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The Stand: Remake
Stephen King's 'The Stand' Heading to the Big Screen
Stephen King's grand opus The Stand is finally getting the big-screen treatment.
Warner Bros. and CBS Films are teaming to adapt the novel, which in many ways set the bar for a generation of post-apocalyptic stories and influenced works ranging from TV's Lost to music group Anthrax. Mosaic and Roy Lee are producing.
The companies will co-develop and co-produce the feature film, with CBS having the option to participate in co-financing. Warners will handle worldwide marketing and distribution.
The studios and producers will sit down with writers and directors in the coming weeks in an attempt to find the right take on the material. One thing to be determined is whether to attempt the adaptation in one or multiple movies. King will be involved in some capacity.
CBS has held the rights for many years but recently realized the best way to undertake the project was with a partner. Warners beat out Fox and Sony in a tight bidding war for the gig, getting its hands on one of the biggest-selling books of all time.
CBS, meanwhile, gets a chance to be involved in an ambitious big-budget tentpole with little downside. The company just released its fourth movie, The Mechanic, which performed better than expected this weekend with an opening of $11.4 million.
The Stand is a story of good vs. evil after a virus wipes out most of the American population. While it features dozens of characters (such as the Trashcan Man and Mother Abigail) and overlapping story lines running over many years, the struggle boils down to a group of survivors fighting the Antichrist-like Randall Flagg.
The novel was originally published in 1978, but by the time it was rereleased in 1990 with King adding and revising portions of the story, it had achieved cult-like status.
George Romero and Warners separately tried in vain to launch a movie adaptation in the 1980s, and a tone-downed version was produced as a six-hour miniseries by ABC in 1994. In recent years, Marvel Comics has been adapting the story to great acclaim.
King's stories made for popular Hollywood adaptations in the 1980s and '90s, but that love seemed to lose steam in the past decade. But with Universal mounting an ambitious take on The Dark Tower, and now The Stand, King may be getting ready to return to the throne as the novelist the town loves the most.
Stephen King's grand opus The Stand is finally getting the big-screen treatment.
Warner Bros. and CBS Films are teaming to adapt the novel, which in many ways set the bar for a generation of post-apocalyptic stories and influenced works ranging from TV's Lost to music group Anthrax. Mosaic and Roy Lee are producing.
The companies will co-develop and co-produce the feature film, with CBS having the option to participate in co-financing. Warners will handle worldwide marketing and distribution.
The studios and producers will sit down with writers and directors in the coming weeks in an attempt to find the right take on the material. One thing to be determined is whether to attempt the adaptation in one or multiple movies. King will be involved in some capacity.
CBS has held the rights for many years but recently realized the best way to undertake the project was with a partner. Warners beat out Fox and Sony in a tight bidding war for the gig, getting its hands on one of the biggest-selling books of all time.
CBS, meanwhile, gets a chance to be involved in an ambitious big-budget tentpole with little downside. The company just released its fourth movie, The Mechanic, which performed better than expected this weekend with an opening of $11.4 million.
The Stand is a story of good vs. evil after a virus wipes out most of the American population. While it features dozens of characters (such as the Trashcan Man and Mother Abigail) and overlapping story lines running over many years, the struggle boils down to a group of survivors fighting the Antichrist-like Randall Flagg.
The novel was originally published in 1978, but by the time it was rereleased in 1990 with King adding and revising portions of the story, it had achieved cult-like status.
George Romero and Warners separately tried in vain to launch a movie adaptation in the 1980s, and a tone-downed version was produced as a six-hour miniseries by ABC in 1994. In recent years, Marvel Comics has been adapting the story to great acclaim.
King's stories made for popular Hollywood adaptations in the 1980s and '90s, but that love seemed to lose steam in the past decade. But with Universal mounting an ambitious take on The Dark Tower, and now The Stand, King may be getting ready to return to the throne as the novelist the town loves the most.
Comments
When news broke on Jan. 31 that Warner Bros. is remaking Stephen King’s 1978 novel The Stand, we at EW wondered what our old friend Uncle Stevie thought about the development. We asked, and here’s what he had to say:
1. No one will be able to top Gary Sinise, who played Stu Redman in the original ABC miniseries. He was perfect. When he says “You don’t know nothing” to the soldiers who are putting him under mandatory quarantine, you believe his contempt completely. My runner-up pick would be Jake Gyllenhaal.
2. I didn’t know anything about the remake until I read about it on the Internet.
3. You absolutely can’t make it as a two-hour movie. If it was a trilogy of films…maybe.
4. Molly Ringwald won’t be playing Fran Goldsmith this time.
5. Rutger Hauer is a little too old to play the Walkin’ Dude, and that’s too bad.
6. People who’ve seen Kubrick’s The Shining dislike the miniseries I wrote (and my amigo Mick Garris directed) even if they haven’t seen it. That’s always annoyed me. But the wheel of karma turns! This time people will probably say, “The miniseries was lots better.” BUT…
7. …historically speaking, movie studios blow the budget on things like this, so maybe it’ll be fun to look at. The dough certainly isn’t going to me, although if it is a trilogy, and if it makes a lot of money, I might be able to buy a chicken dinner at Popeye’s. Great slaw!
8. Molly Ringwald will probably not play the Trashcan Man, either, but Billy Bob Thornton would be cool. Billy Bob’s always cool.
9. They need to write in a lot of heavy-metal for the soundtrack.
10. M-O-O-N, that spells “you probably won’t see this anytime soon.” And when you do, Woody Allen won’t be directing it. Or Molly Ringwald.
John
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In October of 2011, Deadline.com reported that Ben Affleck was Warner Bros. top choice to direct an adaptation of Stephen King's "The Stand." The news was somewhat shocking in those pre-"Argo" days, if only because some two months earlier, HitFix reported that "Harry Potter" director David Yates was going to take on the project. (Yates never did; instead, he's working on a "Tarzan" adaptation for the studio.)
In January, Vulture reported that David Kajganich ("Invasion") was hired to adapt "The Stand," but precious little has been heard from the Free Zone since, but in a new interview with GQ, Affleck revealed that the film isn't near production just yet.
"Right now we're having a very hard time," he said. "But I like the idea -- it's like 'The Lord of the Rings' in America. And it's about how we would reinvent ourselves as a society. If we started all over again, what would we do?"
While he waits for "The Stand" to get into shape, Affleck is certainly keeping himself busy. He signed up to direct an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel "Live By Night" in October; that film will probably be his next feature. He's also still working on a script with Matt Damon about mobster Whitey Bulger.
"My guess is honestly, [it'll be] the movie after next," Affleck told The Playlist about the mob movie. "I'll probably find something that's in better shape to do next until we got that one ready, and then we'll go ahead and fire that one up. [...] We're in the process writing it, the script is not ready yet, it needs a lot more work."
Writer/Director Scott Cooper speaks about the Stephen King adaptation.
When director Scott Cooper replaced Ben Affleck as writer and director of the Stephen King adaptation "The Stand" for Warner Brothers and CBS Films, you could hear the sound of jaws dropping all over Hollywood. The former actor had one critically acclaimed hit under his belt with "Crazy Heart," but taking on a sprawling project like King's 800+ page novel was another thing entirely.
Since then, Cooper has been relatively mum on the project. But with the multi-hyphenate's second feature "Out Of The Furnace" in theaters this December, MTV News had to ask him for an update during a recent press junket.
Director Scott Cooper Takes On The Daunting Task Of Adapting 'The Stand'
"It's a daunting challenge to take a long novel, a beloved novel, and condense that into a standalone film," Cooper said on the adaptation. "It's a process. There's a reason that film hasn't been made. It's the themes, and the scope, and the size."
The book, long considered one of King's best works, shows what happens when a deadly flu strain nicknamed "Captain Trips" is released, killing most of the world's population. What follows is not just a post-apocalyptic survival tale, but also an epic supernatural battle between good and evil to decide the fate of what remains of humanity. The story has previously been adapted into a critically acclaimed 1994 TV mini-series, as well as numerous Marvel comics.
Despite the big budget trappings, Cooper is hoping to take a very different, much more down-to-earth slant on directing the feature. "My approach, much like 'Out of The Furnace' is searingly realistic [and grounded]," Cooper continued. "That can be a very expensive endeavor, one that maybe doesn't marry with how a movie like that should be shot, just because of the sheer expense."
Adding to that expense would be the sprawling locations of "The Stand's" narrative, which range from Nebraska to Las Vegas, and all over the rest of the United States. Good thing Cooper can shoot on a sound stage, right? Wrong:
"I prefer to shoot on location," Cooper said in response to the idea of shooting in a studio. "It imbues the entire production with a sense of place and authenticity that I strive for. I'm certain that whether consciously or subconsciously it affects the actor's performances, and the crew, quite frankly. It's critical to my process that I shoot not only where I've written the screenplay, but shooting the exact locations I wrote it for."
Cooper isn't just tied to shooting on location, either. He's also formed a strong bond with "Out of the Furnace" star Christian Bale, and hopes to bring him on to "The Stand."
"Well, Christian's a part of everything I'm writing, and I tend to share things with Christian in the infancy stage that I don't share with other people," Cooper said on the prospect of Bale joining "The Stand." "He's become one of my, not just closest friends, but a great collaborator, and wouldn't be surprised to see me and Christian teaming up on many things."
That's certainly far from a confirmation, but for fans of King's novel the prospect of Bale as the villainous Randall Flagg is a tempting one. We'll have more on that tomorrow.
As of now, there is no official release date for "The Stand." "Out of the Furnace" is in theaters December 6, 2013.
Boone is in early talks to helm the film, which previously had Scott Cooper, Ben Affleck and David Yates attached.
Boone directed Fox’s “The Fault In Our Stars,” which stars Shailene Woodley and will be released on June 6. He has a long relationship with King and his feature debut “Stuck in Love” included King’s voice.
Warner Bros. and CBS Films set up “The Stand” in 2011 with Mosaic and Roy Lee attached to develop and produce. CBS has the option to participate on the financing and Warners will handle worldwide marketing and distribution.
Director Josh Boone is here to offer hope, however. Out stumping for his latest release, the teen cancer romance The Fault in Our Stars, Boone opened up to Vulture about his plans for The Stand, and if they sound a mite wishful, they're also seriously intriguing.
"We’re gonna do one three-hour, R-rated version with an amazing A-list cast across the board," insisted Boone. "Every single one of those characters will be somebody you recognize and somebody you relate to. And it’s gonna be awesome."
As he went on to explain, he means "awesome" on a personal level, too. "I’m really excited. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever got to do in my entire life," continued Boone. "If 12-year-old me had ever known that one day I’d be doing this, to even just go back and look at that kid, I’d be like, Keep doing what you’re doing! It’s just crazy. I’ve met so many actors over the years, and like, when I met Stephen King, I hugged him with tears in my eyes. He meant that much to me when I was young."
It remains to be seen how The Stand will survive at even three hours, but Boone vows not to ignore the lessons he learned from King's books. "I still say everything I learned about writing I learned from Stephen King," he added. "I don’t read screenplays. I don’t read screenplay how-to books. It’s always just, establish the character. Establish the character."
Not only is Boone taking on an enormous responsibility in “The Stand” — including adapting the script himself from King’s 1,000-plus-page novel — but rumor has it that he plans to contain the entire story in just one film, an astronomical challenge considering how sprawling it is.
Fortunately, Stephen King has nothing but faith in the director’s ability to bring “The Stand” to life. In fact, he’s so in tune with Boone’s process that he even dropped a tantalizing hint about those “single movie” rumors.
What does that mean?! Unfortunately, the author wouldn’t say much more about it, only going so far as to tell us, “There’s talk about doing it in an entirely different and innovative way, and I don’t want to go into it because that’s Josh’s baby.”
But whatever Boone’s secret mystery plans, King is clearly confident that his work is in good hands.
“He made ‘The Fault in Our Stars,’ which is Class A filmmaking as far as I’m concerned,” the author said. “He’s hugely ambitious and hugely energetic, so we’ll see what happens.”
First reaction - Uh, wow!
Second reaction - HELLS YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
Third reaction - after listening to that Kevin Smith interview -
OMFG!
Boone so gets not just The Stand but every Stephen King story!!! Can't wait! Can't wait! Can't wait!