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IANS Exclusive: In an exclusive conversation with IANS, filmmaker Mike Flanagan opened up about his collaboration with legendary horror author Stephen King on the upcoming series 'Carrie'. Mike Flanagan discussed how King’s work inspired him to become a storyteller, the creative brainstorming behind reimagining the iconic horror story and the bold changes that made this adaptation exciting for both of them. He also talked about casting Summer as Carrie, revealing that the team auditioned around 1,400 actors for the role. He also shared his admiration for Stephen King’s 'The Dark Tower' series and revealed that King loved his film 'The Life of Chuck'.

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Transcript
00:00Hi, how are you?
00:01I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Thank you so much. How are you?
00:04I'm very good, thank you. It's good to talk to you.
00:07Likewise, likewise. So, straight right in.
00:11Having a miniseries and then you have Stephen King as the executive producer.
00:15You yourself are an expert on the horror genre.
00:18I want to know the jamming and the brainstorming between the two of you. What's that like?
00:23Oh, it's incredible. You know, Stephen King's been my hero since I was a kid.
00:27Like, he's very much the reason I want to tell stories.
00:31And so, for something like this, this is our fourth time working together.
00:38The conversations, you know, at the very beginning, I'm not going to do anything unless Steve wants to do it.
00:44You know, like, I'm not going to risk this relationship at this point for anything.
00:48So, the conversations were really exciting.
00:51We both had the same feeling at the beginning, which was, why do Carrie?
00:56Like, it's been done. It's been done a lot. It's been done perfectly.
01:00But I just couldn't stop thinking about the idea.
01:03And I really felt like I had a very new way into it that required a lot of changes.
01:10And that's where I was scared to have the conversation.
01:13Because I've never done that with Stephen King's work before.
01:15I've always tried to be very faithful.
01:17But I said, I think I have a way into Carrie.
01:20It's a lot of changes.
01:21It's very different.
01:23But here it is.
01:24And I laid the whole thing out.
01:25And I sent him a document that had the whole season written out.
01:29And he read it.
01:30And he came back.
01:30And he said, actually, this is very exciting.
01:33And he had a bunch of questions.
01:34He said, oh, well, what about this character?
01:36What are we going to do with this?
01:37And this is all new.
01:39I said, yeah, that's kind of it.
01:40It's a whole new thing.
01:41And then he got excited.
01:42And he wanted to do it.
01:44And once he was excited, then I said, yep, we'll go ahead and do this.
01:50And talking about someone who portrays the titular role, it said that it's very difficult to extract the best out
01:57of child artists or children.
02:00Because they think very fast.
02:04Their mood changes very frequently.
02:05How is it working for you with her?
02:07And then they extract the very best from her.
02:10Oh, well, and this is the amazing thing about Summer.
02:12So we looked at 1,400 actors to find Summer.
02:17It was a huge, huge casting.
02:19And Summer plays a 15-year-old so convincingly that even I would look at her and think that it's
02:29like, yes, this is a teenager.
02:32Summer's a 22-year-old woman.
02:34So, yeah, Summer's usually all of the tricks that I would typically use with younger actors, not at all necessary
02:43with Summer.
02:44So she would show me very, very often how the scene would need to go.
02:49Summer's so incredible.
02:51She's so remarkable.
02:52And one of the strongest women I've ever met.
02:56And I think this version of Carrie that she creates, who is so curious and kind and smart, and you
03:03just want to protect her.
03:05You just want the world to not do what you know it's going to do to her.
03:09I think her performance is extraordinary.
03:14And she was a wonderful leader on set, which is the thing that I most admired about her.
03:20She really led her cast and took care of everyone and set an amazing example.
03:29And I just have a minute left, so I want to ask this one question about you and Stephen both.
03:35Which is your favorite work of Stephen King and vice versa, which is his favorite work of yours?
03:40Whoa, I think my, that's, oh, this is a tough question.
03:44I think my favorite, The Dark Tower, the entire Dark Tower series to me is it.
03:52And I'd have to ask him, but I think, I know his favorite movie I've ever made is The Life
03:57of Chuck.
04:00And he loved that movie so much.
04:04But yeah, I would guess that's his favorite.
04:08Perfect.
04:08So that would be my time.
04:09Thank you so much, Mike.
04:10And I wish you all the best for Carrie on the 9th of October.
04:13Please take it.
04:14Thank you so much.
04:14Thank you so much.
04:15It was a pleasure talking to you.
04:16I hope you have a great day.
04:17Likewise.

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