Earlier this year, Her Smell director Alex Ross Perry decided to join in the litany of Stephen King adaptations with the little-known book, Rest Stop. Where that production stands currently is unknown, but it looks as if Perry has decided to move on to another King adaptation, instead. Deadline reports Perry will write and direct The Dark Half, based on King’s 1989 horror novel.
Like many of King’s books, The Dark Half springs from a very specific event in the author’s life. It follows alcoholic author Thad Beaumont whose literary works are pretty unsuccessful, but the violent crime novels he writes under the pseudonym “George Stark” are wildly popular. When Thad’s authorship of the Stark books is uncovered, he decides to hold a mock burial, only to have Stark become real and begin murdering people. King came up with the idea after his pseudonym “Richard Bachman” was revealed to the world. Zombie maestro George A. Romero directed a previous adaptation in 1993 that starred Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan, and Michael Rooker.
Perry’s version is being described as a “reinvention”, which isn’t surprising. Perry will want to put his own spin on the story, having proven he’s very good at capturing horror elements in his previous films. That said, he’s never done a straight-up horror movie before, so this should be interesting.
This awards season Perry has been campaigning hard for Her Smell star Elizabeth Moss to get some love. Her Indie Spirits nomination shows it to be working. They’ve worked together multiple times already (Listen Up, Phillip and Queen of Earth included) and I wouldn’t be surprised if The Dark Half is their next collaboration.
