Maximum Overdrive Auteur Stephen King Wants To Direct Again
I thought my life couldn't get any better when John Waters announced that he's returning to directing for a new movie. However, just one day later, I have been proven wrong. That's because acclaimed horror author and one-time director Stephen King has confirmed that he eventually wants to direct another movie. Somebody hold me!
King revealed this interest in an interview with Netflix's TUDUM, where he discussed the streamer's latest adaptation of his works, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone." He was asked whether he would want to write screenplays, act, or direct again, and his answer may shock you if you hadn't already read this article's title:
"I'd like to do them all. I'd love to direct another picture because 'Maximum Overdrive' [the first and only film King had directed] was like, 'Earn while you learn.' I knew nothing going in, and I learned a lot of stuff since then, and I think I could probably do a better job. As far as writing the screenplay, sure, I'd love to do that."
Maximum Overdrive is fun, actually
Okay, yes, "Maximum Overdrive" had a very mixed reception and an infamously troubled development. The plot surrounding every electronic machine gaining sentience and being compelled to kill its creators is undeniably absurd. Emilio Estevez spends every scene he's in looking like he doesn't want to be there. On a technical and storytelling level, "Maximum Overdrive" is a bad movie.
However, who actually cares about that when it's as fun and hilarious to watch as it is? "Maximum Overdrive" is the ultimate guilty pleasure, and it's only gotten better as time has passed. Sure, killer cars and machines might have seemed ridiculous at the time, and while it still sort of is today, modern life depends on these ultra-smart machines in order to function. Technology eventually gaining murderous sentience isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. It just so happens that this film's depiction of this possibility is extremely goofy.
So, yeah, let's bring King back into the director's chair, as a little treat. If movies like "Malignant" and "Barbarian" are anything to go by, then we're approaching a renaissance of goofy horror movies. If there is any time for him to direct a movie again, it's now.