Summary
- Kate Siegel reveals she is teaming with Stephen King to direct a short film he is writing following her directorial debut in
V/H/S: Beyond
. - The short will be part of Siegel’s teaming with multiple female filmmakers to produce horror shorts on YouTube, though remains mum on who the other filmmakers are.
- Between her extensive horror genre history and frequent collaborations with acclaimed writer/director Mike Flanagan, Siegel is perfect for a collaboration with King.
Having recently made her directorial debut with a celebrated anthology franchise, Kate Siegel is already eyeing her next project in the director’s chair with a Stephen King short film. Siegel is best known for her frequent collaborations with her husband Mike Flanagan, beginning with his breakout 2013 hit Oculus, before eventually holding leading roles in The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher‘s cast, among others. The star also made her directorial debut with V/H/S Beyond, the latest chapter in Shudder’s anthology horror franchise that’s set to release in October 2024.
During his Echoes From Hill House: A Haunting Panel at FAN EXPO Canada, for which Screen Rant was a media partner, Screen Rant‘s Joe Deckelmeier spoke with Siegel to discuss her recent expansion into the world of directing. In addition to confirming she’s set to make a feature-length version of her V/H/S Beyond segment, Siegel also teased that she’s teaming with Stephen King for a series of short films she’s producing for YouTube with other female filmmakers, though kept mum on further details. See what Siegel shared below:
Screen Rant: Speaking of directing, Kate, there is a VHS short that’s getting turned into a feature that you are going to direct. Can you talk about that for a little bit?
Kate Siegel: This fall, in October, VHS Beyond premieres, which is all Sci-Fi. I directed a short and I did a pretty good job. It looks like it’s going to get turned into a feature, and I’m going to direct it.
Screen Rant: But that’s not the only thing you’re going to be directing…
Kate Siegel: Yeah, I guess Kate got real jealous of what Mike was doing, and I was like, “Whatcha doing over there? I wanna do it. What you got going on over there.” And I also, with a group of female filmmakers, decided to produce a series of horror shorts for YouTube. And I’ll direct one of those as well.
Screen Rant: Yeah, could you tease any of the other people that are involved?
Kate Siegel: Yes. Some of your favorite horror writers. I’m not going to name names because deals aren’t fully closed, but they’re close to. But my favorite horror writer is, who isn’t sitting next to me, has written the short that I will direct. Oh, Stephen King, my favorite writer? [Audience reacts to her confirming that he wrote the short she will direct]
Siegel’s Genre History Makes Her Perfect For A King Adaptation
Siegel’s confirmation that King will be writing the short she’s directing marks an interesting detail as it’s a rare instance of the horror author writing a screenplay. In the early days of his adaptations, King did frequently pen the scripts for movies and shows based on his novels, including Silver Bullet, Pet Sematary and The Stand, though as time went on, and he became focused on his books, other filmmakers and writers instead translated his work. The past decade has seen him pen a handful of scripts based on his work, including Apple TV+’s Lisey’s Story adaptation and 2016’s Cell.
King has also penned multiple original scripts, including
Sleepwalkers, Storm of the Century
and
Rose Red
.
While it’s unclear whether Siegel’s teaming with King will be to adapt one of his short stories or an original story, her genre history alone makes this a dream collaboration for fans of the author. Across her 18-year career, Siegel has starred almost exclusively in horror projects, including Flanagan’s various Netflix shows and movies, with a few rare exceptions including a cameo in The Wrath of Becky and a recurring role on HBO’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, as well as guest appearances on multiple CBS crime procedurals.
Beyond Flanagan’s acclaimed Haunting anthology and original shows, Siegel also starred in his first Stephen King adaptation, Netflix’s Gerald’s Game, in which he turned a seemingly unfilmable novel into an acclaimed movie. With her joking note of being “jealous” of Flanagan’s various projects and a desire to break into the director’s chair herself, Siegel certainly has the appropriate foundation for a King collaboration, be it an adaptation of one of his stories, or an original work.