Steven Spielberg Wanted Stephen King To Help Write The Script For Poltergeist?

Earlier today we shared the news that Steven Spielberg still plans to adapt Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman into a feature film with Josh Boone (The New Mutants) currently penning the script.

That’s all well and goods for upcoming collaborations between the two Steve’s, but what about a previous film they ALMOST worked on together that fell apart?

How about Poltergeist?

Yep, turns out in a recent sit-down with EW, Spielberg revealed that King was his original choice to help him out writing the Poltergeist screenplay.

It didn’t work out because it was before the internet and we had a communication breakdown,” Spielberg says. “I wanted him to help me out with the script and sort of write it with me, but he was unavailable.”

Damn. That could have been epic. How disappointed are you that Steven Spielberg and Stephen King’s Poltergeist never came to be? Make sure to hit us up and let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!

Poltergeist was eventually written by Spielberg along with Michael Grais and Mark Victor, directed by Tobe Hooper, and starred Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, and Heather O’Rourke.

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Synopsis:

Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings — Steve (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenaged Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O’Rourke) — when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when Carol Ann goes missing, Steve and Diane turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.

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