Stephen King Apologized To Emilio Estevez For Maximum Overdrive

by | Mar 31, 2021

Horror author Stephen King is not afraid to jump in front on the lenses once in awhile, but he has only ever once taken up directorial duties on a film adaption. Having been disillusioned with many of the films adaptions of his books, he decided to step behind the camera to direct Maximum Overdrive, an apocalyptic tale about machines coming to life. However, things did not exactly go to plan and it seems like King has repeatedly apologized to lead actor Emilio Estevez for the entire ordeal.

In 1986, King wrote the screenplay Maximum Overdrive, based on his short story Trucks, and he decided to direct the film himself. But not only was the project to be his directorial debut, it would also be his last. 

The tales from behind the scenes are just as wild as the film, with admissions of heavy drug use and unsafe working conditions that resulted in the director of photography losing an eye. However, King admits that he did a bad job of directing the film, tuning his dark and somber tale into a campy horror. 

Maximum Overdrive star Estevez was recently interviewed by Vanity Fair, chatting about the new Mighty Ducks TV series. He was asked “Do you look back on any project specifically and think, “Why did I do that?”” To which he responded… 

“Oh, God, yeah. I’m not speaking out of class because he knows it’s a terrible movie, but Stephen King often talks about his one directorial experience on Maximum Overdrive, which I was in. The few times that I’ve connected with him over the years, he’s like, “Can you forgive me for that?”

I think at one point my mom said, “Why’d you do that movie?” I said, “I wanted to work with Stephen King.” And she said, “Couldn’t you have helped him paint his house?”

Whilst Kings film was a commercial and critical disaster, there are still plenty of fans of the quirky late 90’s flick.  King’s son Joe Hill, has recently spoke about his interest in rebooting the film, with a virus in the electronics replacing the alien invasion. Maybe Joe can undo his fathers biggest failure?

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Are you a fan of Maximum Overdrive? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @Lallen_UK

Stay in, Stay Safe, Love Horror!

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