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Toronto Sun
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Mike Flanagan on 'The Life of Chuck,' adapting Stephen King and his plans for 'The Dark Tower'
'He's always writing about love, even in the scariest stories,' filmmaker tells Postmedia Get the latest from Mark Daniell straight to your inbox Stephen King and Mike Flanagan appear at the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 6, 2024. Photo by Chris Pizzello / Invision/AP Stephen King might be the preeminent master of horror, but underneath the scares lies the beating heart of a writer in love with being alive. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account That is very much on display with The Life of Chuck , Mike Flanagan's big screen adaptation of King's novella of the same name that was featured in his 2020 short-story collection If It Bleeds . Told in three parts, The Life of Chuck , which opens in theatres across Canada this Friday, casts Tom Hiddleston as an ordinary accountant named Charles 'Chuck' Krantz who leaves his mark on seemingly everyone as the possible end of the world eerily grows nearer. With a supporting cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamill, Mia Sara, Karen Gillan, Matthew Lillard, Jacob Tremblay, Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, Annalise Basso and Kate Siegel, the film was a surprise winner at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, where it took home the coveted People's Choice Award. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The prize is considered an early predictor for Oscar attention (past winners have gone on to be nominated in key categories at the Academy Awards with past People's Choice picks like Green Book , 12 Years a Slave and The King's Speech taking home Best Picture). 'With The Life of Chuck , people reflect on their own lives and the lives of people they're close to,' TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said after its win. 'When you come out of a movie having that kind of emotional reaction, that's what often prompts a vote.' King, who doesn't always weigh in on the cinematic adaptations of his books, described the movie as 'a happiness machine.' Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston in 'The Life of Chuck.' Photo by Elevation Pictures Flanagan, who has twice before adapted King with Doctor Sleep (a sequel to The Shining ) and Gerald's Game , says he grew up loving the author's works because he thought he liked being scared right before bedtime. It was as he got older that the 47-year-old filmmaker says he realized King is a storyteller whose works are filled with love and empathy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'He's always writing about love, even in the scariest stories,' Flanagan tells Postmedia in an interview from Vancouver, where he is in the midst of shooting a series based on King's horror novel Carrie for Amazon. Life of Chuck , he says, resonated with him because it encapsulates what matters most in life, which is remembering to be joyful, always having gratitude and most of all, finding the time to dance. 'This was one that hit me right in the heart,' Flanagan says. Below, Flanagan, who has made a string of horror hits on TV, including Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher , spoke more about his adaptation of The Life of Chuck and why his upcoming version of King's Dark Tower series might be the most ambitious thing he's ever tackled. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. You've had a lot of success in the horror realm with your Netflix shows and your adaptations of Doctor Sleep and Gerald's Game . Life of Chuck is a more sentimental story. What made you want to adapt it? I was so in love with the story. I read it in April 2020, right after the lockdown, just as the world was falling apart, but it made my heart leap with optimism and joy and this bittersweet appreciation and gratitude for my life. We live in a scary, cynical world and this story comforted me so much during such a scary time when I read it. I wanted this to exist in the world for my kids because I knew at some point they might need this too. So I dreamed of trying to create the feeling that I had when I read it for someone else watching it in the theatre. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tom Hiddleston in 'The Life of Chuck,' directed by Mike Flanagan. Photo by Elevation Pictures You're in the midst of a Carrie revamp. You're going to do the Dark Tower . What's the appeal for you about Mr. King's works? Stephen King is my favourite author, bar none and by a mile and has been since I was a kid. When I was younger, thought it was because it was so scary and so visceral and so entertaining, but as I got older, I realized he's my favourite author because he is at his heart an optimistic humanist who writes stories about empathy. I realized that It is one of my favourite books not because of the scary clown, but because of the friendship of these kids. Stories like Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption , which have changed me as a person, come from the same beating heart of a man who is known for terrifying people, but who is not writing about horror … Pet Sematary is one of the most terrifying things I've ever read, but it's about parental love and grief. The Stand isn't about the virus or Randall Flagg or evil, it's about the courage and bravery of ordinary people standing up against all odds with no witness and no hope for victory. That's Stephen King to me. Stephen King is a profoundly optimistic person who writes beautiful stories that are cloaked in darkness. That's a fascinating landscape. It's been a real joy to love his work my whole life and now get to translate it as many times as he's allowed me to. It's been very very cool. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. (Left to right) Benjamin Pajak, Karen Gillan, Tom Hiddleston, Mike Flanagan, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kate Siegel of 'The Life of Chuck' pose in the Getty Images Portrait Studio Presented by IMDb and IMDbPro during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7, 2024. Photo by Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for IMDb Do you have a dream book of his you'd like to tackle? It's the Dark Tower … that's the big one. It's the one that ties it all together. It's the journey of a life and existence. That's the number one. There are so many of his that live in my heart. A sentimental favourite that I've always looked at is Hearts in Atlantis . The one that got away was Revival . I wrote an adaptation of that one that I loved. I wish it could have made its way to the screen. I hope someday that it does. But yeah, Dark Tower — 100%. And you're going to adapt Dark Tower next. It is King's magnum opus. It has encompassed eight books and ties into many of his other works. So what will that look like? It's got to be a series then it also has to have movies. The perfect way to do it is five seasons and two movies, but there are a lot of different ways it can go. It's such an intimidating undertaking, but we're setting it up now to begin as a series and we'll see where it goes. The Life of Chuck is now playing in theatres. mdaniell@ Read More World Canada Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto & GTA Music
Scottish Sun
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Iconic author reveals shock at horror legend pal Stephen King's surprise Scottish football connection
The author is back in Scotland this week to launch the Stirling-based literary bash HORROR icon Stephen King left author pal Linwood Barclay stunned when he arrived for a chat wearing a Buckie Thistle strip. The two bestselling writers have been mates for decades but The Shining and Carrie legend's support for the Highland League minnows was a twist Linwood just did not see coming. Advertisement 2 Linwood is coming to Scotland and excited to meet his fans Credit: Getty 2 Stephen King is a supporter of Highland League side Buckie Thistle King, who has sold more than 350million books, struck up a friendship with the Moray club after he featured them in his 2020 bestseller If It Bleeds. And the 77-year-old proudly sported the green and white merch when doing a video conference with Linwood for the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival during lockdown. Linwood - who is back in Scotland this week to launch the Stirling-based literary bash - said: 'I did that Zoom call with Steve for Bloody Scotland four years ago and that was the sweater he wore. 'I remember because I thought, 'what the heck is that?' as I had no idea of his football connection.' Advertisement Now after writing over 25 best selling crime books the former journalist will follow in his famous pal's footsteps with the release of his first horror novel called Whistle. It features a children's author called Annie Blunt who moves to a small town in upstate New York with her young son Charlie for a new start after the tragic death of husband. But when Charlie finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed in the grounds of their new house it sets in motion a disturbing set of events. However, Toronto-based Linwood insists he wasn't nervous even when he sent his first draft to the undisputed king of genre. Advertisement He says: 'I wasn't intimidated by that. I think the fact is that if you had told me 30 years ago when I was reading Steve's novels that I would even know his email address, never mind emailing each other, then I wouldn't have believed it. 'But Steve is very supportive and encouraging. I feel very privileged and lucky to have the friendship I have with him.' Trailer for Stephen King's 'excessively violent' new movie BANNED by four TV networks However, far from talking about the grim and grisly, the pair normally swap Netflix recommendations. Linwood, 70, says: 'Every once in a while I get an email and it's like, 'are you watching this show, such and such?'. Advertisement 'I sent him a note last week saying 'If you've not watched it yet you should try Mobland (with Pierce Brosnan and Tom Hardy)'. I really hope they make a second season of it.' He adds: 'But it really is very troubling in the sense that I remember being at a book event a few years ago where all of the writers were sitting around saying 'are you watching this show?'. Nobody was saying, 'have you read this book?'. 'It just sort of hit us that the competition is not other writers, it's these TV shows where you can binge all this material at once. 'So I feel like you've got to write something that will make people stop streaming TV at least for a little while.' Advertisement Fans of Linwood's books, including The Accident, Elevator Pitch and Find You First, praise his explosive scenes. But the writer believes that is down to his love of 60s TV shows including The Man From U.N.C.L.E starring Scots actor David McCallum as Russian spy Illya Kuryakin. He says: 'That was my favourite show and from the age of 11, anything I wrote I was thinking of it like it was on a screen.' But the married dad could only dream of being a bestselling author when he grew up on his parents trailer park in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario. Advertisement In the early 70s when he was 16, Linwood ended up running the place following the sudden death of his father. He recalls: 'My mum managed it, but I did like, 90 per cent of the work. Including the daily task of burying fish guts, from the fisherman who had gutted their catch. 'I had to haul it out into the woods and bury it. So on days when the writing doesn't go well, I always think it could be worse. I could still be burying fish guts.' Linwood left the trailer park to begin a long career in newspapers until the publication of his first novel No Time for Goodbye in 2007 - which became an instant international bestseller. But now with his first horror novel he's hoping to emulate pal Stephen. The model train enthusiast says: 'My book starts off with a train set because it just doesn't seem fair to me that in the horror genre, when it comes to toys, it's always dolls that get to be evil or maybe a little mechanical monkey or a rocking horse. Advertisement 'So I thought, 'I wonder if I could make toy trains scary?'. I want this book to be able to do for toy trains what Chucky did for dolls and or what Stephen King did for clowns.' Whistle by Linwood Barclay is out now in hardback priced £20 and in audio and ebook from HarperCollins. For more info on the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, visit the website.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Life of Chuck' cast reveal their favorite Stephen King works, including Mark Hamill's love of the ‘terrifying' ‘Pet Sematary'
Filmmaker Mike Flanagan and all of the main cast members from The Life of Chuck spoke with Gold Derby about their movie adaptation of Stephen King's novella from his 2020 book If It Bleeds. The film won the 2024 People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was later acquired by Neon. It's due in theaters on Friday. Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, and Benjamin Pajak play the adult, teenage, and child versions of Charles "Chuck" Krantz, a modest accountant who grew up his dream to be a dancer. He's the central figure in the bittersweet story that's told in reverse over three acts. Flanagan wrote, directed, and produced the film that matches the tone of other non-horror adaptations from King, including Stand by Me (1986), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), and The Green Mile (1999). More from GoldDerby Tramell Tillman could make Emmy history as the first Black Best Drama Supporting Actor winner New 'Freakier Friday' trailer, Mia Goth set for 'Star Wars: Starfighter,' Samuel L. Jackson heads to Taylor Sheridan's 'NOLA,' and the rest of today's top stories 'Survivor 50' spoilers: Jeff Probst on the 'competitive, dramatic' first challenge and what the 24 players told him at the marooning The stellar cast is rounded out by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Marty Anderson, Karen Gillan as Felicia Gordon, Mark Hamill as Albie Krantz, Annalise Basso as Janice Halliday, Mia Sara as Sarah Krantz, Matthew Lillard as Gus Wilfong, and Kate Siegel as Miss Richards. SEE 'One of the best ever': Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill on why they fought to be in Mike Flanagan's 'The Life of Chuck' Mike Flanagan: What a question! I will say, I think my favorite movie adaptation is The Shawshank Redemption. My favorite book is impossible to answer. The Dark Tower series for me is something that connects them all — I think that's his magnum opus. My favorite story to read though is The Life of Chuck, which is way up there. Hearts in Atlantis makes me cry tears of joy. The Green Mile novel is astonishing. Tom Hiddleston: For movies, it's The Shawshank Redemption. It made a big impact on my whole life. It changed how I think about life, actually, when I watched it. It hit me at a very formative time, when I was a teenager. The compassion in the film, and the way it lands, and what redemption really is. The last 20 minutes of that film are some of the most moving from a motion picture I've ever seen. Mark Hamill: There are so many different types of Stephen King novels. The most terrifying novel to me was Pet Sematary. I saw The Shining and walked straight from the theater to a bookstore to buy the book, so I could figure out what the hell I just saw. But I also like his books that aren't about supernatural or horror. The Body comes to mind, The Green Mile, and Shawshank Redemption. It's an embarrassment of riches. Benjamin Pajak: I love If It Bleeds. I'm kind of biased, but I just love the stories in it. Every story in there has a place in my heart. I read it when I got cast, and I hadn't really known Stephen King before I found out I'd be in the movie. I immediately just felt connected to his writing when I read the book. Chiwetel Ejiofor: There are very few films that I genuinely feel envious of people if they haven't seen them, 'cause I envy that first time that they watch it. I still have that feeling about The Shawshank Redemption. It's one of those films that you just want to watch somebody's face in the third act. Karen Gillan: The Shining is probably my favorite film of all time. I love that film. I'm a Stanley Kubrick fan. It's just so terrifying and brilliant, with its exploration into this man's descent into madness. I know that Stephen King wasn't the biggest fan of the movie adaptation, but I am! Annalise Basso: The Green Mile. Mia Sara: Probably Stand by Me, because it's great. Matthew Lillard: I'd go with Shawshank. The Shawshank Redemption is one of the best movies ever made. And then, the first book I ever read for my own pleasure was Christine. So, it's a toss-up between those two. Kate Siegel: I love The Shawshank Redemption. I love it when Stephen King is singing about hope, and all of the ways hope can grow in the grossest of places. And The Green Mile is beautiful. Neon Flanagan: I'd probably go with Bobby Darin, "Mack The Knife." And I don't think it's because it expresses me — I'm not a serial killer. But that song, for whatever reason, just always gets me moving. Hiddleston: I can think of two off the top of my head. It's not possible to listen to this song without smiling: "Volare" by the Gipsy Kings. It makes people want to dance. And the other one is an old dance track from the late '90s called "Lady" by Modjo. Hamill: I only did one Broadway musical, and I learned, these people are the hardest working people in show business. They act, they sing, they dance. They sent me to dance class six weeks before rehearsal for a turn-of-the-century musical where I had to learn clog dancing and so forth. I was very proud of myself. I would have to pick something from The Music Man. I love "Ya Got Trouble (In River City)" — I thought that was a fantastic number. It'd have to be something that a layman could learn in an afternoon. Pajak: I'd probably say "Stayin' Alive." That's the first thing that comes into my head. I feel like that just has so much energy, and people would recognize that song and start dancing with me. If I'm the only one dancing, I would completely be embarrassed in 10 seconds. Ejiofor: I'd probably go for some sort of early song, like "All Night Long." Just give me Lionel Richie and just go for it. Gillan: Go-to song of expression? "No Regrets" by Édith Piaf, and I'm going to be dancing hard to that. Hard. Basso: I'm so overwhelmed, I'm short-circuiting! Dance for me is so in the moment, that when I dance it feels like the music is a character. Although you can dance on your own, this is why I love flamenco so much, because the shoes are an instrument and you can carry that wherever you go and you can make your own music. Sara: Prince, "Kiss." That's my favorite song! My husband and I had just been to a huge family wedding, and that's the song we like to dance to. Lillard: "Give It to Me Baby" by Rick James. I did a movie called She's All That, and "Give It to Me Baby" was the song, so I'd probably just pull it back from the classic. Siegel: Oh, what a great question! The one that comes to mind is "High Hopes" by Panic! At the Disco. A lot of my heart is maudlin, so I might do "Moon River" and just hobble about. Neon Ejiofor: I thought it was just so richly conceived. It's sometimes difficult when you don't know when a story is going, and then you do, and you think, "How did that plane land for me? How did that all work?" Because it's kind of a big concept. And I just felt like there was just a real ease to this, it fit it into place, and it made sense. It felt profound in exactly the right way, and satisfying narratively. Gillan: I just found it so profound and moving, and it really made me go away and question how I'm living my own life and spending the precious time that I have. And those are really valuable questions to ask yourself. I really wanted to be a part of something that can maybe spark that conversation. Basso: I always ask myself at the end of a script, or at the end of completing a project, what did I learn from this? That's what my dad taught me. He's like, "Learn as much from your wins as you do from your losses." With this, at the end of reading the script, I was like, "What brings me joy?" And it just brought me closer to that. Sara: I cried, and then I called Mike, and I cried on the phone with Mike, and I said, "That's so beautiful." Lillard: The funny thing is, as you were reading it, 'cause it's backwards, it doesn't really have the impact, which really speaks to the power of Mike Flanagan. We were in Toronto and won the Audience Award — a hugely prestigious award, and we were very honored to win it — but sitting in that theater with 2,000 people, I'll never forget it goes to black to transition to the second act, and you could hear a pin drop in that theater. The power of that beat was such that it took everyone's breath away, and that was really the first time I knew we were in for something special. Siegel: It made me feel human. Right now, it's very hard to feel your humanity, because we're being inundated with a lot of information all the time that is in extremes. It's very overwhelming, and there was something about this script that allowed everything to feel like it's people. And yes, there are rights and wrongs, and there is good and bad in the world, but also there's you, and you get to be a person, too. You deserve that. The Life of Chuck arrives in theaters on June 6. It will be eligible at the 2026 Oscars. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Stephen King movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best From 'Hot Rod' to 'Eastbound' to 'Gemstones,' Danny McBride breaks down his most righteous roles: 'It's been an absolute blast' Benicio Del Toro movies: 12 greatest films ranked worst to best Click here to read the full article.
Washington Post
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Highlights from The Associated Press' interview with Stephen King
NEW YORK — Stephen King recently spoke to The Associated Press about the new film adaption 'The Life of Chuck,' his latest book 'Never Flinch' and other topics. Here are highlights from that conversation. Over time, King has developed a personal policy in how he talks about the adaptations of his books. 'My idea is: If you can't say something nice, keep your mouth shut,' he says. Every now and then, King is such a fan of an adaptation that he's excited to talk about it. That's very much the case with 'The Life of Chuck,' Mike Flanagan's new adaptation of King's novella of the same name published in the 2020 collection 'If It Bleeds.' 'The Life of Chuck,' which Neon releases in theaters Friday (nationwide June 13), there are separate storylines but the tone-setting opening is apocalyptic. The internet, like a dazed prize fighter, wobbles on its last legs before going down. California is said to be peeling away from the mainland 'like old wallpaper.' And yet in this doomsday tale, King is at his most sincere. 'The Life of Chuck,' the book and the movie, is about what matters in life when everything else is lost. There is dancing, Walt Whitman and joy. 'In 'The Life of Chuck,' we understand that this guy's life is cut short, but that doesn't mean he doesn't experience joy,' says King. 'Existential dread and grief and things are part of the human experience, but so is joy.' So vividly drawn is King's fiction that it's offered the basis for some 50 feature films. For half a century, since Brian De Palma's 1976 film 'Carrie,' Hollywood has turned, and turned again, to King's books for their richness of character, nightmare and sheer entertainment. He's also a moviegoer, himself. 'I love anything from 'The 400 Blows' to something with that guy Jason Statham,' King says, speaking by phone from his home in Maine. 'The worst movie I ever saw was still a great way to spend an afternoon. The only movie I ever walked out on was 'Transformers.' At a certain point I said, 'This is just ridiculous.'' The kind of climate change disaster found in 'The Life of Chuck,' King says, often dominates his anxieties. 'We're creeping up little by little on being the one country who does not acknowledge it's a real problem with carbon in the atmosphere,' King says. 'That's crazy. Certain right wing politicians can talk all they want about how we're saving the world for our grandchildren. They don't care about that. They care about money.' On social media, King has been a sometimes critic of President Donald Trump, whose second term has included battles with the arts, academia and public financing for PBS and NPR. Over the next four years, King predicts, 'Culture is going to go underground.' In 'Never Finch,' Holly Gibney is hired as a bodyguard by a women's rights activist whose lecture tour is being plagued by mysterious acts of violence. In the afterward of the book, King includes a tribute to 'supporters of women's right to choose who have been murdered for doing their duty.' 'I'm sure they're not going to like that,' King says of right-wing critics. King, 77, has now written somewhere around 80 books, including the just released 'Never Flinch.' The mystery thriller brings back King's recent favorite protagonist, the private investigator Holly Gibney, who made her stand-alone debut in 'If It Bleeds.' It's Gibney's insecurities, and her willingness to push against them, that has kept King returning to her. 'It gave me great pleasure to see Holly grow into a more confident person,' King says. 'She never outgrows all of her insecurities, though. None of us do.' 'Never Flinch' is a reminder that King has always been less of a genre-first writer than a character-first one. He tends to fall in love with a character and follow them through thick and thin. 'I'm always happy writing. That's why I do it so much,' King says, chuckling. 'I'm a very chipper guy because I get rid of all that dark stuff in the books.'
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Highlights from The Associated Press' interview with Stephen King
NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen King recently spoke to The Associated Press about the new film adaption 'The Life of Chuck," his latest book 'Never Flinch' and other topics. Here are highlights from that conversation. On 'The Life of Chuck' Over time, King has developed a personal policy in how he talks about the adaptations of his books. 'My idea is: If you can't say something nice, keep your mouth shut,' he says. Every now and then, King is such a fan of an adaptation that he's excited to talk about it. That's very much the case with 'The Life of Chuck,' Mike Flanagan's new adaptation of King's novella of the same name published in the 2020 collection 'If It Bleeds.' 'The Life of Chuck,' which Neon releases in theaters Friday (nationwide June 13), there are separate storylines but the tone-setting opening is apocalyptic. The internet, like a dazed prize fighter, wobbles on its last legs before going down. California is said to be peeling away from the mainland 'like old wallpaper." And yet in this doomsday tale, King is at his most sincere. 'The Life of Chuck,' the book and the movie, is about what matters in life when everything else is lost. There is dancing, Walt Whitman and joy. 'In 'The Life of Chuck,' we understand that this guy's life is cut short, but that doesn't mean he doesn't experience joy,' says King. 'Existential dread and grief and things are part of the human experience, but so is joy.' On his life as a moviegoer So vividly drawn is King's fiction that it's offered the basis for some 50 feature films. For half a century, since Brian De Palma's 1976 film 'Carrie,' Hollywood has turned, and turned again, to King's books for their richness of character, nightmare and sheer entertainment. He's also a moviegoer, himself. 'I love anything from 'The 400 Blows' to something with that guy Jason Statham,' King says, speaking by phone from his home in Maine. 'The worst movie I ever saw was still a great way to spend an afternoon. The only movie I ever walked out on was 'Transformers.' At a certain point I said, 'This is just ridiculous.'' On contemporary anxieties The kind of climate change disaster found in 'The Life of Chuck,' King says, often dominates his anxieties. 'We're creeping up little by little on being the one country who does not acknowledge it's a real problem with carbon in the atmosphere,' King says. 'That's crazy. Certain right wing politicians can talk all they want about how we're saving the world for our grandchildren. They don't care about that. They care about money.' On social media, King has been a sometimes critic of President Donald Trump, whose second term has included battles with the arts, academia and public financing for PBS and NPR. Over the next four years, King predicts, 'Culture is going to go underground.' In 'Never Finch,' Holly Gibney is hired as a bodyguard by a women's rights activist whose lecture tour is being plagued by mysterious acts of violence. In the afterward of the book, King includes a tribute to 'supporters of women's right to choose who have been murdered for doing their duty.' 'I'm sure they're not going to like that,' King says of right-wing critics. On 'Never Flinch' King, 77, has now written somewhere around 80 books, including the just released 'Never Flinch.' The mystery thriller brings back King's recent favorite protagonist, the private investigator Holly Gibney, who made her stand-alone debut in 'If It Bleeds.' It's Gibney's insecurities, and her willingness to push against them, that has kept King returning to her. 'It gave me great pleasure to see Holly grow into a more confident person,' King says. 'She never outgrows all of her insecurities, though. None of us do.' 'Never Flinch' is a reminder that King has always been less of a genre-first writer than a character-first one. He tends to fall in love with a character and follow them through thick and thin. 'I'm always happy writing. That's why I do it so much,' King says, chuckling. 'I'm a very chipper guy because I get rid of all that dark stuff in the books.'
