One Stephen King Horror Adaptation Sent Mike Flanagan Down His Path As A Director [ATX Festival]

Mike Flanagan began his filmmaking career in 2011 with "Absentia," a Kickstarter-backed horror movie about a pregnant woman whose missing husband mysteriously returns after an unexplained seven-year absence. He gained mainstream attention with 2013's "Oculus," a gripping horror film about a haunted mirror that technically takes place almost entirely in one room. Then, in 2016, Flanagan offered the one-two-three punch of "Hush," "Before I Wake," and the mainstream sequel "Ouija: Origin of Evil." He was now a recognizable force in the horror community.

Flanagan gathered a huge fanbase with his subsequent adaptations of several famous horror novels. In 2017, he adapted Stephen King's "Gerald's Game" into an excellent feature film. In 2018, he turned Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" into a TV miniseries. In 2019, he made "Doctor Sleep," a convoluted ghost story based on King's sequel to "The Shining." Most recently, he adapted Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" to TV. He is currently slated to make a new "Exorcist" movie, inspired by William Friedkin's 1973 film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel. If there's anyone who knows about horror adaptations, it's Mike Flanagan.

It was logical, then, that Flanagan should sit on a panel called "From Book to Script to Screen" at this year's ATX Festival in Austin, Texas. /Film's own Ryan Scott attended the festival, and each one of the panelists in attendance — Flanagan was joined by Liz Heldens, Graham Yost, Daniel Thomsen, Rolin Jones, and Jessica Rhoades — announced some of their favorite literary adaptations. Flanagan, perhaps unsurprisingly, chose a noted Stephen King miniseries as being particularly important to him. He was very fond of the 1994 TV miniseries version of "The Stand."

Stephen King published "The Stand" in 1978, although a complete version — with over 400 pages restored — wouldn't be released until 1990. The longer version renewed interest and a miniseries was put into production. It had to be a miniseries as "The Stand" is notoriously long, spanning 1,153 pages (King's longest book to date).

"The Stand" is about a deadly plague that sweeps the Earth, killing off most of its population. The survivors, seemingly immune, find themselves mysteriously under the psychic influence of one of two newly-risen deities. The "good" survivors receive visions from the angelic Mother Abigail (Ruby Dee in the miniseries), while the "evil" survivors enter the cult of Randall Flagg (Jamey Sheridan), a demonic figure.

The miniseries starred Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, and a host of others. It was directed by Mick Garris ("Critters 2," "Psycho IV," "Sleepwalkers") and was a massive undertaking broadcasted as four separate two-hour TV movies. It was a major event for those who were teens in 1994, including Flanagan. When asked about his favorite adaptations, he replied:

"There are so many great ones. The one that Daniel [Thomsen] wanted to get into it was Mick Garris' adaptation of 'The Stand' in '94. Which I saw when it first aired, and was blown away. That was the first time I thought 'this is a book on television.' and I was in high school. But that one really kind of set me on the path." 

For Flanagan, the rest was history.

"The Stand" won two Emmys and was ubiquitous in VHS form for many years thereafter. A heavily-altered version of "The Stand" was also made into a nine-episode miniseries in 2020, although that version is not as celebrated.