Stephen King and Peter Straub's 'The Talisman' Lands Director
Yet another Stephen King novel is headed for the big screen, with King and co-author Peter Straub's "The Talisman" securing a director.
Collider was first to report the news, revealing that Mike Barker ("The Handmaid's Tale," "Outlander") is set to helm an adaptation of the 1984 fantasy epic. Here's the story breakdown, per Collider:
'The Talisman' follows Jack Sawyer, a young boy in possession of a powerful talisman that can save his mother’s life, who is forced to go on the run from the inhabitants of a magical parallel universe who have discovered how to travel between worlds.
Steven Spielberg's production company, Amblin, will co-produce the project, alongside The Kennedy/Marshall Company, headed by Kathleen Kennedy (current president of Lucasfilm) and Frank Marshall. Spielberg has long had a passion for the project, according to Entertainment Weekly, and convinced studio Universal to purchase the lifetime rights to "The Talisman" (rather than an option to adapt, which would expire).
Despite Spielberg's decades-long interest in bringing the book to the big screen, the project never materialized. While Collider's report cautioned that Barker's hiring was by no means a guarantee that the film would definitely get made, EW suggested that the forecast was indeed sunny, with Amblin confirming the project.
Writer Chris Sparling ("Buried") is adapting the manuscript. Stay tuned to see if this flick finally gets off the ground.
[via: Collider, Entertainment Weekly]