REVIVAL Mike Flanagan Is No Longer Working on New Stephen King Flick

Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan was recently set to write and direct yet another King adaptation: Revival. But over the weekend, Flanagan confirmed – in a round about way – his version isn’t happening.

Flanagan tells The Company Of The Mad:”[The Stand director Josh Boone and I] started emailing because I went on to eBay to buy a limited edition of Revival – a beautiful set of Revival, and Josh was selling it. I bought it, and he emailed me on eBay first when the transaction first started, like, ‘Uhhh, hi.’ ‘Oh my god!’ And so we got to go back and forth about Revival, being a project that Josh was doing first and then I also ended up not doing Revival. So we have that in common; we’ve both been through the ringer on that particular story.”

Flanagan didn’t say why the film wasn’t happening. But whatever the case might be, this is a bummer. Especially considering the last update we got on the film was when Flanagan let us know that author Stephen King loved this script.

RELATED: Stephen King Loves Mike Flanagan’s REVIVAL Script

Flanagan said: “It’s a return to cosmic horror which I think is so fun. It is relentlessly dark and cynical and I’m enjoying the hell out of that. I think a lot of King’s work is like this too, there’s a safety in the sentimental approach to a lot of those stories and this is just bleak and mean and I like it for that. I haven’t gotten to end a movie that way since, geez, Absentia maybe? Maybe Ouija? I get to be like ‘Oh you want a dark ending? Cool, get ready. I’ve gotten pretty good about digging my heels in on stuff like that. It’s a lot easier to do, I can talk a big game when I’ve got Stephen King in my corner advocating for the same ending.”

RELATED: DOCTOR SLEEP & GERALD’S GAME Director Snags Third Stephen King Movie REVIVAL

Here’s the novel’s rundown via Amazon:

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

Have you read Revival?

Make sure to let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also hit me up over on Twitter @MikeSpregg325.

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