Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ Planned as Four Movies; Director Teases A-List Cast

[LanternWaste]

I've never seen The Fault in Our Star and don't know too much about the director, but his comments make me think he may not suck (for transparency and disclosure, I both enjoyed and hated the early nineties mini-series.) McConaughey was never a name I would have thought of for the role of Flagg, but thinking about, he * could* make it damned sinister with his southern drawl...




“I really wanted to do an A-list actor, really grounded, credible version of the movie… I sold [Warner Bros.] on a single, three hour movie… So what happened is the script gets finished, I write it in like five months. Everybody loves it. [Stephen] King loves it. $87 million is what it was budgeted at. Really expensive for a horror drama that doesn’t have set pieces… They came back and said ‘Would you do it as multiple films?’ and I said ‘F**k yes!’… So I think we are going to do like four movies.”

“I can’t tell you anything about how we’re going to do them or what’s going to be in which movie. I’ll just say we are going to do four movies, and we’re going to do ‘The Stand’ at the highest level you can do it at with a cast that’s going to blow people’s minds. We’ve already been talking to lots of people, and have people on board in certain roles that people don’t know about.”

"So far, the only big name star who has been rumored as a possible cast member for the film is Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey (he’s reported to be WB’s “top choice” to play the villain, Randall Flagg..."

http://screenrant.com/stand-stephen-king-four-movies-casting/

[Aerows]

1. I vote Sean Penn

for trashcan man.

[LanternWaste]

4. I was thinking Steve Buscemi.

I was thinking Steve Buscemi.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. An excellent choice

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

10. Or maybe Christopher Lloyd

[Aristus]

12. I think Christopher Lloyd would make a better Glen Bateman than Trashcan Man.

n/t

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

13. You're right

How would you feel about Mel Gibson as Flagg?

[Aristus]

14. Crazy enough, but too old.

Flagg, in my mind, is in his mid-to-late thirties.

[XemaSab]

18. Kevin Costner would make a good Glen Bateman

Right age, right temperament.

[AngryOldDem]

32. He would be a great pick for that role.

Trashy needs to be successfully paired with Randall Flagg...off the top of my head, I can see Steve with either Matthew McConnaughey or Christopher Walken. Leaning toward McConnaughey for Flagg.

If done well, "The Stand" could be one hell of a movie.

[PeteSelman]

2. Just get it right.

I worry when iconic books are made into movies because so many are butchered beyond recognition.

[Paladin]

3. I hope they don't fuck it up, like that TV series version of "The Dome." (nt)

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. I read both the abridged and unabridged when they were released

Last edited Tue May 5, 2015, 06:33 PM - Edit history (1)

My choice for Flagg would be Bruce Willis.
Nadine = Charlize Theron

Unlike previous books by King, The Stand took me a bit to get into. It took me 4 days just to read the first 30 pages. (I was in college at the time.) The next 100 were done in less than a day; the balance of the book took another day. (832 pages IIRC) It's a page turner.

[pinboy3niner]

6. When King had it re-released, he restored some 600 pages that had been edited out

iirc, that version had more than 1200 or 1300 pages.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

7. The unabridged was just under 1200

That took me almost 3 weeks to read.

[hifiguy]

16. That's the onlly version I ever read.

Read it three times in the last 20 years and it is one monster mofo of a book in every way.

Any movies had damned well better be based on the uncut version.

The only other doomsday book in the same class is Robert McCammon's Swan Song.

[RebelOne]

15. Yes, I have read both versions also. n/t

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

17. Any thoughts on actors? n/t

[LanternWaste]

25. I had the enjoyment of introducing a co-worker to the book last year.

I had the enjoyment of introducing a co-worker to the book last year. When I handed it to her (unabridged version, too), I thought she was going to cry because she's not much of a reader and the book is "the size of a small country!" (her words). She told me she hadn't read a book to completion since high school.

She was done with it within the week and began hounding me for other King books. It's fun watching a King fan become a King fan.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

26. A big highfive on that

How would you feel about Ronda Rousey as Nadine?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3313925/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[LanternWaste]

27. My initial thought for Nadine was Lizzie Caplan and Mandy Patinkin as Glen Bateman

So many juicy roles in the book that any good actor would like to get their teeth into. My initial thought for Nadine was Lizzie Caplan (I think she's underused for her talent) and Mandy Patinkin as Glen Bateman...?

No doubt after the cast is finalized, I'll go through my usual three phases of grief that I do with all movies I follow up out of pre-production: 1. WTH are you guys thinking? 2. O-kay, maybe it'll work, but I doubt it. 3. Damn-- I was wrong, he/she nailed it and no one else will ever be able to play that role again!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

28. OT Have you read or seen Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? n/t

[LanternWaste]

29. I've seen the 1970's production, but have never read the book (hangs head in abject shame)

I've seen the 1970's production, but have never read the book (hangs head in abject shame)

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

30. Not an issue; both are great

IMHO, once you've seen the movie, you can't imagine anyone but Jack playing McMurphy.

[AngryOldDem]

33. I had to read "The Stand" for a lit course.

It is about the only book I literally could not put down when I started it. To this day, I really can't say that about other books.

Although that wasn't my particular cup of tea as a genre, I left that class a huge Stephen King fan. So being an English major wasn't a total waste, I guess.

[hedgehog]

9. It is a good source if you want to see how things have changed -

IIRC, one of the lead characters is a young woman who is unmarried and pregnant, and trying to conceal the pregnancy because of social mores.

[Aristus]

11. I hope they leave out the whole sequence with Trashcan Man's encounter with The Kid.

That whole chapter was repellent in the extreme. It's not simply that The Kid is repulsive (he's supposed to be); it's that the whole story sequence is revolting. IIRC, King cut this sequence from the original edit and substituted a shorter encounter in which Trashcan Man meets a sullen, monosyllabic older man who makes a brief attempt at molesting him, and then backs off; he soon disappears from the story completely.

Other than that, looking forward to a big-screen adaptation.

[MicaelS]

36. That's one of my favorite parts of the book, no joke.

I love reading / seeing The Kid getting exactly what he deserved. I would love to see that entire sequence on the big screen.

[XemaSab]

19. Not sure how breaking it into 4 makes sense...?

Unless part 1 is the spread, part 2 is the coalescing, part 3 is the community, and part 4 is the stand. But the book itself is in three parts.

I really, really, really hope that they film on location. King set the book in some of the best landscapes in North America, and it would be a shame to limit that.

This is just off the top of my head, but Jake Gyllenhaal, JK Simmons, Felicia Day, Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo Di Caprio, Benedict Cumberbatch, Miley Cyrus, Neil Patrick Harris, Kurtwood Smith, Nicolas Cage, Salma Hayek, and RPattz. I got nothing for Mother Abigail.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

22. Mother Abigail = CCH Pounder

[LanternWaste]

24. The miniseries divided it pretty well into four intuitive parts I thought.

The miniseries divided it pretty well into four intuitive parts I thought. (The Plague, The Dreams, The Betrayal and The Stand). My friend and I were talking about how today's CGI and a massive budget could really make The Plague into a thing of beautiful horror and buttered-popcorn (I haven't seen any recent zombie movies, but I'm thinking they're pretty hard-core too).

No idea who I'd get to play any particular part-- but it's a fun idea to play with (but it's difficult for me to imagine Larry Underwood as anyone other than the original actor. He took that role and made it his).

Harold Lauder...? Whoever gets that role is going to have some serious fun!

[Puzzledtraveller]

20. I liked the Gary Sinise version enough

Die hard King fan, and I know that version was far from the book but I'm growing tired of remakes. What I want for all it's worth is a Dark Tower series, seem Netflix would be the route to go that could cover more extensively the breadth and scope of the series. No A listers either, A listers, just like A list voice actors in Pixar films and the like are boring.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. i don't know why people have thought through the years

that you could do justice to a Stephen King novel with a made-for-tv movie!?! i see a lot of potential in doing The Stand as a proper theatrical release motion picture. i am also happy to see that they are doing the same with IT. i am normally not a fan of remakes/reboots but in the case of these pictures they were so hamstrung by the made-for-tv format that they just could not be done with proper attention to ... detail.

sP

[peacefreak]

23. Molly Ringwold's Frannie

Was the weakest part of the first version. She was clingy, whining & not strong enough to carry it off.
I hope Morgan Freeman will be the Judge.

[azurnoir]

31. Micheal Madsen would make a great Randall Flagg

just the right mix of affable crazy evil, think Reservoir Dogs

[Sanity Claws]

34. I thought it said A-list cats

Otherwise I never would have clicked on this thread.
I'll take A-list cats over A-list cast any day.

[Liberal_in_LA]

35. why? it was already filmed as tv four parter