Huffington Magazine Issue 50 | Page 37

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why they both work even though
they’re very different.
Given how dominant he is in the realm
of books, I guess it’s somewhat surprising that his work isn’t more dominant in
other arenas as well. Do you think there’s
something particular to his work that
makes it quite difficult for that translation
to work well on a consistent basis? Take
something like Under the Dome
— it has a hooky, accessible, highconcept [premise]. But I think
Stephen’s books are always much
more complex than that. Maybe
on the surface, it looks like [the
high-concept ideas] will translate
easily, but they don’t. There’s a lot
lurking underneath, and I think
that’s why Stephen King is so

Q&A

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popular. He’s much more than just
plots or cool concepts.
His novels are emotionally immersive in a way that I think everyone who reads him understand
it. But I think people who don’t
read Stephen King — they just
think of horror and the scares. But
there’s a real, aggressive humanity
to his work. He just loves people so
much, and it really comes through.
When you sat down to work on this, how
did you begin to think about whittling it
down and making it work as an ongoing TV
series? I was lucky enough to get
to talk with Stephen early in the
process. He said, to quote Elvis,
“It’s your baby. You rock it now.”
The big thing he encouraged us [to

A shot of
the trapped
town in Under
the Dome,
premiering
June 24.