NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 26: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Author Stephen King visits the SiriusXM Studios ... [+]
Stephen King is high on Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, but there’s also a movie adaptation of his that’s new on the streaming service that he’s not too proud of.
In April, Netflix announced that it was adding a slew of films that turn 40 years old this year, including the first big-screen adaption of Firestarter. Released on May 11, 1984, the film stars Drew Barrymore as Charlie, an 8-year-old girl who has the telekinetic ability to start fires.
Firestarter turns 40 on Saturday, but it appears unlikely that King will be celebrating the film’s anniversary. It didn’t even take long after the film’s release for the celebrated author to lob firebombs at the adaptation.
“Firestarter is one of the worst of the bunch, even though in terms of story it's very close to the original. But it's flavorless; it's like cafeteria mashed potatoes,” King told American Film in the magazine’s June 1986 issue. “There are things that happen in terms of special effects in that movie that make no sense to me whatsoever. Why this kid's hair blows every time she starts fires is totally beyond my understanding.”
King noted that he “never got a satisfactory answer” regarding Charlie’s hair when he inquired about it after watching the rough cut of Firestarter.
“[Producer] Dino [De Laurentis] was regularly asking me for input,” King told American Film. “Sometimes he'd take it. In that case...”
King Was Mystified By Other Creative Decisions In ‘Firestarter’
Stephen King was brutally honest in his assessment of Firestarter in his American Film interview and particularly had rough words for the actor who played Charlie’s father, Andrew.
“The movie has great actors, with the exception of the lead, David Keith, who I didn't feel was very good — my wife said that he has stupid eyes,” King told American Film. “The actors were allowed to do pretty much what they wanted to.”
The film was directed by Mark L. Lester, whom King criticized in an indirect way.
“Martin Sheen, who is a great actors, with no direction and nobody to tell him—and I mean there must have been literally no direction—with nobody to pull him in and say, ‘Stop what you're doing,’ he simply reprised Greg Stillson [in The Dead Zone],” King told American Film. “That's all there is; it's the same character exactly. But Greg Stillson should not be in charge of The Shop [a secret government organization in Firestarter]. He's not the kind of guy who gets that job.”
King, of course, is back in the news recently because of his public praise for Baby Reindeer, comedian Richard Gadd’s limited Netflix series about how a stalker he calls “Martha” made his life a living hell over four-plus years. The worldwide sensation has been so intense that the real Martha has revealed her identity in a photo with interviewer Piers Morgan.
King posted his first reaction to the series on X on April 28, when he wrote, “BABY REINDEER: Holy s—t.” King then penned an essay about how he was glad his 1987 novel about obsession—Misery—came out before Baby Reindeer because otherwise people might think he stole the idea from Gadd.
Directed by Rob Reiner, the film adaptation of Misery in 1990 could be considered one of King’s greatest achievements, at least for its star Kathy Bates since she won a Best Actress Oscar for playing Annie Wilkes.
In the film, Annie is a nurse who is so obsessed over the work of author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) that she holds him captive after he is seriously injured in a car crash in a snowstorm in Colorado.
While King has left Firestarter in the dust, Baby Reindeer has been burning up Netflix’s Global Top 10 TV Shows chart for the week of April 29 to May 5 with 18.6 million views, which translates to 73.6 million viewing hours.
Both Baby Reindeer and Firestarter are streaming on Netflix.
