Stephen King's "The Talisman" being made by Spielberg's Amblin after 35 years

It will be directed by 'Handmaid's Tale' Director Mike Barker.

The journey from page to screen all started when Steven Spielberg became mesmerized by an early copy of the work-in-progress by King, who was then most famous for The Shining and The Stand, and Straub, best known for his novel Ghost Story.

He was so determined to adapt it that he got Universal Pictures to buy him the rights forever — not just an option to adapt, which would have expired after a few years. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to see come to theaters for the last 35 years,” Spielberg said.

For a long time, Spielberg considered directing a film version of the 944-page novel, then he planned to only produce.

About a decade ago, Amblin developed it as a six-hour TNT miniseries, adapted by The Skeleton Key and new live-action Dumbo screenwriter Ehren Kruger. “At that time it was just too rich for TNT’s blood,” Spielberg said. “Then I pulled it back and decided to try to reconfigure it once again as a feature film.”

King and Straub got used to the stop-and-start nature of it. “Several times he came very close to making it, and there were a lot of discussions about that,” King said.

Now, at long last, Jack Sawyer’s journey seems to be destined for the screen.