The Life of Chuck: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Jacob Tremblay board Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation

October 23rd 2023, 2:59pm

The Life of Chuck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mike Flanagan, Stephen King, Jacob Tremblay

The cast for Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck is growing. On Monday, Deadline shared three new casting confirmations for the upcoming film, including Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), and Jacob Tremblay (The Little Mermaid, Luca, The Toxic Avenger). They join Tom Hiddleston (Marvel’s Loki, Crimson Peak) and Mark Hamill (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Boy and the Heron) as primary members of the cast.

Production for The Life of Chuck is going down in Alabama under an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA. Additionally, the production and financing outfit QWGmire is making a significant investment in the project. Speaking about partnering with Flanagan for the on-fire since The Haunting of Hill House filmmaker’s next feature, QWGmire partners Molly C. Quinn, Matthew M. Welty, and Elan Gale said, “We are thrilled to partner with Mike and Trevor [Macy] on this project. Mike is a master storyteller and we can’t wait to bring his inspirational adaptation of Stephen King’s short story to audiences.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lchLk7P2Syk

The Life of Chuck revolves around three interconnected stories from King’s 2020 anthology If It Bleeds. The Life of Chuck focuses on Charles Krantz in reverse, beginning with his death at age 39 from a brain tumor and ending with his growing up in a haunted childhood home. The adaptation could be similar in tone to Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. Flanagan has written the screenplay and also produced the film through Intrepid Pictures.

What do you think of the concept for The Life of Chuck? Did Charles grow up in a haunted house, or was the experience an early byproduct of the tumor? I have yet to read the story, so I have no idea. All I know is that I love Mike Flanagan’s work and look forward to seeing what he does with King’s material. Have you read King’s If It Bleeds? What do you think about the casting announcements for this project? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Steve Seigh

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Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.