Bryan Fuller Announced to Direct New Christine Movie

By RodneyHatfieldJr for Movies

Announced this week (and really shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point), Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Hannibal) is set to write and direct a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine for Sony and Blumhouse Studios. 


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If you have never watched the 1983 version or read the novel from King, let me enlighten you. The story is about a young man named Arnie who becomes obsessed with a 1958 Plymouth Fury that he purchases to fix up. The car has a sinister past and a taste for blood and soon it bends the young man to its will while eliminating anyone who insults them or tries to separate them.


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The book was first adapted by John Carpenter back in 1983. Carpenter, the master of horror’s vision of the novel came with an insane score as well as a soundtrack of classic 50s/60s rock songs. It is considered by some to be Carpenters best work. I consider it as one of the best soundtrack, and a classic horror film.


According to the press release, Jason Blum will produce the film under the Blumhouse banner with Vincenzo Natali and Steven Hoban. Peter Kang is representing Sony. Fuller comes with a solid field of work including cult favorites like Hannibal and Pushing Daisies as well as his work on American Gods based on the novel by Neil Gaiman.


I know the news has been split between people seeing this as good news, and others saying that Hollywood has run out of ideas. I am usually firmly behind the group that wants new content. But this falls under the “Book” rule. Remakes from books do not apply. You can have 10 different people read a book and get 10 different versions of what they brought away from it. Plus adaptations have been around since the beginning of cinema. Books will always get remade, it is the nature of the medium. It is the equivalent of getting mad at a Dracula, Frankenstein, or I am Legend remake. When a book becomes iconic, it becomes the grail of directors and writers to adapt it.


I am a fan of the original. My grandmother use to call every Plymouth Fury she saw “The Devil Car”. Which I admit I do as well now in memorial. It was shown on regular TV throughout the '80s (because of high reviews, great music, and low on the gore scale). It is one of those starter horror films for people. If Jason or Michael was too gory, then Christine was just the right amount. But like every great book, it gets remade for newer generations. Unless it is exquisite in filmmaking, I doubt I will prefer it over the original. Nostalgia is a difficult hurdle to cross. Most likely it will be a nice addition to the King library.

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