Steven Spielberg Wanted Stephen King to Write Poltergeist – Why He Didn’t

Poltergeist producer Steven Spielberg originally wanted Stephen King to write the film, but unfortunate timing kept the collaboration from happening. Stephen King is widely known as “the master of horror,” and for good reason, as his library of horror tales is second to none. Of course, King also generally excels on the rare occasions he steps outside the genre, proving that his abilities aren’t just useful for scares. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg is the most successful director in history, and boasts a resume full of blockbusters. Like King though, he also excels when changing things up, and directing a more personal drama.

Both King and Spielberg have often come off like kids at heart, often centering their stories on children, and regularly seeking to imbue their work with a sense of child-like wonder. They both also love to build worlds full of memorable characters, creating realities that feel lived-in, even when the events playing out onscreen or on the page are very much things that couldn’t actually happen.

It’s kind of crazy that two pop culture giants like Stephen King and Steven Spielberg have never managed to work together, especially considering how often King has ventured over into the world of Hollywood. Even outside of how many of his stories get adapted into films, King has written his own screenplays, and served as an executive producer on other projects. He directed Maximum Overdrive too, but one can’t win them all. It turns out that Spielberg aimed for King to collaborate with him on the classic 1982 horror film Poltergeist, but it seemingly just wasn’t meant to be.

Steven Spielberg Wanted Stephen King to Co-Write Poltergeist

According to Steven Spielberg himself, the director wanted Stephen King to co-write the script. Spielberg didn’t direct Poltergeist – at least not officially – but he produced the film and came up with the story, which he then co-wrote with the writing duo of Michael Grais and Mark Victor. It’s one of only three actual screenplay credits in Spielberg’s long career, as while he has a lot of story credits to his name, he seems to prefer letting full-time writers pen the scripts. In that light, it’s easy to see why Spielberg sought out King as a potential collaborator, especially since Spielberg has rarely ventured into horror.

Sadly, Spielberg attempted to contact King with the offer to co-write Poltergeist‘s script when the author was currently traveling via boat to England. As this was the early 1980s, everyone didn’t have an internet equipped cell phone, and thus it took a long time to relay messages between the two parties. In the meantime, Spielberg seemingly got sick of waiting and recruited Grais and Victor, who would subsequently return to write 1986 sequel Poltergeist 2: The Other Side. It’s disappointing that Spielberg and King weren’t able to make things work, and even more so since they’ve never teamed up at all.

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