J.J. Abrams Explains Why ‘Lisey’s Story’ Is Different From His Other Stephen King Collaborations

When Stephen King decided he wanted to adapt Lisey’s Story, he had one longtime collaborator in mind: J.J. Abrams. That’s how a master of the screen, and the master of horror came together to create something completely new… A Stephen King adaptation completely written by the author himself, which premieres on Apple TV+ on June 4.

After King was in a serious car accident in 1999, he came home to find his belongings piled into boxes. His wife, Tabitha King, wanted to redecorate King’s studio as a surprise. In addition to that gift she gave him the inspiration for one of his most emotional and interesting novels. Lisey’s Story follows the widowed Lisey (played by Julianne Moore) who is still mourning the loss of her husband, famous author Scott Landon (played by Clive Owen). But when Scott’s fans become more and more aggressive, Lisey will have to battle them — and confront the mythical world her husband always discussed with her, yet she never believed in.

Lisey’s Story marks the third major collaboration between King and Abrams, after Hulu’s 11.22.63 and Castle Rock. But it’s far from the duo’s last. Decider spoke to Abrams about why exactly he loves working with King so much, how he chooses which projects to write, produce, and direct, and what’s ahead for this creative duo.

Decider: What drew you to Lisey’s Story?

J.J. Abrams: Stephen King reached out and asked if we would be interested in producing an adaptation to film of Lisey’s Story. I was obviously thrilled by the prospect, not just because I’m a huge fan of his but because I knew how much the book meant to him. So I was really flattered he would ask. And then he said he wanted to write all the episodes, which, frankly, made it all the better. And we just started the process of finding a director and cast. It was really the kind of gift from Stephen to all of us that he would ask us if we want to get involved.

That’s incredible. What’s it been like collaborating with Stephen King? Because you’re both legends in your respective fields.

Well that’s insanely generous. He definitely is a legend. I would say that working with him is always, it’s a joy in all sorts of forms, which is to say there have been projects that we’ve done together — 11.22.63, Castle Rock, we’re working on something else, a couple things now. It’s always an education working with him because his brain works in such a remarkable, multidimensional, and specific way. Even though I don’t know if any of us will be able to really understand how he does what he does, it’s a marvel to watch close up, especially on this one. Because it meant so much to him, reading the scripts and seeing how he adapted it — he didn’t just transcribe it — how he adapted the story into something that works on screen, how Pablo Larraín, our amazing director, was able to sort of help in some cases where some things may not have translated quite as easily, finding a way with Stephen to achieve the desired effect. It was really just an incredible experience. Again, I feel insanely lucky to have been a part of it.

You mentioned that it’s always an education working with Stephen King. Can you elaborate about what you learned working with him on Lisey’s Story?

It’s interesting because the film is close to the novel and yet the novel is so internal there were things that had to be externalized. Without getting too specific, I feel like the way he was able to look at his own work and identifying aspects and elements that were critical to it and to its telling…

Obviously, what you write and put into a novel doesn’t always work on screen. So watching him find ways to do that, to emphasize what was important to him and to the story and then to see how he and Pablo together found a way to bring moments to the screen that were, in many cases, challenging and interpretable as text in a novel. It suddenly has to be very specific and very photorealistically depicted. So how to do that, how to bring a place like Boo’ya Moon to the screen? When you’re reading a novel everyone kind of sees a slightly different thing. As beautifully descriptive as the book is and as beautifully described as the world is, a novel is always going to be in your own head in some way. Whether it’s locations, whether it’s relationships, and the people themselves. How do you bring a character like Lisey to life? It’s a lot harder than it might seem. Having someone as brilliant as Julianne Moore portray her allowed this thing to feel grounded and still fantastical. I just feel like I learned a lot. But mostly I’d say the process of interpreting the novel into a visual medium was really a thrill to see.

You’re a very busy man. You write, you produce, you direct. How do you choose which projects you’re going to do what on?

The projects that I end up writing are typically things that won’t leave me alone… It’s almost like having a kid tugging on your coat where finally you have to say, “What?” If there’s an idea that won’t go away you have to interrogate it. The things that I’ve written I haven’t ever gone into something thinking, necessarily, “This wants to be a movie that looks like this” or “This wants to be a series that feels like that.” A lot of times it’s just about trying to get out of my system the thing that has become something of an obsession. So when I’m working on something, when I’m writing something, I usually don’t have much of a choice. I have to finally deal with it.

When it’s something that I’m producing, in the case of something like Lisey’s Story, it was Stephen coming to us with this opportunity that I think I would have been a fool to say “no thank you” to. Because of the timing of it all we knew that we would need to find a director who was going to be able to take it all on. And Pablo was someone we had wanted to work with for so long. So again, this was really an opportunity.

Then in terms of directing, typically it’s something I end up finding myself compelled to do. In some cases I feel like, “Oh my god, I was an insane person for saying yes to that.” And other times I feel like, if I’ve said no to something and I see it get done, I think, “Oh my god, I’m an insane person for not having done that.” So I never quite know what the right answer is. But we always try to make our best decisions moment to moment. We sometimes feel like that was fate, and other times we feel like oh that was a huge misstep. So you never quite know.

You mentioned before that you have a couple other projects with King that you’re working on. What, if anything, can you tell me about Tiny Horrors, your upcoming anthology series?

I wish I could talk about it. It’s one of my favorite things that we’re working on for a lot of reasons that I think will soon become obvious. It’s something that is very real and incredibly unique, and I’m beyond excited about that.

We’re working on a series that is about the Overlook Hotel that is really special and incredibly unique in its characters and point of view. Obviously, working on anything with Stephen King is a blast, not just because his mind is so limitlessly brilliant and vast in its focus, which is to say he’s written so many different genres, but also because he’s such a truly, wonderfully, lovely human being.

I also know that you’re working on a project with Jennifer Garner and Apple TV+, My Glory Was That I Had Such Friends. What has it been like working with Apple TV+? Because it seems like you have a budding partnership with them.

Yes, and there are a couple other things that we’re also doing with them. I will say I’m a big fan of the people at Apple TV+ and I love the experience so far. Certainly on Lisey’s Story they’ve been incredible partners. I feel like at the end of the day a big company, a big network, it’s going to be the people who are there, who are calling the shots, and who you either feel like you see eye-to-eye or you don’t. I feel incredibly lucky working with the folks at Apple because I think we seem to be seeing things that excite us all at the same time in a way. So I’ve been nothing but happy working with Apple.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The first two episodes of Lisey’s Story premieres on Apple TV+ Friday, June 4. New episodes will premiere on Apple TV+ Fridays.

Watch Lisey's Story on Apple TV+