Stephen King’s "Rat" Is Getting Movie Adaptation

Stephen King's novella "Rat" is getting the feature film treatment from a team including "The Witch" and "The Lighthouse" producer Jay Van Hoy.

Isaac Ezban is directing from a script adapted by Jeff Howard. Also producing are Fernando Ferro and Paul Perez.

The story follows Drew Larson, a writer “cursed by his own ambition. Each attempt at a novel has ended in disaster—illness, misfortune, or worse. Determined to break the cycle, he retreats to a desolate cabin in the Maine woods, convinced this time will be different. But as a violent storm traps him in isolation, Drew’s body falters and his mind begins to unravel. In the grip of fever and madness, a stranger appears—an uncanny visitor who promises salvation and success…for a price Drew can barely comprehend.”

King’s novella comes from the 2020 collection "If It Bleeds". It joins a list of stories from the same book that have been adapted into features and TV shows, including Mike Flanagan’s "The Life of Chuck", starring Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill, and Netflix’s "Mr. Harrigan’s Phone".

The Washington Post called the novella “an unpredictable, often hallucinatory narrative … one of King’s definitive explorations of the dark side of the creative impulse.”

Ezban, co-founder of Red Elephant Films, is an emerging voice in Latin American genre movies who is known for movies "Mal de Ojo" and "Párvulos" and has previously earned praise from Guillermo del Toro. Howard has established himself as a writer-producer in the genre across film "Oculus," "Gerald’s Game," "Ouija: Origin of Evil" and TV "Resident Evil," "The Haunting of Hill House," "Midnight Mass".

Van Hoy and Ferro most recently wrapped the crime thriller "52nd State," written and directed by Todd Yellin with Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings exec-producing. Perez, most recently produced a remake of "Father of the Bride" with Plan B for Warner Bros, which became the most watched streaming-only movie for HBO Max. He’s also versed in Stephen King IP having worked on "Doctor Sleep" while an executive at Warner Bros.

Recent King adaptations include Francis Lawrence’s "The Long Walk" at Lionsgate and Flanagan’s upcoming "Carrie" series at Prime Video.