What do Mark Hamill and Stephen King have in common beyond a shared ability to annihilate former president Donald Trump with poetic precision?
No, that isn’t the start of some elaborate joke, but a reference to a recent picture taken of the actor and author while attending the Toronto Film Festival. The pair were spotted in the audience for the festival premiere of The Life of Chuck, an upcoming drama written and directed by Mike Flanagan, based upon King’s 2020 novella of the same name.
Tom Hiddleston leads the cast of the film adaptation, while Hamill himself serves in a co-starring role. Even though he might have worked alongside King in some capacity while shooting The Life of Chuck, the author’s star power still apparently rendered Hamill into a fan girl, as proven by his post-TIFF reaction on X (King’s least favorite platform).
“It’s not often I’m seated next to a literary genius & one of my all-time favorite authors,” the Star Wars actor wrote alongside a snap of himself gushing in the crowd next to King. “It took every ounce of discipline I possess to avoid freaking out & exposing myself as the weak-kneed, slavish fan-boy I truly am.”
For those who’ve followed both of their careers (or even just their hilarious anti-Trump X feeds), this is the crossover we’ve all been waiting for, and even Hamill is lapping it all up. The actor, when responding to King’s message on X, said in the tone of a true stan that he’d be “FRAMING THIS TWEET”. Our hopes of a new Hollywood power couple might be somewhat dashed, however, since Hamill revealed that King doesn’t follow him back on X.
It isn’t the first time Hamill has gushed about King, particularly as promotion picks up for The Life of Chuck. In another post, Hamill said the film is “simply indescribable”, and elsewhere noted that it is “unlike anything [Flanagan] & Stephen have ever done before.”
Early reviews of the movie — which also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jacob Tremblay, among other Flanagan muses — appear to be equally complimentary, with The Daily Beast describing it as “surprisingly heartwarming” and The Hollywood Reporter saying it “delivers the uplifting goods.”
Before The Life of Chuck, director Flanagan previously adapted fellow King titles Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep for the big screen. Meanwhile, in the broader King universe, we’re gearing up for the TV adaptation of Salem’s Lot, set to arrive in October, and 2025’s The Monkey, starring The White Lotus’ Theo James and based on King’s 1980 short story.