Rob Savage was delighted to get Stephen King's blessing for his adaptation of 'The Boogeyman'.
The director has helmed the new movie based on the celebrated author's 1973 short story of the same name and Rob thinks that getting King's approval was the most important aim of the project.
Recalling the author's feedback, he told The Hollywood Reporter: "I was in the edit room, putting the finishing touches on the movie, and there was somebody from 20th (Century) who was sitting in the back row of (King's) cinema, giving me live updates of how he was reacting.
"So the live feedback was very reassuring, and then he sent this absolutely lovely essay about how much he loved the movie. We all breathed a sigh of relief because his opinion was the one we all cared about."
Savage was honoured to receive a follow-up note from King and the writer even suggested that they should work on another picture together.
The director said: "He sent me an email the next day, saying, 'Rob, I'm still thinking about your movie'.
"And then he said, 'I'd love to find something else to work on together', which is just a very surreal, incredible thing to get from Stephen King. So that's going on the wall."
'The Boogeyman' was originally set to be released on the streaming service Hulu before being switched to a theatrical launch after impressing in test screenings and Rob was gobsmacked by the audience's response.
He said: "I just thought the audience would tear it to pieces, but it scored so incredibly high.
"You could feel it in the room that the audience was totally in with the movie. All of the scares worked. And by the time it got to the third act where you start to see the monster – or more specifically, not the monster – the audience let it slide."
Tagged in Stephen King