As a general rule of thumb, Stephen King tends to prefer adaptations of his work that have his fingerprints all over them, which is fair enough when it’s his concepts and characters being brought to live-action.
His favorite-ever treatment of his work is an original story he wrote exclusively for the small screen, while he also prefers the televised version of The Shining to the Stanley Kubrick classic, but he may have waited a little too late to try and drum up renewed hype for Lisey’s Story.
Based on the author’s 2006 novel of the same name, King wrote the teleplays for all eight episodes of the Apple TV miniseries, which was directed in its entirely by Spencer‘s Pablo Larrain. Unfortunately, neither critics nor audiences deemed it worthy of scoring any higher than 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but two years on from its July 2021 debut, the master of horror is demanding you give it another chance.
Julianne Moore is reliably excellent in the lead role as the widow of a famous author, who spends her time batting away attempts from publishers to try and secure his unpublished posthumous work. When sifting through his possessions, though, she discovers suppressed memories and unique insights into their marriage that had long since been either forgotten or buried.
The sheer volume of Stephen King adaptations means it’s difficult to even keep track of them all – never mind watch every single one – but Lisey’s Story doesn’t exactly rank among the upper echelons, so you’d be forgiven if you avoided his recommendation just this once.
