Mike Flanagan knew after just four days of filming that his new Stephen King adaptation would be his best movie

Mike Flanagan reckons his new Stephen King adaptation is his best movie so far, and he’s thought so since day four on set. The filmmaker, who previously helmed The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, says he knew sci-fi horror The Life of Chuck was “magical” after filming a dance sequence with lead Tom Hiddleston.

In a new interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Flanagan was reminded that he emailed King after reading the novella in which the film is based, and said: “If I could have a crack at this story, it might be the best movie I’ll ever make.” He was then asked whether he still feels that way.

“Yeah, I do,” he explained. “I felt that way while we were shooting, too. I felt that way at the end of the first week. The dance was first, which is a confident way to start an independent film, but [sometimes] that’s how it lands. It was the first time in my life where I loved what was on the monitor just as much, in fact… more. Four days in, I knew that there was something magical happening.”

Based on a short story found in the author’s If It Bleeds collection (alongside Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which inspired the 2022 Netflix flick), The Life of Chuck is set to follow the titular Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Hiddleston) as he travels back in time to watch his life play out in reverse order after he dies.