Carrie Showrunner Mike Flanagan’s Secret Weapon On The Set Of His Stephen King Remake? A Fart Machine

Never underestimate the power of toilet humour, especially when you’re making a horror series as dark and emotionally intense as Carrie.

For Mike Flanagan, the writer-director behind Hush and Doctor Sleep, an unlikely tension-breaker on the set of his latest Stephen King adaptation was a remote-controlled fart machine.

Yes, you read that right — a fart machine.

“The fart machine was brought on by director of photography Michael Fimognari,” Flanagan tells 8days.sg over Zoom. “I’ve never in the past needed toilet humour for my directing style, but I fell in love with it immediately.”

The device could be hidden around the set and activated at unexpected moments, providing much-needed levity during emotionally demanding scenes.

"It turned out to be a very goofy production,” Flanagan recalls. "We had fart machines and Labubus, and that kind of took over the set."

He liked the gag so much, he subsequently brought the machine onto The Exorcist: Martyrs.

“It’s a terrific antidote for some of the heavier moments,” he says.

And there’s certainly no shortage of heavy moments in Carrie, an eight-part Prime Video series that updates King’s 1974 novel for the social-media generation.

In this version, Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) is no longer simply the timid, traumatised teenager portrayed by Sissy Spacek and Chloë Grace Moretz in Brian De Palma’s 1976 film and Kimberly Peirce’s 2013 remake, respectively. (Or Angela Bettis in the 2002 TV movie, written by Bryan Fuller.)

Instead, she’s curious, innocent and eager to experience the outside world after years of isolation under her fiercely protective mother Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). But high school proves a rude awakening when she becomes the target of viral bullying, even as she discovers her mysterious telekinetic powers.

In his showrunner’s notes, Flanagan says the internet has transformed how cruelty spreads, making King’s 50-year-old story more relevant than ever. Even King approves of the update, describing the new series as being about "the horror of social media”.

Carrie also marks Flanagan’s first project under his exclusive deal with Amazon MGM Studios, following his Netflix run that gave us The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher.

For Flanagan, who’s no stranger to adapting King’s works (Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and The Life of Chuck), Carrie presents an interesting challenge: how do you reinvent a familiar story without losing what made it iconic?

“You gotta do the prom. It’s non-negotiable,” he says. So is the locker-room scene.

But where does paying tribute to the original end and fan service begin? “That’s a question you have to ask yourself about 10,000 times on a show like this,” he explains.

For Howell, who landed the coveted title role after more than 1,300 actresses auditioned, recreating those iconic sequences was both exciting and a little nerve-racking.

“I was excited to make it our own as a group and a team,” she tells 8days.sg in a separate interview.

Her co-star Samantha Sloyan, who plays Carrie’s mother Margaret, wasn’t required for either scene but turned up to watch them being filmed.

The locker-room sequence was “very hard to watch”, she recalls, while the prom was “exciting and bombastic”.

The infamous prom sequence, where all hell breaks loose, took two weeks of night shoots, with around 200 extras in formal attire.

Scream's Matthew Lillard, who plays Principal Grayle, remembers witnessing Carrie drenched in blood and suspended in the air.

“It was an opportunity to witness the horror firsthand,” he tells 8days.

Amber Midthunder (Prey), who plays Miss Desjardin, recalls Flanagan stopping the enormous production to remind everyone they were participating in an iconic moment in entertainment history.

“Only so many people in the world will ever be able to say that they were at Carrie’s Prom,” she remembers him telling the cast and crew.

Blood, sweat, tears and fart noises. For Mike Flanagan, it was another Tuesday.

Watch our interview with Flanagan here:

Carrie is now on Prime Video. The Exorcist: Martyrs opens in cinemas Mar 11, 2027.

Main photo: Prime Video, Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Prime Video

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