After a long standing turnover of directors for ‘The Stand’, it looks as if Josh Boone (‘Stuck in Love’,’The Fault in Our Stars’) is set to both write and direct the film for Warner Brothers and CBS Films! This is a film of epic scale that is almost as large as ‘The Dark Tower‘ so he’s going to have a lot of work ahead of him.
Previously, the film had been set to be directed by Ben Affleck but he left the project to work on ‘Batman vs Superman‘. Afterwards, Scott Cooper (‘Crazy Heart’,’Out of the Furnace’) took the reigns though that didn’t last long as last November, he left over creative differences.
If you’re not familiar with the novel, here’s a short synopsis:
When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks. The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge–Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence.
There have been long standing rumors that the previous takes on the novel were going to be split into multiple films. With Boon now at the helm, the latest word is that he will be developing the project into a single R-rated movie. That’s good to hear as the film would have to be R-rated to even be remotely faithful to the book. However, the film would need to clock in at nearly 3 hours to even have a chance of covering the world that King created. Honestly, even the 6-hour mini-series was barely able to show off the novel properly so I’m worried how this will play out as a single film. I want to be excited about this as ‘The Stand’ is one of of my favorite works of King’s, but that length is a major point of concern.
What do you think of ‘The Stand’ being told as a single stand alone tale? Is this the right approach or should they have gone with multiple films or an ongoing series as King’s other works have gone lately? Share your thoughts below!
Source: The Wrap