The Stand

[Sir T]

Seems to be actually a good chance its gonna happen. If done right it could be epic. So, its gonna suck.

http://deadline.com/2014/11/the-stand-stephen-king-josh-boone-four-films-1201291709/

Just when it seemed like studios like Warner Bros had surrendered themselves to superheroes and low-risk sequels, The Fault In Our Stars director Josh Boone says that the studio plans to allow him to turn Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand into a four-part franchise. The studio has been trying to figure out what I would say is King’s finest novel, in which the civilized world ends due to a viral genocide and the remaining population comes together in a battle between good and evil.

Helmers like Ben Affleck wrestled with the daunting task of turning King’s original 1168 page blockbuster into a single film. It is virtually impossible, which is why the sole transfer was a pretty fine miniseries in 1994. Boone told Kevin Smith in his Babble-On podcast (I heard it on Aint It Cool News) that after he boiled down the tale to a single script for a three-hour movie, Warner Bros actually suggested to him a more ambitious plan for what he calls “The Godfather of post-apocalyptic thrillers.” Said Boone: “They asked, would you do this as multiple films. I said f*ck yes. I think we’re going to do four movies. Do The Stand at the highest level you can do it at, with a cast that’s going to blow peoples’ minds. Production in the spring.” Boone said he’s writing that first installment, based on the script he has happily scrapped.

Steve king I was excited when Warner Bros was going to do an equally ambitious treament of King’s supernatural Western The Dark Tower, with Ron Howard directing and Akiva Goldman writing and producing with Brian Grazer and King an adaptation that was to span a trilogy of films, and a limited run TV series in between them. Warner Bros bailed on that and MRC is still working on it. Let’s hope Warner Bros makes a stand here for the kind of creative ambition that exists on pay and basic cable but is sorely missing from feature studios that don’t make enough bets on originality.

[Khaldun]

Four. Movies.

Golly, I can't wait for the 30-minute epic "Larry Underwood in the tunnel" scene.

 

[schild]

Four movies is the only way to do The Stand any justice. IT should be 3 movies, but they're making it 2 - which is a crying shame because it means they'll likely skip over the absurd history of Derry.

[TheWalrus]

I want to see the Dark Tower series done right too. Never happen.

[Lucas]

A successful "The Stand" adaptation means an almost certain green light (which doesn't mean it's going to be good, ok) for The Dark Tower, so let's hope the former will bring justice to the absolute masterpiece the novel was.

[Malakili]

I feel like the miniseries nailed it, so I'll probably not like this one.

[schild]

I want to see the Dark Tower series done right too. Never happen.

And I want HBO to do Black Company since nothing fucking happens in Game of Thrones. We can't all get what we want.

Dark Tower, however, is pretty likely to happen one day.

[Ironwood]

Not a lot happens in Black Company either.

[schild]

Not a lot happens in Black Company either.

Relative to Game of Thrones? Massively disagree.

[Khaldun]

You have the strangest perceptions of almost everything. I love Black Company but it has long stretches of relative plot stasis.

[WayAbvPar]

Agreed...love TBC, but it certainly meanders.

As for The Stand- really looking forward to this. I thought they did a decent job with the miniseries, but stretching it to 4 films (with associated budget) sounds fantastic. Shall we have a fantasy casting session?

[schild]

You have the strangest perceptions of almost everything. I love Black Company but it has long stretches of relative plot stasis.

I'm not saying it doesn't. I'm saying it has less nothing-flavored filler than GoT. GoT has main characters that are involved in basically nothing for books at a time. And yet, since it eventually gets somewhere, MAYBE (we don't even fucking know yet in some cases!) they have to be included in the fucking TV show.

[Khaldun]

Ack, the whole point of Black Company is that it's what it feels like to be the henchmen of a Dark Lord, basically. It's ALL flavor and feeling, no plot. Any decent adaptation of it would have to be about capturing that sense. A BC adaptation that was all about "LOOK LOOK PLOT HAPPENED BOOM" would miss the whole point.  It's six books in before shit actually happens, really.

[Venkman]

Four movies is the only way to do The Stand any justice.

This. Though my wife and I are debating where the break points are.

[schild]

Four movies is the only way to do The Stand any justice.

This. Though my wife and I are debating where the break points are.

Ehhhh, King novels in general have pretty fluid breakpoints since a lot of his stories can be fucked with chronologically speaking and not really be ruined.

Edit: For example, I would love IT in 3 parts: The History of Derry (shot as a documentary like The Falls by Peter Greenaway), As a Child, and Now (yes, I'm seriously hoping they do the final portion in modern day Derry, even in the 2-parter).

[MahrinSkel]

Ack, the whole point of Black Company is that it's what it feels like to be the henchmen of a Dark Lord, basically. It's ALL flavor and feeling, no plot. Any decent adaptation of it would have to be about capturing that sense. A BC adaptation that was all about "LOOK LOOK PLOT HAPPENED BOOM" would miss the whole point.  It's six books in before shit actually happens, really.

And most of the shit is about how the entire mission of the BC, and everything they've done to keep their traditions alive, is not just bullshit but completely pointless bullshit. If you hadn't slogged through 6 books to get there, you wouldn't appreciate it. "Meandering pointlessly" with no definable plot is actually a critical device for it.

--Dave

[Rendakor]

I hope this actually becomes a thing, and is good. The miniseries was pretty decent, although it's been ages since I've seen it.

[schild]

Man you all are really looking at the Black Company too deeply.

1. More than one character worth paying attention to, Check
2. Wake of chaos and mishaps, Check
3. lots of death, Check
4. Opportunity for excellent acting, Check
5. Reasonably adaptable above-average dialogue, Check

Treat that fucking thing how it should be treated - an on-the-scene real-time documentary of a company in the Vietnam War, and go. Basically a grittier more vietnam-y Generation Kill with really obnoxious godlike figures and wizards and shit.

Yeesh. "slogging through 6 books"

They're written simply enough for children to plow through.

[Venkman]

Four movies is the only way to do The Stand any justice.

This. Though my wife and I are debating where the break points are.

Ehhhh, King novels in general have pretty fluid breakpoints since a lot of his stories can be fucked with chronologically speaking and not really be ruined.

Edit: For example, I would love IT in 3 parts: The History of Derry (shot as a documentary like The Falls by Peter Greenaway), As a Child, and Now (yes, I'm seriously hoping they do the final portion in modern day Derry, even in the 2-parter).

Wait, wasn't IT some miniseries with John Ritter? I seem to recall, but don't want to look it up (see: John Ritter).

[schild]

Yes.

[Sir T]

Nostalgia Critic reviews the IT miniseries if you want to have a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFcC5xi2W1o

To be honest even though people raved about it at the time I never thought that Miniseries was that good. I only saw half an episode of The Stand miniseries but I liked it.

[schild]

That guy is impossible to watch.

[HaemishM]

The IT miniseries with John Ritter was ok. The history parts were very well done - the modern day parts, not so much. Of course, that's pretty much the book's problem as well. Plus, the giant spider was much less threatening than Tim Curry as Pennywise - also a problem the book had.

[Ironwood]

The book was at least able to gloss over how the beast looked.

For the Series, they may as well have put Googly Eyes on that damn thing, because it was clownshoes stupid looking.

[Bunk]

I was pretty sure I remembered The Stand also being does as a miniseries, and it was. In 1994: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108941/
I faintly remember thinking it was good, but that was 20 years ago, so it may have just been my infatuation with Laura San Giancomo back in my twenties.

Am I the only one here that though Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song was the better post apocalypse book? (despite it coming out 3 years after The Stand and being a pretty blatant rip-off)

[RhyssaFireheart]

I was pretty sure I remembered The Stand also being does as a miniseries, and it was. In 1994: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108941/
I faintly remember thinking it was good, but that was 20 years ago, so it may have just been my infatuation with Laura San Giancomo back in my twenties.

Am I the only one here that though Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song was the better post apocalypse book? (despite it coming out 3 years after The Stand and being a pretty blatant rip-off)

Haven't read Swan Song in years but I didn't get the Stand rip-off vibe.  Of course, I think I read SS before I read The Stand, so that could be it as well.

I enjoyed the Stand mini-series back in the 90s but having a well-funded re-telling would be nice.

[Hutch]

Agreed...love TBC, but it certainly meanders.

As for The Stand- really looking forward to this. I thought they did a decent job with the miniseries, but stretching it to 4 films (with associated budget) sounds fantastic. Shall we have a fantasy casting session?

Gary Sinise as Stu Redman.

[Selby]

I faintly remember thinking it was good, but that was 20 years ago, so it may have just been my infatuation with Laura San Giancomo back in my twenties.

It was good for the time and even holds up decently now, my big gripe is I wanted to punch Molly Ringwald the entire time as she was so wooden and terrible in the role it made me groan every time she came on screen.  The only other real issue is that being made for TV a bit of things get chopped and edited and the special effects are not exactly top notch.

[Sir T]

Blatent casting speculation has begun, so the Buzz is rife

http://comicbook.com/2014/11/24/matthew-mcconaughey-will-reportedly-play-randall-flagg-in-stephe/

Matthew McConaughey is reportedly up for a major role in The Stand adaptation, which director Josh Boone just confirmed as a four-film series. As The Guardian notes, the Interstellar actor would play villain Randall Flagg, the story’s antagonistic cowboy with mystical powers and a massive power base in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas.

"The Stand" is one of Stephen King’s more popular series, spawning a television adaptation in the nineties and a comic book adaptation published by Marvel Comics. The series tells a post-apocalyptic tale where modern civilization collapses under a deadly virus that claims 99.4% of the Earth’s population. Those who survive the plague must fight to avoid extinction at the hands of people like Randall Flagg. Though Flagg made his debut as "The Stand’s" primary villain, he eventually grew to be one of Stephen King’s top recurring characters, appearing in almost nine novels. So while it’s a given that McConaughey would sign up for four turns in The Stand series, the role could potentially give him several other franchises to play in.

[lamaros]

Ack, the whole point of Black Company is that it's what it feels like to be the henchmen of a Dark Lord, basically. It's ALL flavor and feeling, no plot. Any decent adaptation of it would have to be about capturing that sense. A BC adaptation that was all about "LOOK LOOK PLOT HAPPENED BOOM" would miss the whole point.  It's six books in before shit actually happens, really.

And most of the shit is about how the entire mission of the BC, and everything they've done to keep their traditions alive, is not just bullshit but completely pointless bullshit. If you hadn't slogged through 6 books to get there, you wouldn't appreciate it. "Meandering pointlessly" with no definable plot is actually a critical device for it.

--Dave

Its also a 'feature' of his writing style generally. Cook is just awful at world building.  Everything is blurred in the periphery.

[Ironwood]

Also, people cleaning nails with sharp throwing knives.

This happens a lot.

An Awful Lot.

[shiznitz]

If Matthew McConaughey decides to play against type, he would make a very good Satan with the right script and director.

[Yegolev]

Alright alright alright!

[Ironwood]

Did you just randomly lose your cool ?

[WayAbvPar]

I think he was quoting McConaughey.

If McConaughey wants to play against type he should be Trashcan Man. Imbecile should be right in his wheelhouse.