Writer/director Mike Flanagan knows a thing or two about life and death. For years, he’s used the horror genre to explore the subject thoroughly across limited series like “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” as well as films like “Oculus” and the adaptation of Stephen King’s “Doctor Sleep.” For his latest, “The Life of Chuck,” another King adaptation that recently premiered at TIFF, Flanagan forgoes his usual frights for a much more fanciful narrative that nonetheless faces the quandaries of mortality with the same kind of inventive introspection he’s become known for. While discussing the film with cast members Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Flanagan recently told the Los Angeles Times that when it comes to his own death, he’d like to mark it as a somewhat joyous occasion.
“I prefer it to be with a smile, you know, with a little joy in there,” Flanagan said of having people say goodbye to him. He added later, “I think a party. Like a really wild goodbye party. Yeah, a true celebration, with pranks, like if I’m expired, just prop me up in the back and let me get one good jump scare in there at the end.”
Gillan agreed that whenever it was her time to go, she’d prefer if people found a way to celebrate, but also hopes a little theatricality will be involved.
“I would like people to say goodbye to me in a very dramatic fashion, like some really intense orchestra piece of music. Then I would like that to transition in a Scottish party called a cèilidh,” said Gillan. “You’ve got the drama and intensity, so that I know I was important to people, and then everyone’s gonna have some fun.”
“The Life of Chuck,” while dealing in heavy themes and ultimately about what it means to live life through the prism of death, did help Flanagan become closer with the ones he loves, especially his eldest son.
“My oldest son, who’s 13, has seen this movie I think eight times,” he said to the LA Times. “He absolutely adores it. Whenever I’ve been finishing a new phase of post or reviewing visual effects or watching the new cut, he’s asked to join. That’s kind of been my most important audience.”
In IndieWire’s review of the film, Katie Rife wrote for IndieWire, “As a filmmaker, Flanagan deals in raw, go-for-broke emotion; it’s just that this time around, he’s using that passion to affirm the audience, not disturb them. Whether one finds this uplifting or eye-rolling is a matter of taste, and cynics will likely find Flanagan’s latest far too saccharine for theirs. Viewers with a sweet tooth, meanwhile, may find themselves thoroughly charmed by ‘Chuck’s’ dorky earnestness.”
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