‘The Life of Chuck’: First Image Sees Tom Hiddleston Enter Retirement! Check It Out!!

Horror and thriller auteur Mike Flanagan is back with his upcoming film The Life of Chuck, an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name. The highly anticipated project stars Tom Hiddleston, and ahead of the film’s world premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival this September, TIFF has released a first-look image at The Life of Chuck, with Hiddleston in the role of the titular Chuck Krantz.

The first-look image, shared on TIFF‘s social media accounts, shows off Hiddleston as Krantz, who in the image is an accountant sitting at a desk. In a moment ripped directly from King’s short story, the image is actually a billboard with the words, “39 Great Years! Thanks Chuck!” Hiddleston‘s Krantz appears to be in a gleeful mood about something, with more details likely to follow as additional information about the film is released in the months to come.

Hiddleston‘s Krantz will be the centerpiece of the film, which is actually a three-part story that is part of King’s 2020 anthology If It Bleeds, a series of previously unpublished short works from the acclaimed horror writer. It is unclear how much Flanagan’s film will stay or stray from the source material, but the image showed off by TIFF is a moment that appears in the third act of the story, “Thanks, Chuck.”

‘The Life of Chuck’ Has an All-Star Cast

#TIFF24 World Premiere:

🙇‍♂️ THE LIFE OF CHUCK
dir. Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) pic.twitter.com/FFHNET37Bg

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) June 18, 2024

The Life of Chuck is told in reverse chronological order, and depicts Krantz’s life from the end to the beginning. The story starts with his death from a brain tumor at the age of 39, and works backwards toward his childhood as an orphan living in a seemingly haunted house. Along the way, mysterious events occur indiciative of King‘s style. Beyond Hiddleston in the title role, The Life of Chuck has an all-star cast; Mark Hamill will co-star in the film in the role of Albie alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor as Marty Anderson, a man who is seemingly unable to go anywhere without seeing Chuck. The film also stars Karen Gillan, who recently told Collider that the film is “a masterpiece, it’s beautiful,” as well as Jacob Tremblay, Matthew Lillard, Harvey Guillén, Kate Siegel, David Dastmalchian, Mia Sara, and more.

Flanagan, best known for his Netflix horror The Fall of the House of Usher and for directing The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, directed The Life of Chuck from a screenplay he adapted himself. Flanagan is also producing the film via his Red Room Pictures banner alongside Trevor Macy for Intrepid Pictures.