“Fantastic Four” screenwriter Jeremy Slater apologized for the 2015 remake on Twitter while gushing about his upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Tommyknockers.”
“When I finally got my foot in the door, I only had three dream projects on my bucket list,” he wrote on a Twitter thread Thursday. “One was Marvel (umm…sorry about that one, guys), one was Star Wars, and the third, of course, was Stephen King. Any one of those jobs would let me die a happy man.”
“Now, thirty years later, I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the team bringing THE TOMMYKNOCKERS to life. It just feels…right, you know? Like coming home. And most of all, thanks to @stephenking for the lifetime of incredible nightmares,” he added. “Just don’t go in the woods.”
2015’s “Fantastic Four” starred Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell and was directed by Josh Trank. It was widely panned by critics and fans for making major changes to the source material.
On Thursday, TheWrap reported that Slater was tapped to write “Tommyknockers,” a feature film based on Stephen King’s 1987 sci-fi horror novel, for Universal.
“The Tommyknockers” is about the residents of Haven, Maine, who experience changes from a metal object that turns out to be an extension of a long-buried alien spacecraft. Once it’s exposed, the spacecraft releases an invisible gas into the atmosphere that gradually transforms people into beings similar to their alien visitors.
James Wan, who is in post-production on “Aquaman” and produces “The Conjuring” franchise, will produce through his Atomic Monster banner. Michael Clear will also produce for Atomic Monster.
Roy Lee and Jon Berg will produce through Vertigo Entertainment along with Larry Sanitsky, who executive produced the hit 1993 ABC miniseries, also based on the book.
See Slater’s tweets below.
I’m pretty sure this is the first book I ever bought with my own money. It was 1988 and I was 10 years old. I’d borrowed other King novels from various friends and libraries, but this was the first one that was MINE. 1/ pic.twitter.com/7tcOpizdU6
— Jeremy Slater (@jerslater) August 16, 2018
In meetings I always joke that I was raised by the two Stephens—King and Spielberg—but that’s not far from the truth. While other kids were playing sports or doing whatever cool kids do, I was spending the night in the Overlook, or hanging out in the sewers beneath Derry. 2/
— Jeremy Slater (@jerslater) August 16, 2018
And when I finally got my foot in the door, I only had three dream projects on my bucket list. One was Marvel (umm…sorry about that one, guys), one was Star Wars, and the third, of course, was Stephen King. Any one of those jobs would let me die a happy man. 3/
— Jeremy Slater (@jerslater) August 16, 2018
Now, thirty years later, I’m beyond thrilled to be part of the team bringing THE TOMMYKNOCKERS to life. It just feels…right, you know? Like coming home.
And most of all, thanks to @stephenking for the lifetime of incredible nightmares. 4/5
— Jeremy Slater (@jerslater) August 16, 2018
I can’t wait for you to visit Haven. It’s a hell of a town.
Just don’t go in the woods. 5/5
— Jeremy Slater (@jerslater) August 16, 2018