The Boogeyman: Stephen King says adaptation has a terrific screenplay

Host (watch it HERE) and Dashcam director Rob Savage is at the helm of the Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which just recently began filming. From the information that’s available, it doesn’t sound like the film will actually be showing us the events discussed in King’s story, but will actually be using that as the set-up for what happens in the rest of the movie. During a recent interview on the Kingcast podcast, the same episode where he revealed that he has just finished writing a novel called Holly, King mentioned that he has read the screenplay for The Boogeyman – and the fact that it isn’t a direct adaptation of his story clearly didn’t bother him at all.

When asked what advice he would give anyone who was adapting one of his stories, King said,

The first thing I’d say is, ‘Adapt short.’ Rather than try to get something long. Particularly for a movie. Now, streaming is a different thing, that’s God’s gift to scribblers like me. You can make things in a longer form. But something like 1922, Zak Hilditch did a fantastic job with that, and I think the reason is that he got all the resonance in the story. That is a bitter, angry story that doesn’t have anything very good to say about human nature. Usually I find some sunshine in there somewhere, but not in that case. He got it all, and the reason he got it all was because it’s short. It doesn’t have a lot of subplot, it keeps straight to the main theme of it. So that was great. Misery is fairly short. Shawshank is short. The Body, which became Stand By Me, is also short. Sometimes filmmakers will add… what could you call it? “Stuffing” to the story. Let’s call it “meat extender”. A lot of times that doesn’t turn out so well. Now, I’ve read a script for The Boogeyman and that is a terrific screenplay where the things that have been added to the story are not meat extender. They’re pretty good. So that’s an interesting thing. I’m interested to see what happens, I’ve haven’t seen it yet, with Mr. Harrigan’s Phone.”

The conversation then went in a different direction, as King couldn’t remember who was working on the adaptations of Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (John Lee Hancock) or Salem’s Lot (Gary Dauberman). When Dauberman’s name came up, King said,

The It man! You know, guys… People are gonna forget who the hell Stephen King was, but they’re never gonna forget that f-ckin’ clown. He’s gonna be up there with Frankenstein and Dracula and Freddy Krueger. Pennywise, the Dancing Clown! Stephen King, who the f-ck was he?”

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place) wrote the initial draft of the script for The Boogeyman, which has since been rewritten by Akela Cooper (Malignant) and most recently Mark Heyman (Black Swan). According to Deadline, the story follows

a 16-year-old and her younger sister, still reeling from the death of their mother, as they’re targeted by a supernatural boogeyman, after their psychologist father has an encounter with a desperate patient in their house.

That’s quite different from what King wrote, but it’s good to hear he likes the screenplay anyway.

The film stars Chris Messina (Sharp Objects), Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets), Marin Ireland (The Umbrella Academy), Vivien Lyra Blair (Bird Box), Madison Hu (Voyagers), and David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad).

The Boogeyman is being produced by Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, the company behind Stranger Things. Beck, Woods, and Emily Morris serve as executive producers. The film is coming our way from 20th Century Studios. Currently filming in New Orleans, it will be released through Hulu in the U.S., on Star+ in Latin America, and on Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories. The Boogeyman is expected to be released sometime in 2023.