Mike Flanagan

 

Mike Flanagan 

Mike Flanagan is an American director, writer, and editor (IMDB, n.d. a). He is best known for his adaptation work on Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House”, Henry James’ “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and Stephen King’s “Gerald’s Game” and “Doctor Sleep” (King, 2021).

His career in feature films began in 2000 after writing and directing “Makebelieve” at the age of 21. The story is a “Coming of age drama focusing on the loves, lives, and infidelities of four college friends, all while working in a production of Romeo and Juliet” (Flanagan, 2000 a).

A year later Flanagan wrote and directed “Still Life” it “details the trials and tribulations of four student photographers who collaborate on one final project before graduation. When caught sharing photos the students are given the chance to save their final grades. When returning home to fine his fiancé in bed with another man Danny decided to photograph them in the act. Inspired by photographing people at their most vulnerable they agree to use this idea as the thesis for their new portfolio. Their behaviour begins to tear apart their lives and relationships, they are forced to come to terms with the harsh truths of their lives through the camera lens”. “Still Life” is an award-winning feature film (Flanagan, 2001 b).

Since 2001 Flanagan has worked on many other films and TV shows such as, Discovery and ESPN in 2002. In 2003 he wrote and directed the award-winning feature film "Ghosts of Hamilton Street” and was also the Director of Photography for "Chainsaw Sally" (Empire, 2015).

2005 saw Flanagan turn to the horror genre for the first time in his career. He wrote the applauded “Oculus”, this short film sparked the beginning of his ambitious horror anthology. It inspired Flanagan’s 2013 feature film which has the same name (IMDb, n.d. a).

After raising the funds on Kickstarter Flanagan wrote and directed “Absentia” in 2011 (Rotten Tomatoes, 2021). it was shot in Flanagan’s apartment for 70K. The indie horror is applauded by critics, and he credits the film for establishing his career. It later led to “Oculus” (2013) and “Before I Wake” (2015). “Absentia” and “Oculus” were well received but ended on noted of despair which became rare in Flanagan’s work (King, 2021).

After becoming a parent and getting married a more optimistic world view found its way into Flanagan’s screen writing. He began to write and make a form of horror which chilled the bones and inspired people to rekindle relationships with family members (King, 2021).

The critically acclaimed “Hush” (2016) written by both himself and his wife, Kate Siegel, was released exclusively on Netflix. This resulted in Flanagan working closely with the online streaming service to produce his adaptation of Stephen King’s “Gerald’s Game” (2017) (Netflix, 2019).

In 2018, Flanagan adapted Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” for Netflix, the show was a great success and won many awards, including the Saturn Award and the Bram Stoker Award (IMDb, n.d. c). It was one of Netflix’s best-reviewed shows of all time. It even received praise from Stephen King who called it "close to a work of genius" (Insider, 2018). Following the series’ success Netflix has entered a multi-year overall television deal with Flanagan who went on to develop and produce new series exclusively for Netflix. Including the next chapter in The Haunting anthology, a new story with entirely new characters alongside Trevor Macy (Netflix, 2019). The Haunting of Bly Manor was released in 2020. Flanagan tries to infuse his adaptations with aspects of his own life. In “The Haunting of Hill House” Flanagan includes his own experiences with death within his extended family and includes specific imagery from his life (King, 2021).

While working within the horror genre, he gained a reputation of humanistic horror, lots of his work features damaged characters who are battling with the everyday terrors of being a parent, partner, human etc. It revolves around deeply felt family drama (King, 2021). Flanagan shows a specific attention to character and mood which is often unacknowledged in the horror genre. He also frequently works with the same actors, and some suggest he is constructing a” Scare Squad”, there is a growing cast who appear in multiple of Flanagan’s movies for example, The Haunting of Hill House cast have worked with Flanagan before and have since returned (Decider, 2018).

Flanagan invests in the actors he works with, his colleague and now wife, Kate Siegel, has previously features in Oculus and Hush (which she co-wrote). She said, “Mike Flanagan has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the horror genre. This is a man who knows every monster, knows how it’s been used, knows when it’s been used, knows the references to it in other movies. He really walks the walk and talks the talk,” this shows just how passionate he is for the genre he operates in and the knowledge he has and uses to manipulate his audiences (Decider, 2018).

Sometimes the endings of his work feature a measure of peace for his long-suffering characters, he believes horror can offer something deeper. In an interview he said, “Horror affords us the opportunity to really look at ourselves and the things that scare us, that disturb us, as a society and individuals,” he said. “It’s incredibly powerful.” (King, 2021).

Flanagan’s most recent work, “Midnight Mass”, on Netflix was originally pitched as a television show in 2014 which was turned away by producers. Before this it was an unfinished film script, and its very origin was an attempted novel. He used this idea as a prop book in both “Hush” and “Gerald’s Game”. It involves homegrown horrors which differ from his previous adaptation work. “Midnight Mass” sees Flanagan find his own feet within the horror genre, but he expressed the vulnerability of being an author not an adaptor. In an interview with The New York Times he said, “There’s nowhere for me to hide now, Behind Stephen King is a great place to hide. This is much more frightening.”. Flanagan states that “Midnight Mass” is by far his most personal work which is inspired by his own persistent fixations, it also explores his experience with religion and addiction, the series interrogates theology and faith. However, “Midnight Mass” features the optimistic world view which Flanagan adopted and expresses a faith in humanity and redemption (King, 2021). Some say the ending of “Midnight Mass” feels like the culmination of a larger story that Flanagan has been telling for years, not only the culmination of this story. This comes after themes like addiction and religion are explore in similar ways to his previous projects (Slate, 2021).

I think it is interesting how Flanagan has developed into an individual screen writer throughout his career and how he has found his own style. He began writing small projects himself and adapting the work of other incredible writers, however, as he progressed, he began writing for the horror genre while also incorporating his own demons and experience to create deeper meaning which will resonate with the viewers. I think this may be why his work is so popular. This has influenced my approach to storytelling because after looking at Flanagan’s work I want to try and incorporate deeper meanings into my own scrip. I am interested in how the story can operate within the codes and conventions of one genre while symbolising deeper meanings from within society and family affairs.

 

 

References

About Netflix. (2019). About Netflix - NETFLIX MAKES OVERALL SERIES DEAL WITH MIKE FLANAGAN AND TREVOR MACY. [online] Available at: https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-makes-overall-series-deal-with-mike-flanagan-and-trevor-macy Accessed on 18 November 2021.

Adams, S. (2021). The Themes That Unite Midnight Mass With Mike Flanagan’s Other Netflix Hits. Slate Magazine. [online] Available at: https://slate.com/culture/2021/09/midnight-mass-netflix-series-mike-flanagan-hill-house.html  Accessed 18 November 2021.

Clark, T. (2018). Netflix’s “Haunting of Hill House” surging in popularity with viewers - Business Insider. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/netflixs-haunting-of-hill-house-surging-in-popularity-with-viewers-2018-10?r=US&IR=T. Accessed on 18^th November 2021.

Cobb, K. (2018). How “Haunting of Hill House” Creator Mike Flanagan is Building a “Scare Squad” of New Wave Horror Actors. [online] Decider. Available at: https://decider.com/2018/10/12/the-haunting-of-hill-house-cast-mike-flanagan/  Accessed on 18 November 2021.

Empire. (2015). Empire. [online] Available at: https://www.empireonline.com/people/mike-flanagan/. Accessed on 18th November 2021.

Flanagan, M., Flanagan, M., Sinsz, J., Jeffries, Z. and Roers, N. (2000a). Makebelieve. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305793/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_18 Accessed 18 November 2021.

Flanagan, M., Flanagan, M., Sinsz, J., Jeffries, Z. and Roers, N. (2001b). Still Life. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166186/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_17  Accessed 18 November 2021.

IMDb. (n.d. a). Mike Flanagan. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1093039/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm  Accessed on 18 November 2021.

IMDb. (n.d. b). Mike Flanagan. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1093039/?ref_=tt_ov_wr. Accessed on 18^th November 2021.

IMDb (n.d. c). The Haunting of Hill House - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6763664/awards/  Accessed on 18 November 2021.

 

King, D. (2021). Mike Flanagan Explores His Private Horrors in “Midnight Mass.” The New York Times. [online] 24 Sep. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/arts/television/midnight-mass-mike-flanagan.html. Accessed on 18^th November 2021.

Rotten Tomatoes (n.d.). Mike Flanagan - Rotten Tomatoes. [online] Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/mike_flanagan. Accessed on 18^th November 2021.