig’s antagonist, Kenny Yankovich. O’Brien has worked on two previous projects, the Halle Berry / Netflix film The Mothership and the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel Wonka (where he plays a younger version of Timothée Chalamet’s Willy Wonka), but neither of them have been released yet.
Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy Productions are teaming up to bring us Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. Jason Blum, Ryan Murphy, and Carla Hacken are producing the film, while Blumhouse Television’s Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold serve as executive producers.
In an interview, Hancock said Mr. Harrigan’s Phone will appeal to viewers who enjoyed the less-horrific King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, and The Green Mile, but that it will also feature some “good scares”. “My take on it was, it’s in the fashion of Brothers Grimm. It’s a cautionary fairy tale in a way.”
Sounds interesting to me. I haven’t read the story yet, but I’ll definitely be watching Mr. Harrigan’s Phone in October. Will you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Here are the images, with captions provided by Netflix: