Karen Gillan Saw an Unfinished Cut of Mike Flanagan’s ‘Life of Chuck’

Since it was first announced last year that horror aficionado Mike Flanagan would be adapting yet another Stephen King book into a feature-length film in The Life of Chuck, audiences have been eager for more news. The director managed to wrangle not only a ton of familiar faces from his Flana-family but also some new ones, like Matthew Lillard (Scream). One of those returning collaborators is actress Karen Gillan who worked with the visionary on his sophomore movie, Oculus. During a chat with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, at a Collider screening of her upcoming film Sleeping Dogs, alongside its director Adam Cooper, Gillan reflected on what it meant to her to reunite with Flanagan a full decade later and shined a light on what audiences can expect from The Life of Chuck.

Signing on for The Life of Chuck meant that Gillan would be returning to a troupe of performers that had grown exponentially since she last teamed up with Flanagan on Oculus. Nemiroff asked how the Guardians of the Galaxy star found the experience of working with the director after his past few years of uber-success, and how she felt folding into the company of the rest of the players with Gillan commenting:

“You know what, it didn’t feel that different. I was going into it like, “OK, how has he changed? He’s done so many movies.” [It] felt the same! We were back in Alabama like we’d never left. If there was any difference, I suppose he just felt more… I mean, he was relaxed on the first one, but maybe he wasn’t, he was just pretending to be relaxed. But no,
he was just the same Mike Flanagan, and brilliant and the movie is absolutely incredible
. I saw a not-finished version of it, and literally didn’t stop crying for days. In a good way.”

What Is ‘The Life of Chuck’ And Who’s In It?

Based on the novella of the same name by King, The Life of Chuck is the story of one man’s memory-induced journey backwards in life from his death to his younger years. The story isn’t like King’s other horror-heavy works, per se, which is something that has thrown fans off as far as the direction in which Flanagan will take his film. Even if on the outside, it isn’t what audiences would immediately think of when picturing both King and Flanagan, Gillan says the project won’t be one to be missed, even teasing that “it might” stay in line with the plot of the original story.

“It’s a cathartic experience. It’s someone dealing with the end of their life, and it’s told in a very imaginative way, and it’s just beautiful. It’s a celebration of life, I suppose. I think we could all do with a bit of that.”

Along with Gillan and Lillard, The Life of Chuck will also feature performances from names like Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Mark Hamill (the Star Wars franchise), Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass), Kate Siegel (The Fall of the House of Usher), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), Samantha Sloyan (The Midnight Club), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Jacob Tremblay (Doctor Sleep), and so many more. Filming has officially wrapped on the production, but a release window has yet to be released.

You can learn more about The Life of Chuck in our all-encompassing guide here. Sleeping Dogs hits theaters on March 22.

Sleeping Dogs

An ex-homicide detective (Russell Crowe) with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past.

Release Date

April 25, 2024

Director

Adam Cooper

Runtime

110 Minutes

Writers

Adam Cooper , Bill Collage , E.O. Chirovici

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