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You met writer Stephen King and director Mike Flanagan through horror. It's one of the most personal of genres as it strikes a chord in us emotionally and physically that anything else can find its way in. But King and Flanagan are more than just the people behind our scariest things. And in the upcoming movie The Life of Chuck, Flanagan is aiming to show another side of his and King's creativity - and for the writer/director, it's the beginning of a new chapter.

"My aim is to just capture the joy I felt when reading it," Flanagan tells Popverse. "The Life of Chuck is one of the first things I’ve worked on that feels uncynical, and is about light and joy and life. There’s an element of mortality, but without melancholy or dread but rather as an equally beautiful corner of life."

Flanagan said that when he first read Stephen King's The Life of Chuck novella inside 2020's If It Bleeds anthology, his moviemaking mind immediately began conjuring a vision for a then-hypothetical movie -- and also a new audience for Mike in his children.

"What I’m so excited about is that when I first read this story I began imagining what a movie version would be. This is the one movie I wanted to exist in the world for our children," Flanagan says. "When people see the Life of Chuck, I hope it resonates in their hearts something beautiful as was in King’s original story. My goal is to try to capture that on screen."

As of right now, Mike Flanagan says that while Midnight Mass is the favorite TV show he's ever made, The Life of Chuck holds his heart as his favorite movie he's made. 

"Life of Chuck is particularly fun for me, as it’s not a horror film at all. It’ll only expand the audience we’ll be reaching," Flanagan says. "It will be exciting to see some people who wouldn’t otherwise be familiar with our work as they don’t gravitate towards horror to come to this. It’s a bridge, and I’m excited."

You can read our full interview with Flanagan and his longtime collaborator (and wife!) Kate Siegel here.

The Life of Chuck opens in select US theaters June 6, followed with a nationwide release on June 13.

Watch Mike Flanagan hold court with his Fall of the House of Usher cast in its New York Comic Con 2024 panel.