Mike Flanagan Promises His ‘The Mist’ Will Be Unlike Any Version We’ve Seen Before
Mike Flanagan is not trying to remake the 2007 version of The Mist. Instead, the filmmaker wants to take Stephen King’s story in a new direction.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly during San Diego Comic-Con, Flanagan explained how his upcoming The Mist movie will differ from both King’s original novella and Frank Darabont’s well-known 2007 film.
The director has already taken a similar approach with Carrie, his upcoming King adaptation for Amazon. Rather than simply bringing the original story to the screen again, Flanagan is using its basic ideas to create something different. He says The Mist will follow the same path.
“With Carrie and with The Mist, they’ve both been done spectacularly well already as feature films,” Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly. “So with Carrie, it was very much about finding a new path, trying to find something new to build. The Mist is the same.”
That is a big challenge, especially because Darabont’s 2007 movie remains one of the most talked-about Stephen King adaptations. The film starred Thomas Jane as David Drayton, a father who becomes trapped inside a supermarket with his young son after a strange mist covers their town.
The mist hides terrifying creatures, but the monsters outside are only part of the problem. As fear spreads through the supermarket, the people inside begin turning against each other. The story becomes just as much about human behavior as it is about horror.
Darabont also made some major changes to King’s novella, including adding more details about the mysterious Arrowhead Project and changing the story’s ending. That ending has become especially famous for its brutal twist.
Flanagan clearly knows he has to offer something new. “It’s one of the most brutal movies I’ve ever seen,” he said of Darabont’s film. “That ending is jaw-dropping. My way into the story, through the story, and out of that story is very different.”
Flanagan also explained that he had to make sure King understood why another version of The Mist was worth making. According to the filmmaker, King is a fan of Darabont’s movie, which made the conversation even more important.
What do you think of Flanagan taking The Mist in a completely new direction?
“When I presented that to Steve [King] — that was also important because he loves Frank’s movie — it’s like, Why are we doing this? What are we gonna do that justifies itself?” Flanagan said. The answer appears to be a full reimagining.
Flanagan described his approach to both Carrie and The Mist as taking the original pieces apart and putting them back together in a new way. “With his blessing, always!” Flanagan said about King. “I would never contemplate it without it. But, yeah, it’s a different way to adapt things for me.”
For Flanagan, that freedom is part of what makes King’s work so exciting. He believes the author’s stories can be revisited without simply repeating what came before. The filmmaker added that King is “a storyteller whose ideas can have multiple lives.”
That could make The Mist one of the more interesting King adaptations to watch. Fans already know the basic premise and have seen Darabont’s version, but Flanagan appears determined to make his movie stand on its own.
Instead of trying to replace the 2007 film, he wants to build something that gives the story another life.
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