Toronto Festival Winner ‘The Life Of Chuck’ Based On Stephen King Novella In Neon Talks: The Dish

EXCLUSIVE: The Life of Chuck, the Mike Flanagan-directed genre-bending film that won the Audience Prize at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, is in final talks to be acquired for distribution by Neon, which Deadline hears is eyeing a 2025 release.

Flanagan wrote the script from a Stephen King novella, and the film stars Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay and Mark Hamill. The Life of Chuck bowed on Friday night, September 6 as a Special Presentation.

Flanagan and cast were there, as was the author. Flanagan previously directed Doctor Sleep, based on the novel King wrote that was a sequel to his masterwork, The Shining. Flanagan also adapted and directed an adaptation the King novel Gerald’s Game. The Life Of Chuck novella is part of a four-story collection If It Bleeds.  

The Life of Chuck is broken up into three acts, and told in reverse and from the perspective of the inhabitants of a small town in America. It begins with a world in freefall: the internet has failed, and TV and cell phone transmission seems next. Climate change is another major problem with California all but fallen below the Pacific Ocean, and suicides are skyrocketing.

Amidst the chaos, there is a slew of billboards touting a man named Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Hiddleston), and congratulating him for being a guiding presence for 39 years. Nobody in town knows who the hell he is, or whether he might have some answers as their world crumbles all around them.

Flanagan produced with his Intrepid Pictures partner Trevor Macy.

WME Independent repped the film, while FilmNation is selling internationally.