Steven Spielberg Is Eager to See Stephen King’s the Talisman on the Big Screen

When it comes to books, Stephen King is arguably one of the greatest writers around, and the same is true of Steven Spielberg when it comes to films. Given how often Hollywood adapts books into movies, it’s somewhat surprising that Stephen and Steven have never worked together, but that could soon change.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Spielberg revealed that he is a big fan of King and that he has actually owned the rights to his novel The Talisman since 1982 and that he’s eager to see it brought to the big screen.

“I feel that in the very near future, that’s going to be our richest collaboration,” Spielberg said. “Universal bought the book for me, so it wasn’t optioned. It was an outright sale of the book.
“I’ve owned the book since ’82, and I’m hoping to get this movie made in the next couple of years. I’m not committing to the project as a director, I’m just saying that it’s something that I’ve wanted to see come to theatres for the last 35 years.”

The book has apparently almost made it to screens several times, including one occasion a decade ago when Spielberg attempted to turn the book into a six-hour miniseries for TNT, but it ended up being “just too rich for TNT’s blood.”

Despite being bought by Universal in 1982, The Talisman was first published in 1984 and was written by Stephen King and Peter Straub. The book follows a young boy named Jack Sawyer who travels across the US in the hopes of finding a talisman that could save his dying mother. A sequel was published in 2001 called Black House.

While there are currently no plans for an on screen adaptation, it’s clear this book is important to Spielberg and we wouldn’t be surprised if he turn his attention to it in the next few years.