The adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story premiered on Apple+ TV this past month. The teleplay was written by King, and the story was brought to the silver screen by names like J.J. Abrams and Pablo Larraín. Julianne Moore was cast in the role of Lisey, the story’s main character. Lisey is a woman grappling with the death of her husband, a famous author who often disappeared into a different world entirely. As described by the book’s Goodreads synopsis, this world had the capacity to consume him or heal him. What begins as Lisey searching through her husband’s old papers turns into a trip into the world that her husband inhabited. After the miniseries premiered, Stephen King sat down with CBS anchor Jane Pauley to discuss the series.
In his interview with Jane Pauley, King discusses his writing process, why he wanted to write Lisey’s Story, and what the publication of his first novel, Carrie, meant for his family at the time. King writes daily for several hours, and Pauley expressed how impressed she was that he had even written on the day that the interview took place. Additionally, King described how he had wanted to write a story abut grief over losing one’s partner and the sort of longing that remained after the fact, and his desire to do so culminated in Lisey’s Story.
Stephen King was encouraged to write by his mother, Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King, who purchased a typewriter for him when he was 12 years old. The advance that King received for Carrie was enough for his mother to stop working: “She was in excruciating pain by that point. And my brother and I said, ‘Mom, you’re done. There’s enough to take care of you now because the book sold for a lotta money, and you can go home.’ And she just put her hands over her face and cried. She passed away from cancer when she was 60 years old.”
King went on to share how his mother wanted to give her son the space to be who he was, and how she didn’t ever dismiss his desire to write stories.
To watch and read the entirety of Stephen King’s interview with Jane Pauley, click here.
The adaptation of Lisey’s Story will be comprised of eight episodes–the last two of which will be released this month.
Featured image via Polygon