I sure as shit hope so! If you haven’t been keeping count, here are the previous directors to recently fall out of adapting Stephen King’s classic novel to the big screen: David Yates, Ben Affleck and, of course, Scott Cooper have all fallen to the mighty story. Affleck dropped out for obvious reasons (to play Batman) and Cooper just couldn’t find a way to condense it into one single film so he ultimately left the project as well. Now, according to The Wrap, The Fault in Our Stars director Josh Boone has just been given the go-ahead to attempt what no one else has been able to do—bring The Stand to the biggest of screens.
Right now it looks like Warner Bros. is still aiming to tell the story with just a single film and will not shy away from an R-rating. Okay, I’m not going to get too into it but I find it hard to believe that they think they can tell King’s brilliant story in just one film. The Stand is meant to be, at the very least, two films—so should the studio really sacrifice key details of the story just so they can fit it into a couple hours of film? I would hate to see this one finally get off the ground just to be a half-assed version of King’s story when it has the potential to be brilliant. We’ll have to wait and see what comes of this, but for now I guess it’s nice to know that they will give it an R-rating if need be. Can’t win ‘em all I suppose!
Boone is said to be a longtime fan of King—like who isn’t—and even gave the novelist a cameo in his 2012 film, Stuck in Love. And worth mentioning is the fact that King gave recently gave Boone the nod to adapt his novel Lisey’s Story. So who knows, maybe Boone will surprise us all and actually get this thing running after all!
Surprised they haven’t split it into three films. Love The Stand. Has to be one of my favourite Stephen King novels. Would love to see it as a film, but I’m almost scared about what they’d do to it.
I completely agree. It could honestly be a great film, it’s just not going to be easy if they try to condense the entire novel into one film. We’ll have to wait and see though!
I was sad to hear that Ben Affleck wasn’t going to do it after all. He may be a shite actor, but he’s quite a good director. Gone Baby Gone was an excellent film. They can’t possibly be thinking on making just one movie from this book, though. That would be insane, they’d lose more than half of the story! If it’s going to be done, it needs to be done right. I’d see it more as a mini-series of some sort, on one of the more liberal cable channels, like HBO or Showtime.
You nailed it, man! The thought of just a single film is a little scary. I think it’s still possible, but totally unlikely that they will still be able to do the novel justice with just one film. If the Hobbit can get three films… so can The Stand!