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Eli Roth Wants To Adapt A Stephen King Novel

Between his vigilante thriller Death Wish and his family-friendly fantasy flick The House with a Clock in Its Walls, 2018 has seen director Eli Roth branching out into some new territory, but it’s surely only a matter of time before the call of horror beckons once more. In fact, the Cabin Fever helmsman has already mentioned that he’d be totally game to adapt some of Stephen King’s work if a good opportunity ever emerged.

Between his vigilante thriller Death Wish and his family-friendly fantasy flick The House with a Clock in Its Walls, 2018 has seen director Eli Roth branching out into some new territory, but it’s surely only a matter of time before the call of horror beckons once more. In fact, the Cabin Fever helmsman has already mentioned that he’d be totally game to adapt some of Stephen King’s work if a good opportunity ever emerged.

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In an interview with ComicBook.com, Roth expressed his admiration for the so-called King of Horror, though he also showed concern that many of the projects he’d be keen on bringing to the screen have already been claimed by other filmmakers.

“I mean, a lot of the ones that I’m particularly interested in, other people are currently sitting in those parking spaces. But if they become available, I would do it.”

It’s certainly true that an insane number of King’s novels have been adapted in these last few decades, and after the commercial and critical success of last year’s It, this trend seems set to flourish further in the years to come. But while Roth may not have any King-related movies in the works just yet, he was able to interview the author as part of his recent TV series Eli Roth’s History of Horror.

“It was my first time really sitting down and talking with him,” Roth noted. “It was one of the most fun, thrilling conversations of my life and it’s pretty awesome there was a camera crew to capture it and all the stories he shared with me and we got to share with everyone.”

Roth remains one of the most divisive filmmakers working in horror today, but while the Hostel director’s output continues to earn detractors, King seems to count himself among the guy’s fans. In particular, the author once lavished praise on Roth’s 2013 film Green Inferno via Twitter, writing.

“The Green Inferno is like a glorious throwback to the drive-in movies of my youth: bloody, gripping, hard to watch, but you can’t look away”

Of course, Roth himself was over the moon about this endorsement, and in his interview with ComicBook.com, he reflected on the writer’s continued support.

“I shook his hand at a premiere once and he [was] so generous to give me that incredible quote for Green Inferno,” Roth recalled. “He’s very, very kind about me whenever he’s asked about me and I just love him so much.”

Whether Eli Roth ever gets to do his King adaptation or not, it’s clear that our current horror landscape is in no shortage of movies based on the author’s work. Next in theaters is Pet Sematary, out April 5th, 2019, followed by It: Chapter Two on September 6th.