Stephen King And Steven Spielberg Almost Teamed Up For A Haunted House Movie
Steven Spielberg and Stephen King. Two artists at the very top of their fields. King: one of the best-selling authors of all time. Spielberg: the filmmaker who invented the blockbuster. How have these guys never worked together? Well, it's not for lack of trying. In fact, these titans have come very close to teaming up on several occasions. When Spielberg was writing "Poltergeist," he wanted King's help with the script. "It didn't work out because it was before the internet and we had a communication breakdown," King told EW.
Then there was "The Talisman," the fantasy novel King co-wrote with the late Peter Straub. Before the book even hit the shelves, Spielberg scooped up the rights — but neither a film nor a TV adaptation has ever materialized. "Several times he came very close to making it, and there were a lot of discussions about that," King said (again, to EW). It was as if the fates were somehow keeping these two juggernauts from collaborating.
And then they came the closest they've ever come — with a project about a haunted house. A project that would eventually become "Rose Red."
Rose Red
"Rose Red" is essentially a remake/homage of Shirley Jackson's immortal classic "The Haunting of Hill House." It concerns a sprawling, allegedly haunted mansion that looms empty over the landscape, waiting for some unlucky souls to come calling. Sure enough, a parapsychologist and a team of psychics head to the house for a weekend to investigate. Drawing on Jackson's story and several supposedly real-life haunted locations, like the Winchester Mystery House, King's lengthy teleplay resulted in a 3-part miniseries that clocked in at 255 minutes and cost a hefty (for TV at the time) $35 million price tag, with a cast that includes Nancy Travis, Julian Sands, Melanie Lynskey, Emily Deschanel, and more.
"Rose Red" isn't what I'd call one of King's best works. Sure, it has its charms, and I kind of miss the old days when King could churn out a miniseries and make it a big event (see also: "The Stand," "The Shining" miniseries adaptation, and "Storm of the Century"). But the acting in "Rose Red" is too broad for its own good, and the scares just aren't there, even though the film throws a ton of people in ghoul make-up our way. We also get a bonus moment where King cameos as the world's oldest pizza guy, though, so that's something. But the version of "Rose Red" that exists now (it's currently streaming on Hulu if you're interested in checking it out for yourself) has nothing to do with Steven Spielberg.
But it almost did.
Steven and Stephen
Before "Rose Red" became a miniseries in 2002, it was headed to the big screen in the 1990s. According to Stephen Jones' book "Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide," "Rose Red" began as an idea for a $40 million haunted house movie that Spielberg asked King to write. As King told Fangoria: "Steven and I tried to work together on a couple of occasions ... What happened with 'Rose Red' was that he stayed in touch and asked if I still wanted to do a haunted house story."
King, like Spielberg, is a workaholic — addicted to his particular craft. So the author got cracking. However, whenever King turned in a draft, Spielberg would suggest new ideas. The author went through three drafts, but Spielberg kept insisting on more. According to King, Spielberg wanted "a bigger, more positive kind of feeling" than King wanted to go for. King just wanted to "scare the sh*t out of people." Eventually, it got to a point where the famed author and the legendary filmmaker realized they weren't seeing eye-to-eye on the project.
Spielberg would go off and executive produce another haunted house movie, the rather lousy 1999 remake of "The Haunting," directed by Jan de Bont. As for the script that would become "Rose Red," it collected dust in a drawer for five years before King decided to bring it back out. He pitched it as a miniseries on Friday, June 18, 2000. The pitch was well-received — and then tragedy struck. The very next day, King was badly injured when he was struck by a van while out for a walk. Thankfully, the master of horror eventually recovered — and eventually got around to finishing the teleplay that would become "Rose Red."
As for Spielberg and King, they've still never collaborated — but both artists are still going strong. Who knows, it might finally happen one day.