Netflix Adapts Stephen King's 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone'

Mr. Harrigan's Phone on Netflix
‘Mr. Harrigan's Phone’ on Netflix (Image credit: Netflix)

The film Mr. Harrigan's Phone, based on a Stephen King short story, debuts on Netflix October 5. Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland are in the cast.

The film had a limited theater release September 28. 

When boy Craig (Martell) befriends Mr. Harrigan (Sutherland), an older, reclusive billionaire, the two form an unlikely bond over their love of books. But when Mr. Harrigan dies, Craig discovers he is able to communicate with his friend from the grave through the iPhone that was buried with the old man. 

Netflix calls the film a "supernatural coming-of-age story that shows that certain connections are never lost."

John Lee Hancock directs. Ryan Murphy, Jason Blum and Carla Hacken produce. 

Joe Tippett, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Cyrus Arnold, Colin O'Brien and Thomas Francis Murphy are also in the cast. 

The film is rated PG-13 and runs for 104 minutes. Reviews have been mixed. "An early engaging performance from the great Donald Sutherland and a consistently grounded one from Jaeden Martell keep Mr. Harrigan's Phone from completely going dead, but you're going to want to send this one to voicemail," said RogerEbert.com

The short story appears in the King book If It Bleeds. ■

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.