Stephen King Once Suggested A Controversial Director To Adapt One Of His Books

Stephen King's opinions on Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" are very well known by now. Although Kubrick's film is often listed as one of the scariest horror movies of all time, King objected to all the ways Kubrick and his co-screenwriter Diane Johnson altered his original 1977 novel. King's book was about a recovering alcoholic tragically losing control, while Kubrick's movie was about how that same author was kind of inevitably drawn to ghostly evil. In King's eyes, the film was less humane than what he had written. Many, many of King's novels have been adapted to film and TV, and he usually prefers — as one might expect — the versions with higher levels of literary fealty.

King, however, isn't so protective of his work that he wouldn't mind seeing a striking and daring artist mess with it a little. Cast in point: King has said that he would love to see an adaptation of one of his stories handled by Danish troublemaker Lars Von Trier. He mentioned Von Trier by name in a 2016 interview with Deadline, saying that he would happily step back from anything King-related that Von Trier wanted to do. 

At the time, Von Trier had just completed the third part of his so-called Depression Trilogy, which included 2009's "Antichrist," 2011's "Melancholia" (starring Kirsten Dunst), and 2013's "Nymphomaniac." His films are hard-edged and often aggressively off-putting; they are meant to shock and disgust audiences. Von Trier is often accused of being adolescent in this regard, but his films also capture — quite accurately — the depths of depressive fantasies and the way depression moves.

Von Trier can also, however, assemble supernatural potboilers from time to time and might actually be a good fit for adapting Stephen King.

Indeed, Von Trier and King had crossed paths before. Von Trier previously wrote and directed 1994's "The Kingdom," a soap opera-like miniseries about a haunted hospital. "The Kingdom" bore Von Trier's signature style of handheld realism but told a wild, salacious story about ghosts, revenge, cults, and other exciting horror movie tropes. "The Kingdom" was followed by a sequel, "The Kingdom II," in 1997 and then a cap-off in 2022 titled "The Kingdom: Exodus." King liked the series so much he developed a U.S. remake called "Kingdom Hospital" in 2004. The series didn't last very long, but it did show how Von Trier and King have similar interests. 

When Deadline asked King if he would be willing to let an idiosyncratic artist alter his book in adapting them to screen, King said yes, he would be okay with that. But, he added, he would like to see an exciting artist at the helm. Specifically, he'd love to see Von Trier do it. In his own words: 

"I would. I would. I'll tell you who I would love to work with sometime, not work with but wouldn't think twice if he wanted to make one of my things into a movie. You know this movie 'Melancholia?' [...] Lars von Trier. And, in fact, I made an American miniseries out of his 'Kingdom Hospital'. I think he's the most talented, amazing director in the world and I would love to see what he did. And, again, I would stand aside and say, go to it and have a great time."

"Kingdom Hospital" remains the only time King and Von Trier have occupied the same media space, though. Von Trier hasn't made a film since 2018's "The House That Jack Built" and has remained a controversial figure throughout his career. He also is persona non grata after being accused of sexual harassment by Björk, who starred in his 2000 film "Dancer in the Dark." Perhaps King may not want to work with him anymore after all.