Steven Spielberg and Stephen King Almost Worked Together on POLTERGEIST
Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's classic horror film Poltergeist is an amazing fun horror movie. It's one of my favorite horror films of all time, and now I'm learning for the first time that Stephen King almost worked on the script with Spielberg.
The whole reason that they didn't collaborate on the film together was because they couldn't communicate with each other! You have to remember, the film was made in an era without the technology that we have today to communicate with each other. In a recent interview with EW, Stephen King explains:
"It didn’t work out because it was before the internet and we had a communication breakdown. I was on a ship going across the Atlantic to England."
Spielberg went on to say:
"I wanted him to help me out with the script and sort of write it with me, but he was unavailable."
I'd say that's a shame, but the movie turned out great without Kings help. I do love the fact that Spielberg did want to bring King on board to work on it with him, though. That being said, I can't help but think what the movie would have been like had King helped write the script.
It's ok, though, because it sounds like King and Spielberg will be working together again soon enough on the long-awaited adaptation of The Talisman. King recently said he hopes to start developing it in a couple of years.